The First Nationally Representative Benchmark of the Local Governmental Public Health Workforce: Findings From the 2017 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey

Abstract

Context: A changing public health landscape requires local governmental health departments (LHDs) to have a workforce prepared to meet complex challenges. While previous assessments looked at organizational data on the LHD workforce, the Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS) is the first nationally representative survey to examine individual perceptions of training needs, workplace environment, job satisfaction, and awareness of emerging concepts in public health. Objectives: Characterize key interests and needs of the local governmental public health workforce. Design: Survey invitations were sent to individual LHD employees on the basis of a stratified sampling approach. The LHDs had to employ a minimum of 25 staff and serve a population of 25 000 or greater to be eligible for inclusion. Setting: 399 LHDs across the United States. Participants: A total of 26 533 LHD employees completed the survey (59% response rate). Results: The majority of local public health workers are female (81%, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 78%-84%) and white non-Hispanic (68%, 95% CI: 64%-72%). Of the nearly quarter of workers who declared an intent to leave within the next year excluding retirement (22%, 95% CI: 19%-25%), the most common reasons included pay (46%, 95% CI: 42%-50%), lack of opportunities for advancement (40%, 95% CI: 38%-50%), and workplace environment (30%, 95% CI: 27%-32%). Across jurisdiction size and supervisory level, skills gaps were noted in budget and financial management, systems and strategic thinking, developing a vision for a healthy community, and change management. Conclusions: As the first nationally representative sample of the local governmental public health workforce, these data create a national benchmark against which LHDs can measure their workforce. Given the similarities found across LHDs serving different jurisdiction sizes, a unified approach to workforce development should be employed across all LHDs. The LHD leadership should address retention, reward creativity and innovation, improve communication between leadership and employees, and provide opportunities for advancement.

The Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS 2017): An Expanded Perspective on the State Health Agency Workforce

“…Another limitation is the self-reported nature of the data; this is especially worthy of consideration in analyzing training needs and skill gaps. Finally, these data should be viewed as generalizable only to SHA-CO staff; analyses of local health department staff are conducted elsewhere in this supplement 28,29…”

Master’s-Level Education in the Governmental Public Health Workforce

“…Cultural 26 As such, our findings are expected to be broadly generalizable to the state and local governmental public health workforce.…”

“…Data for decision-making 26 (24)(25)(26)(27) 17 (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21) <.001 24 (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33) 19 (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22) .37…”

Public Health Employees’ Perceptions about the Impact of Emerging Public Health Trends on Their Day-to-Day Work: Effects of Organizational Climate and Culture

“…This study utilized data from the 2017 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS). The 2017 PH WINS was conducted by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and de Beaumont Foundation and it is the only nationally-representative survey of the United States public health workforce, at both state and local levels [ 29 , 30 , 31 ]. The aims of the survey were: to inform the public health workforce regarding future development initiatives; create a key workforce development metrics baseline; and explore the attitudes, morale, and climate of the public health workforce [ 29 , 30 ].…”