“The Great Resignation” Brings Employee Engagement Front and Center in Research Study Report from NASCA and Benefitfocus

Employee engagement was identified as a top ten priority for state Chief Administrators long before the unprecedented events that occurred in 2020. Public sector and private sector organizations are both experiencing significant turnover due to the influence of recent events which sparked the discussion of what state Chief Administrators can do to address these concerns.

The new report, “Employee Engagement: A View From The Top,” adds to 2022 research by NASCA and Benefitfocus, honing in on methodologies to effectively transform the entire lifecycle of state government employment.  

This report identifies employee engagement - including recruitment, retention, merit-based incentives for performance, and employee feedback - as priorities for improving the state's status from a last resort employer to an employer of choice. There is a great deal of concern regarding the extensive onboarding process, as a great majority of respondents in the survey indicated that less than half agreed that their state did a good job of onboarding and preparing its state employees for their new roles and responsibilities.  

Moreover, the same survey found that 40 percent of respondents indicated that state service and employee accountability is not always reinforced or tied to something both meaningful and measurable. Over eighty percent of states conduct outgoing engagement, but only twenty percent apply findings to refine recruitment 

Additionally, this report includes a case study that is centrally focused on employee engagement and the prescribed actions taken to mitigate significant turnover. Recommendations to bolster employee engagement efforts are also detailed in the report that gives CAOs the blueprint for effectively recruit and retain highly-coveted talent in state government.