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The Public Eye Podcast uncovers and celebrates excellence at all levels of public sector HR. Produced by the Public Sector HR Association, providing human resource leadership, advocacy, professional development, and community for HR professionals in the public sector.
52 Episodes
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Jeanette Hamilton, director of human resources at North Valley Hospital, Okanogan County Public Hospital District #4, recently joined the Public Eye podcast for our first-ever episode with a live audience! Jeanette sat down with us on Sept. 30 at the Hilton Cleveland Downtown, site of PSHRA's 2025 national conference, to share her thoughts on the event, and talk about how she and her "scrappy" HR team are overcoming the biggest challenges facing them at the moment.
Pete Blank, training and organizational development manager with the Personnel Board of Jefferson County in Birmingham, Ala., recently joined the Public Eye podcast to give us a preview of his upcoming presentation at PSHRA25, to be held Sept. 29 - Oct. 1 at the Hilton Cleveland Downtown. At the conference, Pete will discuss the J.O.B.S. Model of Employee Engagement, exploring the four key drivers that influence how employees feel about their work: Love Your Job, Love Your Organization, Love Your Boss, and Love Your Squad. Here, Pete gives us a sneak peek at his PSHRA25 session, including some practical strategies for leaders to foster an engaged workforce by strengthening those four pillars.
The passage of OBBA, signed into law on July 4, figures to reverberate throughout the public sector for years to come. The nearly $4 trillion economic and tax package includes major cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and other programs, and investments in immigration enforcement and national defense. Now, state and local governments are working to implement the bill and its changes. Jason Briefel, partner and director of government and public affairs at Washington, D.C.-based Shaw Bransford & Roth, recently joined the Public Eye podcast to talk about OBBA's potential impact at the state and local government levels, in the short- and long-term.
Each year since 2009, PSHRA® has partnered with MissionSquare Research Institute and the National Association of State Personnel Executives (NASPE) to conduct an annual survey focusing on the recruitment, retention, compensation, organizational culture and other top priorities for public sector HR leaders. Gerald Young, senior researcher at MissionSquare, recently joined the Public Eye podcast to chat about the results from this year’s State and Local Government Workforce Survey, including the key finding that recruiting challenges seem to be easing up a bit for public sector employers.
Anthony Fasano, human resources manager with the Village of Alsip, Ill., recently joined the Public Eye podcast to chat about the Village of Alsip’s recent experience with implementing a new human resource information system, or HRIS. Anthony told us a bit about the implementation process, what led the Village of Alsip to adopt a new HRIS, how they overcame hurdles along the way, and what sort of advice he had for his public sector HR peers in organizations embarking on the same type of HRIS journey.
Any public sector HR leader knows that the competition for top talent is fierce, and public sector employers need any edge they can get. That said, some contend that the government hiring process is antiquated, or that it takes too long to fill vacancies. And that can lead some very qualified and talented candidates to drop out and start looking somewhere else for their next opportunity. Melissa Barker, vice president of practice development with Phoenix, Ariz-based recruitment firm The Duffy Group, recently joined the Public Eye podcast to talk about how making tweaks to the hiring process can help public sector employers address such issues.
Earlier this year, PSHRA® conducted a survey of more than 400 public sector HR professionals, in an effort to identify patterns and trends with regard to public sector organizations’ focus on employee well-being. Overall, our findings suggest that public sector employers are still very much focusing on employee mental health, but many workers—including those in HR—are still experiencing mental well-being issues, driven by workload, burnout, poor work/life balance and other factors. PSHRA CEO Cara Woodson Welch recently joined the Public Eye podcast to discuss the survey, what the findings say to her, and what the results should say to public sector HR leaders.
Leeza Garber is a cybersecurity and privacy attorney. She teaches Internet Law, Privacy, and Cybersecurity at The Wharton School, and Information Privacy Law at Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law. Leeza also owns her own executive education company, and consults on best practices for the implementation of AI, cybersecurity and privacy programs. Leeza recently joined the Public Eye podcast to talk about cybersecurity in public sector agencies, and the critical role that the HR function plays in keeping public sector organizations safe from growing cyber threats.
Dr. Milton J. Perkins – known to many simply as Dr. P - is the senior vice president with ActOne Government Solutions, which designs and provides workforce solutions for private and public sector entities. At ActOne, Dr. Perkins spearheads the delivery of people-centric solutions to a diverse range of clients, developing HR consulting content, research and implementation strategies. One of Dr. Perkins’ areas of expertise is diverse, equity and inclusion. Dr. P recently joined the Public Eye podcast to discuss how recent developments around DEI in the workplace are impacting the public sector.
Work for America recently introduced Civic Match, a platform designed to help displaced government workers find their next career opportunity at the state and local levels of government. Caitlin Lewis, executive director of Work for America, recently joined us on the Public Eye podcast to provide an overview of the Civic Match initiative, its origins, why it exists and why its so critical at this moment we’re in.
