MPH 540 Module 4 Workforce and Human Resources Example

Keeping the People Who Keep Us Healthy: Human Resource Management in Public Health

Student Name

Master of Public Health Program, Aspen University

MPH 540: Public Health Administration

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

Keeping the People Who Keep Us Healthy: Human Resource Management in Public Health

Public health is delivered by people: epidemiologists, nurses, sanitarians, health educators, laboratory scientists and administrators. The COVID-19 pandemic stretched this workforce to its limits and accelerated departures. Managing human resources well is now one of the most urgent tasks for health department leaders. This paper examines the state of the workforce, the challenges of recruitment and retention and strategies for a composite health department.

The Workforce After the Pandemic

A nationally representative survey of state and local public health workers conducted from late 2021 to early 2022 found that 72% had worked fully or partly in a COVID-19 response role. An estimated 44% were considering leaving their jobs within five years, and 76% of those had begun thinking about leaving since the pandemic began. Asked what was needed besides funding, 51% named more staff capacity (Hare Bork et al., 2022).

Why Workers Leave

Workers cite pay below comparable private-sector jobs, burnout, lack of advancement, limited recognition and, during the pandemic, harassment and threats from the public. Retirement is also a major factor, since a large share of the workforce is older. Each departure takes experience and relationships that are hard to replace.

Challenges and Responses

The table summarizes key workforce challenges and management responses.

Recruitment

Recruitment can be slowed by civil service rules designed for fairness but taking months to fill positions. Departments can work with human resources offices to shorten timelines, use internships and fellowships as pipelines, recruit from the communities they serve and highlight public health's mission, which remains a strong draw for many applicants. Clear job descriptions written in plain language, posted where community members look for work, widen the applicant pool beyond people already familiar with government hiring. Offering starting salaries at the midpoint of a pay range for hard-to-fill roles also helps.

Retention

Retention depends on pay, meaningful work, supportive supervisors, growth opportunities and flexibility. Many public health workers value remote or hybrid work where duties allow. Recognition, such as awards and public acknowledgment of staff contributions, is low-cost and valued. Stay interviews, which ask current employees what holds them in the job and what could push them out, help managers act before resignations.

Workforce Development

Public health increasingly needs skills in data science, policy analysis, community engagement, systems thinking and communication. Frameworks for modern public health call on health departments to serve as chief health strategists who convene partners across sectors, which requires leadership and collaboration skills beyond traditional program management (DeSalvo et al., 2017). Training plans should be based on assessments of staff competencies.

Quality Improvement and Staff Engagement

Involving staff in improving how work is done can increase engagement and retention. Research on local health departments found that staff turnover was a major barrier to sustaining quality improvement, and that building quality improvement skills across all staff, not just a few, helped departments withstand departures (Verma & Moran, 2014).

Wellbeing

After the pandemic, many departments added employee assistance programs, peer support, manageable workloads and training for supervisors on recognizing burnout. Leaders who model rest and help-seeking signal that wellbeing is a priority. Leaders also review workloads after each emergency to restore normal hours quickly.

A Composite Retention Plan

A composite health department with 180 employees and a 19% annual turnover rate developed a plan: a pay study leading to raises for the most underpaid positions; a career ladder for environmental health specialists and nurses; hybrid schedules for eligible roles; quarterly stay interviews; a leadership academy for 12 emerging leaders each year; and a partnership with a state university for paid internships.

Measuring Progress

The department will track turnover and vacancy rates, time to fill positions, staff engagement survey scores and participation in training. Targets include reducing turnover to 12% within three years and filling vacancies within 60 days. Results will be shared with staff each quarter so they can see whether changes are working.

Diversity and Representation

A workforce that reflects the community it serves builds trust and improves communication. The national survey found that the public health workforce was predominantly White, female and over 40, with differences by agency type. Recruiting from local communities, supporting bilingual staff and creating pathways from community health worker roles to professional positions increase representation.

Supervisors as the Key

Supervisors shape daily experience at work more than any policy. Training supervisors in coaching, feedback, recognition and recognizing burnout is one of the most effective retention investments. Departments often promote technical experts into supervision without preparing them for managing people.

Using Data on the Workforce

Tracking turnover by division, reasons for leaving from exit interviews and engagement survey results helps managers target efforts. A spike in departures from one unit may reveal a supervision problem or workload imbalance that can be addressed quickly.

Succession Planning

Because many experienced staff are nearing retirement, departments should identify critical positions, document key knowledge and develop internal candidates. Succession planning prevents a single retirement from leaving a program without expertise.

Legal and Ethical Responsibilities

Human resource management must follow employment law, civil service rules and union agreements, and it must protect employees from harassment and discrimination. During the pandemic, some public health officials faced threats; departments strengthened security, legal support and policies for reporting harassment.

Workforce and the Community

A stable workforce also benefits residents. When nurses, inspectors and outreach workers stay in their roles, they build long-term relationships with families, businesses and partners. Turnover breaks those relationships, and new staff must rebuild trust. Retention is therefore a community health strategy as well as an internal management goal.

Conclusion

Public health's workforce is its most important resource, and it is under strain, with many workers considering leaving after the pandemic. Human resource management that addresses pay, burnout, advancement, hiring speed and skills can rebuild and retain the workforce. The composite department's plan shows how practical steps, measured over time, can turn a retention crisis into a stronger organization.

References

DeSalvo, K. B., Wang, Y. C., Harris, A., Auerbach, J., Koo, D., & O'Carroll, P. (2017). Public Health 3.0: A call to action for public health to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Preventing Chronic Disease, 14, Article E78. https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd14.170017

Hare Bork, R., Robins, M., Schaffer, K., Leider, J. P., & Castrucci, B. C. (2022). Workplace perceptions and experiences related to COVID-19 response efforts among public health workers: Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey, United States, September 2021-January 2022. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 71(29), 920-924. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7129a3

Verma, P., & Moran, J. W. (2014). Sustaining a quality improvement culture in local health departments applying for accreditation. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 20(1), 43-48. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0b013e3182a5a4a0