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Robert "Bob" Lavigna has more than 30 years of experience leading public sector human capital management organizations, including positions with the state of Wisconsin, Partnership for Public Service, and the U.S. Government Accountability Office. He currently works as Assistant Vice Chancellor/Director of HR for the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Lavigna also is author of  Engaging Government Employees: Motivate and Inspire Your People to Achieve Superior Performance (Amacom 2013).

Robert Lavigna

 These are tough times for government. Heated budget battles and rhetoric about the size, function, scope, and effectiveness of government have generated criticism not just of government itself, but also of the people who deliver public services to our citizens. Across the country—in Congress, state legislatures, city councils, political speeches and ads, the media, and elsewhere—government agencies and their employees are being denigrated. The recent battle over the budget for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, for example, is just one example of how public servants have become pawns in larger political battles. Despite the drumbeat of criticism (or maybe because of it), I believe that the biggest challenge facing government today is attracting, developing, and retaining talent. A key to meeting this challenge is creating the kinds of workplaces that will maximize employee engagement. But government leaders striving to improve engagement face a different set of challenges than private sector leaders, including dealing with the constant barrage of criticism. There is a strong business case for why government jurisdictions and agencies should focus on improving engagement. Study after study has shown that organizations with highly-engaged workforces outperform low-engagement organizations—in strategic goal achievement, productivity, customer service, retention, attendance, and so forth. This is true for both the public and private sectors. However, maintaining a high level of engagement in the public sector is a tough challenge. For example, the 2014 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey revealed that engagement among the nation’s largest employer has declined. Similarly, the 2014 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings by the Partnership for Public Service showed a decline in federal employee job satisfaction for the fourth year in a row. And, while we don’t have comparable data for state and local government, it is likely that the needle of engagement is moving in the wrong direction in these sectors as well. After all, criticism of government compounded by the ever-present calls for smaller government, can’t help but affect the morale of public servants. But I try not to focus on problems without offering solutions. The flip side of challenge is opportunity, and I believe that the relatively low level of engagement in government (even the most optimistic results from engagement surveys peg the percentage of engaged employees in government at less than 65 percent), creates the opportunity to improve performance by improving engagement.However, I don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all solution to improving engagement. Instead, each government jurisdiction and agency needs to:assess its own level of engagement (ideally through a valid employee engagement survey)analyze the results to determine what areas to focus ontake actionperiodically re-survey to see if engagement is improving. In other words, agencies shouldn’t administer the medicine before diagnosing the condition.There are instructive examples of what government organizations have done to improve engagement. These include: providing senior-level strategic leadership on improving engagementdeveloping leadership and management competencies around employee engagementimproving communication across the organizationmanaging employee performance more effectivelyensuring that employees believe that their opinions countcreating a positive work environment, such as adopting more flexible work arrangementsimproving the onboarding of new employeesclarifying the line of sight between employees’ work and the organization’s missionspan>enhancing employee prospects for career growthrecognizing employee contributions. While it’s helpful to understand actions public-sector organizations have taken to build engagement, there is no magic bullet. Instead, what’s needed is a systematic assessment of engagement and then a carefully constructed approach to dealing with the issues the data reveal. Creating a culture of engagement—and improving performance—is a marathon, not a sprint. To learn more, join more for the webcast, “Building a Culture of Employee Engagement,” March 10, 2015, at 2:00 p.m.

Improving Employee Engagement in Government—Now More Than Ever

Summer 2014 - The Public Manager

As the nation's largest and most diversified employer, the federal government must construct—and sustain—effective approaches to deal with agency-specific employee engagement.

Now Is the Time to Improve Federal Employee Engagement

Robert Lavigna explores new data about the engagement of government workers. The news isn’t good.

Employee Engagement Low, Especially in Government

Public sector organizations should make a commitment—a resolution—to measure their level of employee engagement and then take action to improve it.

Resolve in 2018 to Measure and Improve Federal Employee Engagement

Agencies can use surveys like the FEVS to not only measure employee engagement, but also pinpoint areas for improvement.

The Business Case for Engagement

Research has shown that improving employee engagement in government will drive higher levels of organizational performance, stimulate innovation, reduce unwanted turnover and yield other important workforce and organizational benefits. In this session, Bob will expand on previous sessions he’s presented on engagement, including:
• What employee engagement is and why it matters, particularly in government;
• Assessing the level of employee engagement;
• Improving engagement;
• Developing managerial competencies on engagement;
• Training and educating managers/supervisors on measuring and improving engagement;
• Building an organizational culture of engagement;
• Why engagement efforts fail; and
• How to get started on the journey to improved engagement.
This session will be based in part on Lavigna’s book, Engaging Government Employees:  Motivate and Inspire Your People to Achieve Superior Performance, published by the American Management Association. Governing magazine featured the book as one of the “6 Books Public Employees and Managers Should Read” in 2014.
 

Building a Culture of Employee Engagement

This is not an easy time to be working in the public sector. Heated budget battles and rhetoric about the size, function, scope, and effectiveness of government have generated criticism not just of government but also of the public servants who deliver government services. Across the country, government agencies and their employees are being denigrated and stigmatized. One proven response to maintaining effectiveness in this difficult environment is to improve the level of employee engagement.
Research has clearly and convincingly shown that improving employee engagement will drive higher levels of organizational performance, reduce turnover, and yield other important workforce benefits. This session will focus on empirically proven approaches to improve employee engagement in government agencies, including:

what employee engagement is and why it matters in government
how to assess the level of employee engagement
why measuring engagement is important, how to measure it, and how to act on the results
the key drivers of employee engagement
what public sector organizations have done to improve and sustain high levels of engagement
the role of HR and training in improving employee engagement.

This session will be based on Bob Lavigna's book, Engaging Government Employees: Motivate and Inspire Your People to Achieve Superior Performance.

 

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