Blog

What Is Your Employee Brand?

Envision a city where employees know the mission statement by heart. Where citizen satisfaction surveys give employees high marks for delivering high-quality public services. Where employees think of themselves as ambassadors for the city. Now imagine a city where employees go … Continued

Engaging Local Government Employees

Employee engagement is a popular concept with a wide variety of meanings. One definition we use in academic research focuses on the energy, focus and dedication that employees bring to a job. Researchers have found employees who say they are … Continued

E-Recruiting for Local Government

In the digital age, recruiting does not happen in the office from just nine to five. The best candidates are searching for jobs around the clock.

Pulling Off Pay for Performance: Lessons from MPA Research

Pay-for-performance (P4P) has been a hot topic among public and private managers for years. The concept is popular because it embraces the ethos of rewarding hard work. Furthermore, the “new normal” for the public sector is to do more with … Continued

Serenity Now! Managing Emotional Labor in the Local Government Workplace

Fans of the show Seinfeld may remember the episode where Frank Costanza (George’s father) tries a new approach to keeping himself calm. When his blood pressure is on the rise, he is supposed to say to himself “Serenity Now”. But instead … Continued

Boosting Employee Survey Response Rates

Response rates are one of the most important criteria for evaluating employee survey results. The higher the response rate, the more confident you can be that your survey results apply to the workforce as a whole. That makes sense: a … Continued

Worklife Balance Is Not a Myth

Wikipedia shares the following definition for work-life balance: “a concept including proper prioritizing between “work” (careerand ambition) and “lifestyle” (health, pleasure, leisure, familyand spiritual development/meditation)”. If we lived in a generic world, this definition would cover most of us. However, we live in a world … Continued

A Note of Gratitude

I was talking recently with someone about my interactions with human resources over the years and it caused me to stop and think. I’ve learned alot from HR professionals and your work has caused me to change my approach to my own … Continued

Lawyers and Public Sector Employee Relations: Chocolate and Peanut Butter vs. Ice Cream and Pickles

The involvement of lawyers in some public employment relations situations is like adding chocolate to peanut butter: the elements mix well together. In other situations, incorporating lawyers is like adding ice cream to pickles: the combination does not work. How … Continued

Running for Office: The Hatch Act is Nearly Dead

When an employee of a city or county wants to run for elective office, three legal considerations have traditionally leapt to mind—North Carolina’s criminal conflicts of interest statute, the state’s common law principle of incompatibility of office, and the federal … Continued