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82 Strategies to Attract and Retain a Capable Transportation Workforce
11.1 Workforce Challenges. Programs related to "Improving Culture/Climate" are typically
designed to address challenges associated with creating a strong and supportive environment where
employees feel they "fit." These challenges should be carefully considered before selecting the program
that would best fit the needs of your agency. For example, these are common challenges agencies face:
Applicant Trust After Layoffs. Organizations that are laying-off employees or implementing hiring
freezes are challenged when they reinitiate hiring. Applicants who are aware of the lay-offs tend to look
for other organizations that they believe are more stable.
Public Sector Challenges. Results indicated that organizations are challenged with retaining employees
who are frustrated by political cycles, such as when one political appointee pressures workers to complete
a project before the end of a term and then the next political appointee asks them to reverse their efforts or
leave tasks unfinished. Organizations also struggle to maintain the same level of employee recognition
and motivation when they are forced to eliminate picnics, parties, and bonuses because of changes in
budget allocations.
Retaining a Diverse Workforce. Participants suggested organizations are challenged with retaining
women who decide that the nature of the work environment is not the right fit for them. This could occur
because of lack of workplace flexibility in accommodating changing family or caretaking demands, lack
of comfort with workplace culture, physical demands, or other reasons.
11.2 Industry Strategies. Researchers and program managers identify the following
programmatic strategies when describing industry efforts in "Improving Culture/Climate" (see Exhibit
11-2). While these strategies represent the general direction of human resource (HR) departments across
the nation, it is important that the specific needs of your agency are used to guide the development and
implementation of a program in your agency.
Exhibit 11-2
Industry Strategies: Improving Culture/Climate
Strategy Strategy Description
Improve the Work Participants indicated that retention can be improved by creating a safe and
Environment diverse work environment. They indicated that if organizations took real steps
to improve safety in the workplace, workers would be more likely to stay with
an organization. Some organizations have been successful in holding regular
meetings with workers to gather feedback about unsafe situations.
Engage the Community Organizations work with community and school organizations (such as
attending meetings and developing partnerships) to achieve the following:
improve industry image, build a network of employee candidates, gain
community support, improve visibility in the local community, and make
community members aware of industry needs and career options. As
mentioned, our participants indicated that employees often feel a greater
commitment to organizations that give back to the community.
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Improving Culture/Climate 83
Exhibit 11-2 (Continued)
Industry Strategies: Improving Culture/Climate
Strategy Strategy Description
Survey and Interview In the past, satisfaction surveys have been used to assess the climate of the
entire organization and some changes in policy were made based on the
feedback gained. With larger organizations, the policy changes that positively
affected one group may have caused another group to become dissatisfied.
Organizations are now using more satisfaction or climate surveys with smaller
groups than in the past. These surveys are being administered to teams, offices,
or communities of practice, instead of entire organizations in order to more
specifically identify potential issues. Larger organizations found that this was
more effective in meeting the unique needs of the smaller, more manageable
groups. Employee engagement is another area being assessed through
organizational surveys. Employee engagement is the extent to which an
employee feels a sense of commitment to the organization and to the work that
they do. Organizations have found that engagement typically impacts the
retention of high performers whereas satisfaction tends to have a greater affect
on the retention of medium performers or "worker-bees." A 2008 survey on
global talent management found the following were the top six factors for men
and women, with regard to engagement: (1) Having a Supportive Work
Environment, (2) Having a Challenging Job, (3) Having a Good Fit between
Life On and Off the Job, (4) Working at a Company that Has High Values, (5)
Being Well Compensated, and (6) Having the Opportunity for High
Achievement (Galinsky, Carter, and Bond, 2008).
Organizations also use exit interviews to gather feedback from employees who
have decided to leave the organization. An exit interview is a series of
questions that are either asked face-to-face with the employee or in the form of
a survey. The value of an exit interview is that the employee may give more
honest feedback because they are no longer part of the organization. The
method of exit interviewing varies. Organizations have found success when
former employees have the option of being anonymous when providing
feedback and if they are given the option of filling out the survey after their
last day at work. These two strategies may elicit more honest feedback that
should be considered when organizational policy changes or personnel
decisions are made.
Finally, organizations have started to notify employees via email and web
portals when action is either taken or not taken based on employee feedback.
This conveys a sense of transparency to the employee making them feel that
the organization is listening to them as a collective group. Two factors that are
important to consider with feedback systems to maintain their effectiveness
are: (1) that some of the feedback must be acted upon and (2) if feedback is not
acted upon, it must be accompanied by an explanation.
Engage the Employees For newer employees, organizations have begun to implement a second
orientation session around 6 months after employees are hired to go over more
of the organization's history, objectives, and goals, as well as re-emphasizing
benefit enrollment, corporate policy, and security compliance. Organizations
have found that there is only a finite amount of information employees can
handle when they are starting a new job but that they are more
