Recruiting and engaging the federal workforce: a recent seminar examines employee motivation from three perspectives

Public Manager, The, Spring, 2008 by Bill Trahant

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The talk in government these days is about abolishing the General Schedule and replacing it with customized pay-for-performance systems. The General Schedule, however, is unlikely to disappear soon, so what can government executives and federal human capital professionals do to increase employee productivity and organizational performance under the current federal pay rules and performance appraisal guidelines?

That question was the focus of intense discussion at an October 4, 2007, seminar at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, hosted by American University's Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation in conjunction with the Government Consulting Services practice of Watson Wyatt Worldwide. This forum, which brought together government executives and federal human capital professionals from a range of federal departments and agencies, featured presentations by James Perry, chancellor's professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Bloomington; Toni Dawsey, assistant administrator for human capital management at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); and Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union. The seminar was held because of growing government interest in understanding how to improve individual employee productivity under General Schedule operating rules and in light of recent setbacks in implementing pay for performance in the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.

Public-Service Motivation

The seminar began with a discussion of the ways public-sector employment differs from that in the private sector and how federal agencies can capitalize on job candidates' interest in public service (especially that of first-time job seekers) when recruiting and hiring. "Working in the public sector is different than working in industry, and there are ways to leverage that to advantage in public-sector recruitment practices," noted James Perry, who has spent his professional life investigating what motivates people to pursue careers in the public sector and who has done extensive research on the public-service motivation of job seekers and holders in the United States and other countries.

He said studies show that the workmotivations of public employees "are based on a different set of values than one finds in industry or even the nonprofit sector," adding that understanding these motivations and incorporating them into federal recruitment and hiring processes is critical in attracting a new generation of workers to public service. Moreover, he said federal agencies must "make better use of employees' public-service motivations" to stimulate good job performance and employee engagement once individuals are actually on the job.

Perry argued that as government agencies brace for a "retirement tsunami" in the next few years and gear up recruitment and hiring efforts to deal with it, they must do a better job of appealing to job candidates' sense of public service and to other "intrinsic motivators"--such as altruism, the desire to make a difference, and interest in giving back to one's community and country. "This is how you attract highly talented, motivated employees to careers in the federal government," said Perry.

As part of such efforts, agencies need to gauge the suitability of individuals' backgrounds and interests for the agency to which they apply, said Perry. While face-to-face interviews are critical, so too is understanding a job candidate's past activities that reflect public-service motivation. For example, volunteering in the community, giving blood, or helping the poor indicate "other-directed" behaviors that show an inclination to public-sector service, he said. They also suggest that a person's motivation to seek federal-sector employment is a desire to meaningfully contribute to society, not simply a desire for job security.

Perry said federal managers need to develop a robust profile of the ideal public-sector employee. For example, "Government employees are more likely to volunteer to do civic things than their counterparts in the private sector," he said. "They may also have a propensity to blow the whistle" on illegal or unethical behaviors in organizations. These character traits and others need to be fleshed out as part of the federal recruiting process.

Previewing the nature of public-sector jobs for candidates is also important, said Perry, because it helps them understand the nature of an agency's mission and work before they are hired. Realistic previews promote realistic post-hiring expectations. They can also facilitate the rapid engagement of new hires, shorten the time required to make them fully productive employees, and help them establish a strong, compelling connection between their everyday job and the overall mission and goals of their organization.

Designing an agency's recruitment and hiring processes to adequately screen and vet job candidates for public-sector jobs can be costly, said Perry, but these costs are recouped when the processes reduce downstream rehiring and retraining expenses and help ensure better job fit, faster employee engagement, and better productivity.