Andrea Cutler is the head of AAC Consulting Services, the HR and risk management consultancy that she has run in the Las Vegas area since retiring after a 30-plus year career in public sector HR. And, as of Jan. 1, 2025, Andrea is also the current President of PSHRA®’s Executive Council, playing a crucial role in helping lead the Association and fulfill its mission. Public Eye sat down for a Q&A with Andrea in early January, to get her insight—as a consultant and as PSHRA® President—on what she sees around the corner for public sector HR in 2025, and what sort of goals she has for PSHRA® as an organization over the next 12 months.
Michele Dempster, human resources director and character coordinator with the City of Owasso, Okla., recently joined Public Eye for a chat about the City's increased focus on mental well-being benefits for its 300 employees. In addition to sharing examples of how the mental health resources the City is offering is saving employees' lives, Michele filled us in on some of the mental health-related initiatives that she and the City's HR team are prioritizing in the year ahead.
Anni Evans, director of human resources with the Town of Bluffton in South Carolina, recently wrote an article on the Town’s recently implemented parental leave policy for the September/October edition of PSHRA’s Public Eye, the Association’s bi-monthly digital publication available only to PSHRA members. On the heels of that article, Anni joined our Public Eye podcast to discuss that policy a bit further. In July of this year, the Town of Bluffton received approval from the town council to offer paid parental leave to its 140-plus full-time employees. And Anni told us a little bit about why Bluffton wanted to offer paid parental leave to all of its new parents, the role that she and her HR team played in designing that leave policy, and the advice she would offer other agencies looking to do the same.
Joining us to kick off the second season of the PSHRA® Public Eye podcast is current PSHRA Executive Council President Mark Van Bruggen. Mark is also the HR consultant to the chief of staff at the New Jersey Civil Service Commission, and a great representative of PSHRA. Mark has spent his entire professional career of more than 35 years working for the NJ CSC. In 1996, he became a member of PSHRA® when he and several colleagues re-chartered the New Jersey chapter. He has served the association in numerous leadership positions at the chapter, regional and national level over the years, and was recently recognized with the 2024 PSHRA® President's Award for his commitment and dedication in leading the association and its mission. Mark recently sat down with Mark McGraw, editor of publications at PSHRA, during a quick break at the PSHRA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., where the Marks discussed some highlights from the conference, Mark’s tenure as PSHRA President, and the exciting places PSHRA is headed in the future.
Our guest Chris Starling is the Executive Director of NPower SkillBridge, which helps active duty service members in their last six months in uniform transition into cyber-warriors, giving them the skills to go from defending the nation to defending the network. Chris joins us to discuss how their program works, trends in skills-based hiring, the job market for cyber skills, and the challenges of transitioning from the military to the civilian sector.This marks the last episode of our first season of the Public Eye podcast. The pod is taking a hiatus for now, but we'd love to get your feedback on what we can do to bring it back better than ever!Share your feedback at https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7689771/Public-Eye-podcast-survey-2024
Will Markow is Vice President of Applied Research at Lightcast, a company that connects people with jobs by providing businesses, communities, and education institutions with the best labor market data possible. He joins us to discuss the gap between the demand and supply of cyber workers, the broad implications if this gap is to continue, and how skills-based hiring can narrow the gap and help fill the cyber pipeline.
Viva Asmelash and Michael Gregor, co-founders of Liberation Labs join us to discuss “feedback”: the importance of culturally aware feedback, how different segments of the population receive feedback, productive ways of giving and getting feedback, and best practices in ensuring a healthy "feedback culture." We look forward to your, er, feedback.
Neena Kovuru is a HCM thought leader and consultant who, through public speaking, shares ideas on many HR topics including strategic and purpose-driven leadership, HR technologies, company culture, and DEI&B. She has worked in both private and public sectors in her career and joins us to discuss data-driven decision making for strategic HR, and the role of AI in Human Resources.
Our guest Shola Richards is a sought-after workplace civility expert who speaks, coaches, consults, and is the best-selling author of two books on workplace bullying. He and his work have been featured on the Today Show, CBS, Forbes, Black Enterprise, and numerous other venues. Shola's most recent book is titled, Go Together: How the Concept of Ubuntu will Change How We Work, Live and Lead, which is what our conversation primarily focused on – with several detours into our shared passion for NBA basketball (and basketball podcasts). Warning: Parts of this episode touch on suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with your mental health, call or text 988.
Dr. Rivka Liss-Levinson, Senior Research Manager at MissionSquare Research Institute, discusses their recently published report on the experiences of younger public service employees – a critical issue as attracting and retaining talent, particularly among those 35 and younger, is one of the top challenges public sector agencies face today. Rivka shares findings on job satisfaction, stress levels, factors that attracted younger employees to public sector work, and what leaders should prioritize in order to attract and retain more talent.
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