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RISING TO THE CHALLENGE:
Recruitment and Retention in State
Procurement Offices,
a NASPO Research Paper
Moderator: James Staton (District of
Columbia)
Panelists: Mary Cheryl Dorwart (Texas)
Mike Richart (Pennsylvania)
Rose Svitak (Minnesota)
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Agenda
• Define the Generations
• Workforce Statistics
• Workforce Challenges
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Defining the Generations
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Defining the Generations
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Defining the Generations
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Defining the Generations
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Workforce Statistics
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Workforce Statistics - Projections
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Procurement’s Generational Distribution
30
25
24
20
17
15
10
6
5
0
Gen X
Gen Y
Boomer
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Procurement’s Generational Distribution
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Attrition by Generation
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Challenges
•
•
•
•
•
Recruitment
Communication
Training
Retention
“Corporate Structure”
Silver
Tsunami
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Final Thought
“Managing multigenerational workforces is an art in
itself. Young workers want to make a quick impact, the
middle generation needs to believe in the mission, and
older employees don’t like ambivalence! Your move!”
Harvard Business School “Working Knowledge” Newsletter - April 17, 2006:! “Can you manage different generations?”
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Turnover and Retention Rates
 Total cost of replacing and hiring new staff (including training and
loss of productivity) can be as high as 90% to 200% of an
employee’s annual salary. (Society for Human Resource Management, 2008
Executive Brief: Tracking Trends in Employee Turnover)
 Tenure among public sector employees was 7.8 years in 2012,
almost double the median tenure of private sector employees.
(2012 Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employee Tenure Summary)
 Older employees have longer tenures than their younger
counterparts. (2012 Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employee Tenure Summary)
 Employee engagement increases with the employee’s age, tenure
and time spent performing their current role. (2014 BlessingWhite
Research)
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Turnover in State Procurement Offices
 The majority of state central procurement offices
has turnover rates of 10% or less.
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10
10
11
8
6
6
4
4
2
0
0
less than 5%
6 – 10%
11 – 25%
26 – 50%
more than 50%
Source: 2013 NASPO Staff Recruitment and Retention Survey
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Retention in State Procurement Offices
 Less than 1/3 of state central procurement offices have
retention rates between 8 and 15 years.
 Nine states have really long average retention periods
of more than 15 years (CT, ME, MN, MO, NE, NJ, NV, OK,
SD).
 No state central procurement office has average
retention rates shorter than 3 years.
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Addressing the Challenges
Top reasons for separations: retirement and opportunities for
career advancement.
Reasons Employees Give for Leaving
(2013 NASPO Staff Recruitment and Retention Survey)
Retirement
Career Advancement
Transfer to another Position
Better Compensation/Benefits
New Job with a Private Entity
Wrong Fit
Other
Workload
Lack of Workplace Flexibility
Poor Management
Return to School
1
1
1
0
4
4
5
5
17
12
6
10
15
20
22
21
25
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Addressing the Challenges
 Government employees continue to be asked to do more with
less.
 40% of state central procurement offices described their offices
as understaffed, as compared with growing workload
expectations.
 Less than half of the states have a formal training program for
procurement professionals.
 Major
•
•
•
challenges to hiring:
Limited pool of qualified candidates
Non-competitive salaries
Budgets
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Current Practices, Available Strategies and Solutions
Procurement Experience
Required for Procurement
Positions
 Specific procurement
knowledge and professional
certifications are important
to performing the
procurement function.
Source: 2013 NASPO Staff Recruitment and
Retention Survey
Yes
10
No
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 Most states (72 %) use
procurement-specific
interviews to evaluate
candidates’ procurement
knowledge in addition to
their critical thinking skills
and personality traits.
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Current Practices, Available Strategies and Solutions
 Successful recruitment practices used by central
procurement offices:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Job postings on the organization’s web site
Job postings on other web sites
Employee referrals
Job postings on the NASPO Network
Job postings on LinkedIn
Internship programs
Hiring people with limited procurement experience,
but high potential and good academic records
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Current Practices, Available Strategies and Solutions
 Talent management strategies used by central procurement
offices:
•
•
•
•
Training
Orientation and Onboarding
Knowledge transfer
Mentoring
 Incentives used to retain state procurement professionals:
•
•
•
•
•
Flexible working hours and telework
Retirement benefits
Internal promotion opportunities
Reward systems based on merit and work performance
Salary increases based on seniority and/or length of service
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Thank You!
Questions?
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