https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Events
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • Magazine
    • Back
    • Digital Editions
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • Advertise
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Events
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • Magazine
    • Back
    • Digital Editions
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • Subscribe to GovPro
    • Manage GovPro Subscription
    • Advertise
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
acc.com

Co-op Solutions


Article

Millennials and interns will bolster public sector workforces

Millennials and interns will bolster public sector workforces

Local leaders must move succession planning to the top of their strategic goals
  • Written by Michael Keating
  • 10th December 2019

A growing number of public sector workers are retiring. One source predicts that in less than a decade, nearly 40 percent of the public-sector workforce may retire.

Bob Kittle, an Auburn Hills, Mich., councilman since 2002, says it’s time for local governments to take action as their long-term workers head for the exits. “Considering the loss of institutional knowledge that will result as a natural phenomenon of the workforce exodus, local leaders must move succession planning to the top of their strategic goals if they have not already done so.” He says retiree replacements for key government jobs such as finance directors, assessors and administrators are already in short supply.

Kittle says policymakers will need to consider implementing consolidation and outsourcing to ensure important municipal tasks are completed. “Think of where we’ll be when those who understand water and sewer systems leave. An organizational vacuum will soon be staring us in the face if we haven’t identified successors or created a plan,” Kittle tells Co-op Solutions.

He believes progressive and larger communities are relying on college internship programs to recruit new staffers, find more potential career candidates and keep up with their growing workloads.

He says it’s important that interns have dedicated mentors within the government entity. “Giving them a desk and a phone but then not allowing them to dig into real issues and work with real data is a misguided internship program.” He says that interns that have to coordinate the state of the city or summer fest events are less likely to become good administrators over those that are tasked with working financial reports, studying data or developing a capital plan.

Kittle hopes that administrative interns in government get some exposure to the purchasing function. It would be great, he says, if the interns spent a few weeks in procurement and were asked to analyze the budget/spend and top 20 vendors to look for opportunities. He says negotiations training would be valuable to those interns.

Just as important are the differences between the work tools of the incoming generation of government employees and those retiring. Kittle offers this scenario. “Imagine a new finance director coming in to replace a 30-year veteran. Where are the files located? Were the previous person’s naming and filing conventions logical? Will the new employee even be able to figure out or reverse-engineer convoluted Excel files whose data integrity and formulas have no checks and balances?” Kittle says the questions will be endless for the new finance hire. These can include: “Where are the debt work papers? Capital plans? Budget documents? Personnel summaries?” Kittle concludes: “Microsoft Excel has been a great tool for working professionals, but it is not a sustainable product to withstand the sands of time.”

New, younger hires use different tools, Kittle says. “Millennials, the NextGen municipal workers, use cloud-based apps, mobile devices, Google Docs or other technology alternatives that the baby boomer generation hasn’t come to rely on. They also want instant gratification. Turn it on and voila, there it is,” Kittle says.

Read another story about the coming Silver Tsunami of local government retirements here.

 

Michael Keating is senior editor for American City & County and the GPN web site. Contact: [email protected]

 

Tags: Procurement Co-op Solutions Article

Related


  • American City & County’s 2020 Crown Communities Awards
    Projects nominated for American City & County's annual Crown Communities Awards are judged on uniqueness, short- and long-term value to the community and effective/innovative financing.
  • Cooperative agreements and other tools can help lean-staffed procurement squads
    In 2021, county budgets are fairly tight, says John D. Tigert, purchasing services manager in Dorchester County, S.C.“Procurement budgets are largely staying the same, with outliers of course, depending on how the organization collects revenue and to what degree that revenue collection was impacted by COVID-19. Most procurement departments tend to run a very lean […]
  • Tennessee purchasing crew fine-tunes its pandemic response
    When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the two-person procurement team at Knoxville’s (Tenn.) Community Development Corp. (KCDC) leaped into action, says Terry McKee, IT and procurement director. “We immediately began seeking personal protective equipment (PPE) and supplies, which is not something that we have needed much of in the past. We also became the one open […]
  • New American City & County survey identifies biggest problems facing public procurement departments in pandemic
    A new, ongoing public procurement survey from American City & County and Bonfire shows that over half of surveyed procurement departments are struggling with their supply chains during the pandemic. So far, 66.67 percent of respondents have said that navigating supply chain shortages was a point of strain in their procurement processes in the pandemic. […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your American City and County account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Demonstrating the value of procurement: A call to action
  • Procurement Ponderable: Dealing with anxiety and depression
  • What does it really mean to be “green” from a public procurement perspective?
  • What tune will you play?

Twitter


AmerCityCounty

2020 Crown Communities winner: El Paso County, Texas’ pretrial justice modernization dlvr.it/Rv4GKL

6th March 2021
AmerCityCounty

A city’s innovative downtown master plan sees future in local, inclusive placemaking dlvr.it/Rv3SfM

5th March 2021
AmerCityCounty

2020 Crown Communities winner: Gainesville, Fla. closes Dignity Village and houses its homeless population dlvr.it/Rv1GS2

5th March 2021
AmerCityCounty

2020 Crown Communities Winner: South Bay Cities Council of Governments’ South Bay Fiber Network dlvr.it/Rv10b7

5th March 2021
AmerCityCounty

Senate American Rescue Plan includes more than $60 million in direct aid for counties dlvr.it/RtzvBK

4th March 2021
AmerCityCounty

ASCE releases 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure dlvr.it/Rtvck5

3rd March 2021
AmerCityCounty

Updating the assessor report: A new approach dlvr.it/RttvDv

3rd March 2021
AmerCityCounty

2020 Crown Communities winner: Phases 2 and 3 of Minot, N.D.’s Mouse River Enhanced Flood Protection Plan dlvr.it/RtrWMC

3rd March 2021

Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X