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Request a DemoState agencies are bleeding staff and seeking younger workers
Job turnover among Georgia state employees is at an all-time high — 26%, leading to compromised services in some departments, heavier workloads and more stress for the remaining employees.
State officials are trying new ways to draw people into public service and to keep them longer.
What’s Happening
The Georgia Fiscal Year 2022 Workforce Report, which ran through the end of June 2022, shows the continuation of a six-year trend: More than 20% of the state’s workers are leaving their jobs.
Georgia had a staffing gap — new hires minus terminations — of 1,891 workers last year, and is down 12,100 workers over the past 10 years.
Certain departments are hurting more than others. Juvenile justice, corrections and driver services saw more than 40% turnover, while more than a third of workers in social service, child welfare and behavioral health departments quit their jobs.
Public safety and transportation jobs were more stable, with 15% and 17% turnover, respectively. The reasons that people are leaving public service jobs are varied; some tied to the challenging nature of the work, and some the result of market forces and long-term demographic trends.
Prison guards, juvenile detention and child welfare workers have heavy caseloads and not enough resources, which can lead to burnout, said Al Howell, deputy commissioner of the Human Resources Administration in the Department of Administrative Services (DOAS).
Child welfare work is particularly challenging and stressful. “The pay is low, and we hire young folks who may not know what they’re getting into, and many find it hard and heart-breaking,” Polly McKinney, advocacy director for Voices for Georgia’s Children, a child advocacy organization. “People they're trying to help are complicated, and even when they’re successful, it can provide secondary trauma to the case workers.”
Juvenile detention officers, who earned a starting salary of $37,700 last year, have an “insanely high” turnover rate, McKinney said. In 2022, that was 96% for entry level staff, and 73% for all juvenile corrections officers, according to the Department of Juvenile Justice annual report.
The private sector pays better, Howell said. He’s hopeful that the $5,000 cost of living increase for most (84%) of the state’s 68,000 employees approved by the Legislature last year, along with the $2,000 increase in fiscal year 2024, will make people feel “more valued,” and help turn the tide of terminations.
Another challenge facing state employers is the aging state workforce. Many older employees are nearing retirement age. About 9% of 61,400 executive branch employees will likely retire within the next year, and 20% may retire in less than five years, according to the workforce report.
The state is working to recruit people of younger generations. Millennials, also known as Generation Y or “digital” workers (age 25 to 41), who now make up a third of the U.S. labor force, represented slightly more than half of new state hires last year, and Generation Z (24 and younger) represented 13%.
But many of them didn’t stick around. The turnover rate was 28% for millennials and 47% for Gen Z.
“They tend to stay less than 12 months, the ones that do leave,” said Howell. “And that's disturbing, because they make up about 40% of our workforce.”
The Department of Administrative Services is trying to figure out what’s making younger workers leave so quickly, and what will motivate them to stay longer.
“Gone are the days when people will stay 10, 15, 20 or 30 years,” Howell said. “The average tenure now is about four years. So when we talk about retention, we're not talking about trying to come up with strategies to keep people for double-digit years. We're trying to think of ways to keep them one, two, maybe three years longer.”
Why It Matters
The heavy churn in some departments inevitably means poor service delivery.
Child and Family Services workers frequently say they are swamped and struggling to keep up with child abuse and neglect cases.
Last December, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the state’s child welfare ombudsman wrote a letter to Child and Family Services Commissioner Candice Broce identifying “15 systemic breakdowns” within the agency and alleging that its workers “are no longer adequately responding to child abuse cases.” The AJC investigation found that the department’s caseworkers “are leaving their jobs in droves, fueled by low pay, frustration with leadership, and exhaustion from increased workloads, according to state human resources reports.”
When thousands of people waited weeks to receive their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamp benefits, last November, DHS blamed the delay on “inflation and workforce shortages,” saying it was taking its reduced staff longer to process a higher volume of cases.
Violent fights, untreated medical issues, deaths and suicides among people incarcerated in Georgia prisons have increased in recent years. Many prison guards quit because they feel outnumbered and unsafe, further perpetuating the problems faced by the remaining corrections personnel.
Even departments with seemingly less built-in stress, such as Driver Services, are seeing high (42%) turnover. The department has lost over half its customer service staff since 2018, including the ride-along driver examiners, who conduct license tests for new motorists and commercial truck drivers. Last year, Driver Services pivoted to self-service license renewal kiosks, which has helped ease long wait times in the department’s offices.
What’s Next
Georgia isn’t the only state struggling to keep employees.
According to a national 2022 survey of local and state government employees by MissionSquare Research Institute, a nonprofit research firm, 41% are considering changing their jobs in the near future. The majority — 64% — are “extremely worried or very worried about inflation making it hard to keep up with the current cost of living.”
Among those state workers who were considering changing jobs, the top reasons included desire for better salary and benefits, more job satisfaction and work-life balance, and feelings of burnout, said Joshua Franzel, the managing director of MissionSquare.
Government agencies are facing the same retention issues as private sector employers – younger generations don’t expect to stay with an employer for life, or even for very long, said Franzel. The lure of the public sector, historically, has been that while salaries can’t compete with the private sector, government jobs offer more generous retirement and health benefits, he said. But younger workers, who tend to be healthy and not yet thinking about retirement, place more value on other aspects of the work.
That includes how meaningful the work is, said Franzel. Another survey of recent college graduates entering public service jobs showed that “top of the list for them is meaningful work and mission alignment with the organization,” followed by workplace culture, he said. Compensation and benefits came in third.
So state employers, who may not be able to wow applicants with compensation packages, “should emphasize the accomplishments you can take pride in by taking on a public service role,” said Gerald Young, a senior policy analyst with MissionSquare. “And they should message it in a way that resonates with that audience.”
