Governments are moving forward despite the recession to continue to deliver critical services to constituents, but government employees are still reeling from pay freezes, shrinking budgets, layoffs, hiring freezes and furloughs the recession caused. Many employees are looking for jobs outside the public sector, and employee engagement is lackluster. But because engagement is key to retention, it’s more important than ever for the public sector to keep employees connected, committed and loyal to their jobs, agencies, agency leadership and agency mission and goals. For these reasons, employee engagement is top of mind for public sector leaders, particularly those in human resources. This issue brief will review the results of a recent survey on public sector employee engagement by GOVERNING Research, including the state of employee morale, the factors that shape it and how agencies measure employee engagement. Further, it suggests strategies for assessing and improving public sector employee engagement, featuring case studies of government organizations that have adopted and enacted programs that are putting them on the right track.

 

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