September 2024
Since when do college graduates care about retirement benefits?
Valerie Capers-Workman, chief legal officer at Handshake, asked this rhetorical question to a packed room of PSHRA24 attendees as she kicked off the Thursday, Sept. 5 concurrent session, “Attracting Gen Z to the Public Sector: Best Practices from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the City of Philadelphia.”
The implication, of course, is that the average recent college grad probably isn’t devoting much mental energy to thinking about their security in retirement 40 or so years down the road.
That notion, however, wouldn’t be accurate, said Capers-Workman.
Gen Z workers not only care deeply about their financial future beyond their working years, but many feel as if they’re on track to meet their retirement goals. One 2024 survey, for instance, found more than three quarters of Gen Z employees saying they’re on course to “retire with the lifestyle they want.”
But that’s not all that’s on Gen Z workers’ minds, Capers-Workman added.
“They also want to make an impact in their work. They care about social issues,” she said, adding that the public sector “offers a great opportunity to make an impact on their communities, on their states. These are some of the reasons why the public sector is becoming much more attractive to young talent.”
Indeed, recent data finds public sector workers under the age of 35 feeling positive about their time spent in public service, with more than 60% expressing satisfaction with their job security, quality of their colleagues and the opportunity to serve their communities.
During their 50-minute presentation at PSHRA24, Candi Blossom Jones, first deputy director of human resources for the City of Philadelphia, and Mike DeRose, director of HR with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) joined Capers-Workman to discuss their strategies for attracting the next generation of talent to public service.
For the City of Philadelphia, that strategy includes stressing the generous benefits package that the city’s employees receive.
“We survey our employees about their benefits, and we’ve found that 97% of them feel we have a good benefits package,” said Blossom Jones, adding that ensuring employees understand their benefits is a key contributor to that figure.
“For example, our benefits manager does a lot of wellness events, competitions and webinars with our workers, to communicate what their benefits are,” she continued. “We’re very much ‘in your face’ about what the City has to offer as an employer, such as free public transportation for all City employees, for example.”
MDHHS stresses the agency’s benefits package during the recruitment and hiring process as well, said DeRose, noting that he sometimes shows job candidates a calendar that highlights the 15 to 35 paid holidays they would receive as MDHHS employees.
He also stresses to applicants that they would have the ability to make a difference in their community by working with the department, with videos on the MDHHS website, for example.
“Anything we share [with would-be employees] online is trying to tell a story,” DeRose said. “It could be specific to someone in our department trying to unify a family, or just describing the work we do. We also have video testimonials from existing employees. We try to be very transparent, letting people know that we’re about helping people.”
Blossom Jones describes the City of Philadelphia’s approach to attracting young talent as “mission-driven recruiting” rather than focusing on specific job roles.
“As opposed to telling applicants they can apply for this job and become a police officer, we’re stressing that you can make an impact for your family and the citizens of Philadelphia by working here, no matter what you do.”
