Attracting a Younger Workforce

I recently received the following email from a colleague, whom I had asked to write something for me:

i did a ppt for a buncha reporters a week or so ago. gives you some idea of the ground i would cover in the piece. I think the dec deadline is prolly doable but when is the deadline for the NEXT edition, btw?

My first thought on receiving this email was, Will I have to ask him to write “probably” instead of “prolly” in his article? My second thought was, Boy, I’m getting old!

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had the problem of too many young people entering the public health workforce? As you may know – by looking around and by reading the literature – our workforce is aging. Many of us are merely a bit too old to take easily to writing that looks like a phone-text message. Others are actually aging out – retiring – and leaving the workforce depleted. It behooves us all to think about ways to bring more young people into the profession. Positive benefits of this might be a workforce that is

- open to (and full of) new ideas
- more technologically savvy
- energetic and idealistic
- more in touch with the population we serve

So, how do we get people interested? One way might be to reach out to high schools, colleges, and universities to inform students about what public health is and how they might make a difference with a career in this field. A great way to do this might be through a public health business plan!

Some Dare County, NC grads started a great plan that involved middle school students teaching elementary school students about healthy living. Students took their involvement much further than the original plan required, and ended up getting involved in other local programs around addressing teen smoking and drinking. A team from Wilmington partnered with veterinary students and introduced them to population-level pet concerns while training them and tapping into their enthusiasm and budding expertise; a South Carolina team worked with a university partner to plan a women’s health clinic on campus. A team this year is planning a summer program for children that will provide intern possibilities to local college students.

Other teams over the years have planned programs at schools, or for young people, but not necessarily getting young people involved. A small tweak to their plan might add a component that ensures at least some kids say, “Hey, that might be something I want to do” (or, more likely, “i wanna do”) long-term!

AJM

Succession Planning 2

One of the corollaries of Anne's last post on succession planning in government is this: there is lots of talent in your town or your region that would improve your organization. Where are you looking for your next manager hire?

The default thought might be to find a public health graduate program, of course. But the next person hired as a manager in local public health is probably not coming straight out of a school of public health.

I talk to health directors frequently, at trainings and at national meetings. Even if you are lucky enough to be located near a big school of public health (and most aren't) you will find it hard to recruit graduates of those programs to do community-level health work. Most of the MPH grad students I run into in Chapel Hill, for instance, are aiming for jobs in healthcare, or policy jobs in DC, or international work, or research, or teaching.

Luckily, public health has room for talented managers from all kinds of different educational backgrounds. Great, hard-working, public-spirited managers in your town may be waiting for your call. Certainly there are folks out there who could help you do some of the things you need to do: assess the community, assure quality and access, develop policies to create more. Local knowledge is kind of an important selling point, actually.

Our book is based on the idea that government and non-profit organizations are trying to learn best practices around planning and efficiency and quality from other sectors. Recruiting is a powerful way to help your organization learn. So I would argue that recruiting from outside is actually important-- not just something to settle for.

Yes, these new hires will need to be oriented to population health and trained in that perspective. Again, lots of adult education resources and programs are available to help you do that--including some that are entirely on-line.

--Steve Orton

Succession Planning in Public Health: Just Ask

One issue we don't really deal with in the book, but that we know is important to public health planning and practice, is the idea of succession planning in public health. As the workforce ages and retires, who is going to replace you at the helm (or even in the galley) of these important organizations? Who in their right mind would want to take a job in a public health department, with its maze of bureaucratic requirements, its never ending list of needs and much shorter list of resources, the worries that follow you home after long days that you think will never end? For that matter, in an era when politicians themselves seem to disown the hand that feeds them, complaining about "big government" as they cash their paychecks and enjoy their benefits, who would want to work in government at all?

A recent Gallup Poll had some encouraging advice: just ask.

Despite generational differences in priorities, information sources, and modes of communication, a majority of Americans now say that a job in public service would be appealing. Yet, 60% of those under age 30 say they have never been asked to consider a job in government. However, if asked by their parents (33%)or the newly elected President in 2008 (29%), a significant share of Millennials say they would give such a request a great deal of consideration.

What does that mean for you in public health? One thing it might mean is that there are people in your organization who want to move up the ladder, but haven’t been invited. Think about asking them to join action teams for future projects or decision-making tasks. Consider giving someone on your staff a task you now do, and see how he or she handles it. When you delegate a responsibility, really delegate it: get it off your shoulder and onto theirs, and see how they do without micromanaging. The staff member might find they really like the added responsibility, might discover a skill they didn’t know they had. Finally, introduce them to public health business planning ideas -- to inspire and motivate them to work to build sustainable programs. You might discover someone you want to groom for bigger and better things within the organization.