PSHRA's Public Eye Podcast

Our guest Chris Starling is the Executive Director of NPower SkillBridge, which helps active duty service members in their last six months in uniform transition into cyber-warriors, giving them the skills to go from defending the nation to defending the network. Chris joins us to discuss how their program works, trends in skills-based hiring, the job market for cyber skills, and the challenges of transitioning from the military to the civilian sector.This marks the last episode of our first season of the Public Eye podcast. The pod is taking a hiatus for now, but we'd love to get your feedback on what we can do to bring it back better than ever!Share your feedback at https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7689771/Public-Eye-podcast-survey-2024

Will Markow is Vice President of Applied Research at Lightcast, a company that connects people with jobs by providing businesses, communities, and education institutions with the best labor market data possible. He joins us to discuss the gap between the demand and supply of cyber workers, the broad implications if this gap is to continue, and how skills-based hiring can narrow the gap and help fill the cyber pipeline. 

Viva Asmelash and Michael Gregor, co-founders of Liberation Labs join us to discuss “feedback”:  the importance of culturally aware feedback, how different segments of the population receive feedback, productive ways of giving and getting feedback, and best practices in ensuring a healthy "feedback culture." We look forward to your, er, feedback. 

Neena Kovuru is a HCM thought leader and consultant who, through public speaking, shares ideas on many HR topics including strategic and purpose-driven leadership, HR technologies, company culture, and DEI&B.   She has worked in both private and public sectors in her career and joins us to discuss data-driven decision making for strategic HR, and the role of AI in Human Resources.  

Our guest Shola Richards is a sought-after workplace civility expert who speaks, coaches, consults, and is the best-selling author of two books on workplace bullying. He and his work have been featured on the Today Show, CBS, Forbes, Black Enterprise, and numerous other venues. Shola's most recent book is titled, Go Together: How the Concept of Ubuntu will Change How We Work, Live and Lead, which is what our conversation primarily focused on – with several detours into our shared passion for NBA basketball (and basketball podcasts). Warning: Parts of this episode touch on suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with your mental health, call or text 988.

Dr. Rivka Liss-Levinson, Senior Research Manager at MissionSquare Research Institute, discusses their recently published report on the experiences of younger public service employees – a critical issue as attracting and retaining talent,  particularly among those 35 and younger, is one of the top challenges public sector agencies face today. Rivka shares findings on job satisfaction, stress levels, factors that attracted younger employees to public sector work, and what leaders should prioritize in order to attract and retain more talent. 

Dr. Jeremy Pollack, founder and CEO of Pollack Peacebuilding System, a conflict management consulting firm,  joins us to discuss conflict psychology in the workplace. He defines the term peacebuilding, various points of conflict in today's typical public sector organization, best practices in conflict management, and the “5 Core Competencies of the Peaceful Leadership” style.

Pardon the pun, but this marks the third appearance on our pod of Mr. Mark McGraw, the editor of Public Eye, PSHRA's bi-monthly digital magazine, and editor of PSHRA's weekly digital newsletter, Of Public Interest. Mark gives us a tour d'horizon of the latest issue of the Public Eye (October/November), which focuses on talent: what agencies are doing to attract talent to public sector careers and to hang on to the talent they already have. He also gives us a preview of what he and his crack staff are working on for the year-end issue. A great convo with Mark, as always - check it out! 

Pete Blank is a leadership expert, author, and national speaker who spent 13+ years at Disney and 13+ years in local government. He spoke to us from the PSHRA annual conference in San Diego. We discussed the differences between "Disney culture" and public sector culture, and how he fused the two experiences in providing training and organizational development support. We also discussed his two books - Employee Engagement: Lessons from the Mouse House and 55 Ways to Add Disney Magic to your Organization - and he gave us a sneak preview of his third, which is coming out in 2024.  

If you're on the fence about the benefits of a four-day work week, this is the pod for you! Our guest Sarah Dickinson is Sr. Performance Management & Data Analyst—CountyStat, Montgomery County Government, and the founder of Four-Day Workweek Consulting. Sarah joins us to discuss its impact on productivity, retention, employee wellbeing, and gender equity. She also shares practical advice on implementation. 

Alex Smith is Head of Strategy and Execution, HCM - Public Sector, for Oracle. She is responsible for driving HCM Cloud growth by working with customers throughout all stages of their lifecycle as well as working with internal Public Sector teams to develop and execute Oracle's GTM strategy. Alex spoke to us about the challenges public sector agencies face as waves of employees retire:  what public sector HR leaders can do to attract and retain young talent while remaining vibrant and productive during this period of transformative change.

We spoke with Jamie Notter, Co-Founder of and Culture Designer with PROPEL (formerly Human Workplaces), a coaching and consulting company that helps leaders achieve breakthrough performance and accountability by integrating culture, strategy, and execution. Jamie is also the author of four books, including "Culture Change Made Easy," which will be out in November. He joined us at the PSHRA Annual Conference in San Diego, where he was also a keynote presenter. We spoke about defining culture at work, how to fix a culture that's broken (mainly because of internal organizational politics), how to contend with employee survey fatigue, and managing competing commitments. 

