Public health workforce challenges have become increasingly important in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and broader labor market disruptions. The Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS) provides critical national data on governmental public health employees, offering insight into workforce experiences, retention, and organizational needs. This article examines how trends identified in…
Recruitment and retention have remained ongoing challenges for the public health workforce for decades. Health departments struggle to attract and retain workers due to a wide range of long-standing barriers, including insufficient funding, unclear public health position advertisements, and protracted hiring processes with complex administrative requirements. Such challenges not only limit the ability to fill…
Understaffing is a chronic public health challenge. Ensuring a sustainable public health workforce requires innovative recruitment and retention strategies. Recommended strategies include holistic recruitment efforts in collaboration with community and academic partners, enhanced leadership training, staff compensation reviews, flexible work arrangements, and worker wellbeing initiatives. This article discusses the creation of the “Putting Our People…
Salary disparities emphasize the urgency of rectifying pay inequities in public health occupations. However, many public health positions are governed by state employee pay structures that cannot be changed for only one agency. Given the challenges of increasing governmental pay just for public health, additional approaches are needed for public health recruitment and retention that…
