Reinventing How Public Entities Attract and Keep Talent

Public entities are navigating a workforce crisis that continues to reshape service delivery and risk. The talent pool has been shrinking since before the pandemic, but COVID-19 accelerated retirements, career changes and new expectations for flexibility and compensation. 

Private employers tend to move faster and pay more, widening the gap. However, this doesn’t mean that public entities are left without options in today’s competitive job market.

During the University Risk Management and Insurance Association’s (URMIA’s) 2025 annual conference in Las Vegas, Scott McNea, Alliant Public Entity, discussed how public entities can compete with the private sector, retain institutional knowledge and build resilient teams, allowing them to effectively meet their missions and serve the public interest. Read the key takeaways from his presentation below. 

The State of the Public Sector Workforce

The public sector workforce today can be characterized by the following factors:

• Lengthy hiring speeds: Private employers can hire within 30–40 days; public entities can take 4–6 months. The lag compounds vacancies and increases overtime and burnout.
• Widening pay gaps: As of late 2024, federal employees on average earned nearly 25% less than private-sector workers in similar jobs, according to the Federal Salary Council.
• Experience is walking out the door: Retiring generations in utilities, water and public works take decades of hands-on knowledge with them—skills that are not easily replaced by automation.
• Shifting expectations: Nearly half of workers say they won’t consider a job without remote or flexible options, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Most public roles can’t offer full flexibility, making culture and engagement more important than ever.

As these workforce challenges grow, it is critical that public entities take steps today to proactively recruit, retain and engage employees and effectively compete with the private sector.

3 Proven Strategies to Recruit Talent to the Public Sector

To build a robust workforce, you must begin with a strategic recruiting strategy that brings talented individuals to the table. These steps can help bolster your employee recruiting efforts:

1. Enhance visibility and reach

Posting a job online isn’t enough. Private employers meet candidates through job fairs, school partnerships and military transition programs. Public entities must do the same and go where the talent is.

2. Remove outdated qualifications

Requiring a four-year degree for every role rules out qualified candidates with trade, military or field experience. Updating job requirements expands access to capable workers.

3. Accelerate hiring cycles

Budget approvals, layers of review and paper-based systems stretch hiring timelines. Streamlining paperwork, digitizing forms and setting faster interview cycles can cut hiring time in half.

How Public Entities Can Retain and Engage Employees

Strong public sector teams reduce loss costs, improve service delivery and support better insurance outcomes. To enhance employee engagement and retention, public entities should employ the following strategies: 

• Consider pay and progression: Losing a trained employee often costs more than a raise. Establish clear advancement paths and timely adjustments for top performers.
• Take steps today to tackle burnout: As vacancies grow, workloads increase. Engagement and performance drop when relief never comes. Implement policies to distribute work evenly across team members and provide flexible time-off policies to give employees the opportunity to recharge. 
• Build a workplace culture that incorporates flexibility: Even when remote work isn’t possible, small schedule adjustments—staggered starts, compressed weeks or flexible lunches—show trust and improve morale.
• Communicate the value of benefits: Public employees often underestimate the long-term worth of strong health, retirement and leave programs. Leaders should connect those benefits to real-life impact.

Your employees push forward your mission, empowering you to continue providing pivotal services for the public. Helping employees understand the clear relationship between their efforts and your ability to serve the public interest can help to increase engagement, productivity and cultivate a greater sense of purpose—all of which support enhanced retention rates. 

6 Practical Steps Forward to Navigate the Public Sector Workforce Crisis

These practical next steps can help improve employee acquisition and retention rates for public entities:

• Update job qualifications: Focus on skills, reliability and collaboration—not just credentials.
• Streamline hiring: Remove redundant approvals, digitize processes and empower HR to act quickly.
• Listen and act: Regular employee surveys mean little without follow-through. Implement visible changes, even small ones.
• Reward growth: Promote internally where possible and recognize contributions often.
• Be flexible: Adjust schedules when possible to support work-life balance and retention.
• Build local partnerships: Form local partnerships that add value without large budgets—collaborate with schools, workforce boards and community organizations to create internship pipelines. Explore creative perks through local attractions, such as museums or parks, that foster pride of place.

Developing clear career paths and opportunities for growth can help attract and retain public sector employees, decreasing the gap between the private and public sector’s offerings. 

How Alliant Public Entity Supports Employee Acquisition and Retention

Drawing from decades of experience developing customized risk management strategies, our team of specialists at Alliant Public Entity can work with you to align workforce strategies with claims prevention and renewal goals—turning talent retention into a measurable risk management advantage.

Contact a specialist from Alliant Public Entity today to develop strategic insurance solutions and strategies designed to help your public entity navigate the public sector workforce crisis and stay resilient.