Gerald Westry is HR Division Chief of Labor & Employee Relations at the City of Richmond. Gerald joined us to discuss how his background in the military and as an HR professional with the U.S. Army, the U.S. Military Academy, and the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs informs his approach to building an inclusive workforce that optimizes organizational performance and growth. We also talk about using metrics to enhance leadership accountability, the value of IPMA-SCP certification in his professional development, and the challenges of attracting millennials to the public sector. 

Jordan Katz, Head of Employee Experience (EX) Strategy, Public Sector at Qualtrics is responsible for the growth and performance of the  Employee Experience business within their Public Sector unit. He joins us to discuss whether HR has gotten better at using people analytics to make them better at what they do, how public sector agencies brand themselves as a great place to work, how to measure engagement, and what insights HR can glean from the post-employment phase of an employee's journey. 

Ellie Voepel, Human Resources Director with the City of Garden City Kansas, joins us to discuss the keys to a successful sick leave donation program: what prompted them to implement one, the challenges along the way, the tangible benefits the organization realized, and what surprised her most about the experience.   

Mark McGraw, the editor of Public Eye, PSHRA's bi-monthly digital magazine, and editor of PSHRA's weekly digital newsletter, Of Public Interest, joins us for a record-setting 4th time to discuss the contents of the latest August/September issue. Topics include AI's impact on the workforce and its growing role (some surprising tidbits), what government agencies are doing to help employees maintain their mental health, and gender identity training. Mark also gives us a sneak preview of topics he'll be covering in the next issue.   

Laura Putnam is a workplace well-being expert, international public speaker, and author of "Workplace Wellness That Works." Laura has worked with over 15,000 CEOs and managers to implement workplace well-being strategies. Our conversation centers on the five ways employers can prioritize their employees' well-being. 

Sandie Coutts is the Human Resources Director for the Jefferson Center for Mental Health. We speak about what brought her from the UK to the US in 2001, the lessons on leadership she took from the pandemic, and the lure that meaningful work has for today's younger cohort entertaining a career in the private sector.  

Dr. Kelly Drummond is the Director of HR for the City of Knoxville (TN). Dr. Drummond brings over 30 years of experience in developing employee relationships, succession planning, and policy development. She joins us to discuss her “sustaining” model and how it can help female HR professionals get a seat at the table and ensure they have a valued voice at the table. 

Hank Kim is Executive Director and Counsel for NCPERS - the National Conference of Public Employee Retirement Systems. We discuss what public agencies are doing regarding retirement planning, the challenges facing HR in light of the "silver tsunami," and whether pensions are the answer to the public sector worker shortage. 

Alexander Volberding is a Labor Relations Attorney at Liebert Cassidy Whitmore. He has spent much of his 15+ year career working for and on behalf of public agencies in the State of California. We discuss labor strikes in the public sector and what agencies need to know in order to be prepared.  

Dr. Leslie Blanchard is executive director of the Leadership Development Institute at Louisiana State University. She joins us to discuss the LADDER assessment and coaching system she developed to help public sector employees - at all levels - develop "leadership capacity." Dr. Blanchard talks about adapting/evolving leadership skills to meet the changing needs and expectations of today's workforce. (LADDER stands for Leadership Alphabet of Disposition DevelopmentEngagement and Reflection.)

Cara Woodson Welch, the executive director of PSHRA, and Gerald Young, Senior Analyst with Mission Square Research Institute, discuss the State and Local Workforce 2023 report, an annual survey of human resource professionals that tracks key challenges facing state and local governments in the recruitment and retention of talented employees and the strategies being employed to manage and compensate those staff (https://tinyurl.com/3e2zyh8h). They speak to the report's most salient – in some cases, surprising – findings, and the implications for public sector agencies going forward. 

Liza Zamd, a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, spoke to us in her role as a board member at the DOJ Gender Equality Network (GEN), an employee advocacy group. We discussed the unjust impact on women and minorities when salary history is used to set pay in their workplaces, the group's advocacy for pay equity government-wide, and other pay issues in the federal workforce. 

Mark McGraw, the editor of Public Eye, PSHRA's bi-monthly digital magazine, joins us to discuss several of the top articles in the June-July issue: The Future is Flexible, finds public sector employers working to find the right balance between remote and in-person work; Stressed in the Public Sector, which delves into burnout that is more prevalent in the public sector and ways to mitigate it. Flexibility as a benefit is a recurring theme throughout the issue. We discuss these and other timely topics from the latest issue of Public Eye.  

Shelline Bennett is the Managing Partner of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore's Fresno Office and has represented public agencies for over 20 years.  TikTok is just starting to make inroads in the workplace. Shelline helps demystify TikTok: how it works, what makes it different (vs. other social platforms), who is using it, and why Congress and the Biden Whitehouse have banned it. We discuss the delicate balance between an employee's first amendment rights and making sure employees aren't using it to share inappropriate content, as well as how public sector agencies can use it to reach a younger talent pool.  

