Investing in Our Hidden Critical Infrastructure: People

With $1.2 trillion at stake, local and state governments are determining how to rejuvenate our critical infrastructure. Yet, one form of infrastructure is silently bearing the weight: the people who will create and maintain our future roads, transit, bridges, power grids, and water. Our public service entities can give voice and visibility to these workers now, using the Congressional investment from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to building the skills and resilience of this workforce.

Meet Pat, a 30-year veteran water utility general foreman who starts his day before dawn, ensuring the city's water systems run smoothly. His workload has increased dramatically as aging, century-old infrastructure demands constant attention. Pat's cellphone ringing with urgent calls – a burst water main, a filtration issue at the treatment plant, a new team member needing guidance. Despite his decades of experience, Pat struggles with a shrinking team, bureaucratic red tape, and fragmented technology that delays critical work. The physical and mental toll is heavy, yet he presses on, driven by the belief that his work is essential for his community's well-being.

As you think about Pat’s experience, the question we need to ask ourselves is, are we putting the same deliberate intention into building resilience and sustainability in our workforce as we are in our physical structures?

The Critical Workforce: Not a one mindset fits all

While all employers are facing talent challenges, the public sector struggles in ways that private organizations don’t. In addition to Pat, consider two other individuals who reflect the untapped potential within our public sector workforce.

First, meet Alex, a fresh college graduate with a tech degree, eager to start a career in cybersecurity. After facing hiring freezes at places like Meta and Amazon, Alex turns to the public sector, landing a position at the state's Department of Transportation. With a fresh perspective and digital fluency, Alex is ready to modernize outdated systems and enhance security measures. However, Alex is overwhelmed by the bureaucratic maze and hierarchical structure that stifles innovation. Opportunities for growth and professional development are scarce, with no clear paths for advancement or mentorship. Despite proposing new cybersecurity solutions, Alex's ideas often meet resistance from colleagues set in their ways. Alex's initial excitement turns into frustration as the promise of a dynamic and impactful career feels increasingly out of reach, and he considers making a career change to better align with his values.

Next, there’s Jamie, who is in the middle of their career at a public transportation authority. As a middle manager, Jamie has spent years navigating the complexities of urban transit systems, ensuring that buses and trains run on schedule, and resolving operational hiccups that arise daily. Jamie's dedication and hard work have earned her respect among peers and subordinates alike. Yet, despite her accomplishments, Jamie feels stuck. The opportunities for specialization and advancement seem murky at best. With no clear career pathways or professional development programs in place, Jamie is left to wonder if their skills will ever be fully realized. Each day, Jamie watches younger colleagues enter the workforce with fresh ideas and technological expertise, while the higher echelons of leadership remain elusive. The frustration grows as Jamie's requests for further training and mentorship go unanswered, leaving her to navigate her career progression alone.

Lastly, let's think of Pat, the general foreman you met earlier. Pat's journey started three decades ago during a significant hiring surge in the 80s. With a wealth of knowledge and unparalleled experience on the complicated water supply system he’s built his career around, Pat worries about who will take up the mantle once he retires. The next generation seems ill-prepared and inexperienced, and the gap in institutional and system knowledge is glaring.

Alex, Jamie, and Pat highlight the diverse mindsets and needs within our workforce. Unions have been instrumental in advocating for their development, but more needs to be done to cater to each mindset and maintain a resilient, future-ready workforce.

Market Forces Reshaping Workforce Dynamics

Public service organizations has specific and unique challenges that make it difficult to attract and retain the top talent necessary to keep our critical systems operating.

Aging Workforce: With 30% of US Federal employees set to retire in the next five years, there’s a looming knowledge gap. Look at our friend Pat—he is nearing retirement now which puts the organization in a business continuity and succession planning risk. Has his organization invested in developing the next generation of foreman? How does an organization “fast-track” 30 years of skill development on systems that may not be the shiniest or newest for employees more junior in their careers?

Talent Attraction: Public sector roles struggle to attract talent due to lower salaries and perceptions of being less dynamic than private sector jobs. I continue to work with clients who tell me that they have a backlog of vacancies in their organization. Candidates want to be wooed over, and public sector organizations struggle to proactively attract fresh talent to bring in new skills.

Skills Gap: There’s an urgent need for digital fluency and leadership skills as work becomes more relationship-oriented. If we return to Jamie, she is passing the inflection point from individual contributor to business leader, and she struggles to understand how to identify needed skills and the needed mentorship to develop those skills. What has made Jamie successful up until this point is not what will continue to progress her career, and it’s important that her organization clearly articulates and supports development of her skills.

Career Pathways: The lack of clear development pathways stifles the growth of high-potential talent. With an employee early in his career like Alex, public sector organizations risk losing top-tier talent because of obscurity and bureaucracy around navigating promotions. Without clear guidance and a clear employee value case, Alex’s organization risks losing him to their “competitors”. While public service organizations tend to operate in a monopoly of services, they do not work in a monopoly of talent—employees have options and will go to the place that aligns best with their mindset.

Public Perception: Increasingly, frontline employees must build trust with citizens and enhance customer-centricity. In an ever increasingly divisive political world, frontline public service employees are facing the brunt of citizens dissatisfaction in government services. Coupled with the aftermath of Covid where many public sector employees were required to continue working on-site with no remote work reprieve, these frontline employees carry a heavy mental load that many leaders are oblivious to.

Needed Talent Investments Public Sector Organizations Must Make

To tackle these challenges, public sector organizations need strategic talent investments:

• Generative AI: Deploy Generative AI in ways that free up employees from transactional tasks, allowing for more creativity and innovation in their roles
• Skills-Based Sourcing & Hiring: Shift to skills-based hiring, prioritizing lived experiences over degrees and qualification, reshaping how talent is sourced, hired, and developed.
• Internal Talent Mobility: Create opportunities for employees to move between roles and projects based on their skills and developmental needs. Use data-driven skills-based models to provide transparency for how employees can develop their careers, not just within their agency but across government institutions within a jurisdiction.
• Performance & Rewards: Differentiate rewards and recognition based on skills to enhance motivation and retention, supported by real-time feedback.
• Market Trends: Emphasize employee satisfaction and engagement is driving changes in talent management practices.
• Technological Advancements: Utilize digital platforms like Oracle and Workday and enable your business leaders to harness data to build a robust workforce by strategically forecasting where their talent base needs to be.

These solutions will affect individuals differently, but the underlying principles are essential for all.

Invest in your people

Now is the time for a balanced investment in both our physical infrastructure and our people. Public sector organizations must prioritize workforce development to ensure the sustainability and future readiness of our critical infrastructure. By building a resilient workforce, we can support our nation's growth and innovation for years to come.

?Please note: all people named in this post are fictionalized personas.