Knickeita Bullock is a public sector principal and global DEI&B ambassador with UKG. Bob Lavigna is a senior fellow – public sector, also with UKG, who literally wrote the book on public sector employee engagement. Both join us for an in-depth, illuminating conversation on building a robust workplace culture of belonging - its importance and ideas on how to go about building/sustaining it, particularly in these challenging times for the public sector. 

Stacey Lewis is an accomplished, innovative, results-oriented executive with over 30 years of experience in all aspects of Human Resources management. She is the CEO and founder of HR Interrupted, a People & Strategy consultancy firm designed to collaborate with business leaders who have true GRIT to unapologetically disrupt ideologies, policies and practices that impact the People, Business and Culture experience. Stacey was previously CHRO of the Port of Long Beach and brings a wealth of insight into the innerworkings of public sector agencies. 

This week we sat down with Mark McGraw, editor of PSHRA's Public Eye digital publication, and Of Public Interest, PSHRA's weekly newsletter, to celebrate Public Service Recognition Week, and to take a quick look at what's in the public sector HR news. 

Gerome Q. Banks is a strategic consulting manager for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) with 20 years of professional public sector management, strategic HR experience, and an affinity for leader development and federal talent management.  Gerome discusses the top predictors of federal employee job satisfaction, what leaders in public sector agencies need to do to be more effective, and the metrics agencies ought to be using to accurately gauge their organization's performance. 

Melissa Barker, VP of Practice Development at the recruitment firm the Duffy Group, discusses the factors combining to slow down public sector hiring, and what employers can do to pick up the pace – from shortening the time applicants wait for a response, to how employers can be more proactive/creative in finding and engaging candidates – which is to say,  making public sector work more appealing to Gen Zers and millennials who tend to be “values-driven." 

Social media has become the new “public square” for public employees, especially during elections or controversial social events. Public employees expressing their views on social media can lead to First Amendment issues and potential litigation. The recent Ninth Circuit decision in Hernandez v. City of Phoenix attempted to provide guidance, but many questions remain. Mark Meyerhoff is an attorney with Liebert Cassidy Whitmore specializing in all aspects of employment and labor relations for public employees. Mark spoke with us about social media's impact on employee speech in the public sector workplace and what public agencies' social media policies should include.  

Shaun Snyder is Executive Director for the National Association of State Treasurers (NAST), a bipartisan organization of elected and appointed state and territorial Treasurers across the United States. NAST advocates for responsible public finance measures on Capitol Hill and with regulatory agencies and provides education through its conferences and distance learning. Our conversation addresses a host of pressing issues and challenges: the aging of the finance workforce, recruitment, financial wellness, and increasing the utilization of the ABLE Act (which makes tax-free saving accounts available to cover qualified disability expenses).We were also surprised to learn that assumptions that private sector pathways are more lucrative are not universally true.    

Jonathan M. Pugh is an experienced consultant with a background in organizational effectiveness/OD and broad-based HR functional expertise in the public and private sectors. He spoke to us about the decline in job satisfation and engagement across the federal government and what can be done to arrest this decline; he also spoke to us about the disparity between what's important to employees vs. what employers think is important, the importance of “human-centered” leadership and what agencies can do to promote a greater sense of belonging.   

We are joined by Jennifer Fairweather, Chief Human Resources Officer with Jefferson County, located in Golden, Colorado. Jennifer was the immediate past president of PSHRA. She discusses her transition from the private to the public sector, how her role and public sector HR have changed over the past decade, the challenges of recruitment, and what skills leadership needs to acquire and develop to lead their agencies forward. 

Today's guest is Mark McGraw, the editor of PSHRA's bimonthly digital publication, Public Eye (formerly HR News), and weekly newsletter, Of Public Interest. Mark talks about his team's overarching editorial mission: spotlighting the positive, change-affecting work of HR leaders in public agencies. He then gives us a sneak preview of the action-packed upcoming issue: a feature titled “Bringing Young Talent into the Government Tent,” that looks at a new online portal designed to be a one-stop shop for individuals seeking federal internship, and “The Public Sector Rethinks Education Requirements,” that looks at a handful of states – Maryland, Pennsylvania, Utah and, most recently, Alaska – that have dropped advanced degree requirements for nearly all state government jobs. Check it out!  

Vincent Cordero, Chief Personnel Analyst at City of Los Angeles and Cinthia Fletes, Personnel Analyst at City of Los Angeles,  join us to discuss the very successful L.A. Local Hire program. The program takes an innovative approach to creating city employment opportunities for underrepresented groups. Cinthia and Vince tells us what drew them to working in the public sector, and how they see the program evolving in the years ahead.  

Cara kicks off the Public Eye podcast by discussing the reasons behind rebranding IPMA-HR - founded in 1906 - as  the Public Sector HR Association (PSHRA), and how it better reflects the organization's mission in addressing the top public sector workforce challenges in a dramatically changed environment. Cara touches on the top priorities or areas of focus in creating better places to work and PSHRA's main initiatives in 2023.  We expect this to be the first of weekly fascinating and illuminating conversations with the many people doing outstanding, important, and too often unheralded work in the public sector.