Georgia has made some headway on compensation. The $5,000 cost of living adjustment salary increases for Georgia state employees in FY 2022 bumped the median executive branch salary to $34,185, up 10% over the previous year, and the median salary for state workers overall rose to $44,637, a 15% increase. And a $2,000 salary increase will show up in paychecks starting this July. Some law enforcement officers will receive an extra $4,000.
The Department of Administrative Services conducted a “midterm snapshot” looking at workforce data from July 2022 (when the $5,000 cost of living adjustment kicked in) to January 2023, and found that new hires exceeded separations for the first time in five years, with a net gain of about 1,000 workers. Howell said if that trend continues, turnover by the end of FY 23 may drop to 21%.
“So we may see some relief for this hole-in-the-bucket syndrome, where more people are leaving than are hired,” he said.
State agencies are also working on developing savvier ways to connect with potential public service workers, such as developing campaigns on social media, digital billboards, mass transit and radio.
In an Instagram ad featuring a Georgia State Patrol car rolling down the road, its swirling blue lights a beacon on a dark, foggy night, potential state troopers are invited to “Be The Light In The Darkness.” Facebook and TikTok reels also emphasize the “0 to 120” miles per hour capabilities of the patrol’s sporty new 2022 Chevy Camaros, which make it easier to catch up to speeding vehicles. All the ads lead to a web page to sign up for the next trooper training class and a $56,350 starting salary.
Pounding rock music and quick cuts of Department of Natural Resources workers four-wheeling in the woods, rescuing stranded hikers in the mountains via helicopter, zooming along lakes in speed boats and pursuing various ne’er-do-wells with sniffing dogs, feature in this recruitment video, which asks, “Do you have what it takes to be a Georgia game warden?”
Howell, of the Department of Administrative Services, said, “There's kind of a negative public image about law enforcement, rightly or wrongly, that's out there. And being able to overcome that, and change that, there’s a lot of discussion and work around that right now.”
In recognition that “we can’t address all the jobs and problem areas,” he said the state is focusing first on five key job areas: law enforcement, information technology, social services, accounting and procurement.
DOAS is partnering with the Department of Education, the Technical College System of Georgia, the University System of Georgia and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government on a new Workforce Strategies Initiative to better understand why workers are leaving, and to develop more effective recruitment and retention strategies.
One outcome so far: six agencies in Georgia employ law enforcement officers, and now they’re collaborating on recruitment instead of competing against each other, said Howell. They’re doing joint job fairs and sharing data and insights on applicants.
In an effort to expand the overall applicant pool, DOAS is examining whether a college degree is necessary for about 1,400 state jobs. Only 28% of Georgians over the age of 25 have a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“We’re looking at what people achieve through experience; maybe it’s through the military, maybe it’s through technical school, maybe it’s on-the-job training,” Howell said.
The state is also looking at alternative pathways to qualify people for tech jobs, such as certifications from Google, Microsoft and a variety of technical schools and programs.
Senate Bill 3, the Reducing Barriers to State Employment Act of 2023, which passed last session, empowers the agency to make those changes. Georgia joins eight other state governments that have similarly reduced job requirements, including Maryland, Ohio, Utah, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Alaska, North Carolina and New Jersey.
The human resources staff at DOAS is also encouraging state agencies to fast-track promotions and raises for deserving workers “to provide them with a sense of career progression,” said Howell.
As they try to adopt private sector practices, Georgia government agencies must find more ways to change their slow and lumbering bureaucratic ways, say HR experts.
What most turns off millennials and Gen Z job seekers from entering the public sector is “the longer hiring process and decision timeline,” said Franzel.
He has one suggestion in particular for the state of Georgia: Use a mobile app for hiring.
Do you have insights, tips or questions about working for state government? Contact Jill Jordan Sieder on Twitter @JOURNALISTAJILL or at [email protected].
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Header image: The Department of Natural Resources is seeking more game wardens to keep hunters, hikers and boaters safe and on the right side of the law. (Credit: Department of Natural Resources)
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House speaker Jon Burns hires new communications director
House speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, announced today that he has hired a new communications director. Kayla Roberson, who has served as press secretary at the Georgia Chamber for the past year or so, will now oversee all external communications, media relations and strategic messaging for Burns.
“I’m excited to welcome Kayla to our team,” Burns said in a statement. “Kayla has an excellent background, deep skill set and strong work ethic, and we’re excited to have her on board to continue getting our message out and sharing the House’s priorities ahead of and into the next session.”
A double major in political science and journalism at the University of Georgia, where she graduated in 2022, Roberson interned for U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Republican in north Georgia’s 9th Congressional District, and worked as a consultant for GOP political candidates before joining the Georgia Chamber.
“I’m beyond grateful for the opportunity to work under the leadership of speaker Burns,” Roberson told State Affairs. “Whether it’s improving education opportunities, putting money back in the pockets of hardworking Georgians, creating jobs or supporting our rural communities, speaker Burns always prioritizes doing what is best, and what is right, for Georgia.”
Political strategist Stephen Lawson, who has held the top communications role for the speaker since last December, announced he’s joining Dentons, where starting today he’ll lead the global law firm’s public affairs efforts.
Have questions or comments? Contact Jill Jordan Sieder on X @journalistajill or at [email protected].
Global bird flu disrupts Georgia exports, costing chicken producers millions
ATLANTA — A global bird flu that has rapidly spread from birds to dairy cows, milk supplies and humans has cost untold millions of dollars in lost export business in Georgia, the nation’s leading poultry producer, officials with the state Department of Agriculture and poultry industry said.
Georgia has had only three reported cases of H5N1 avian influenza since it reemerged in 2022. The last of those cases was resolved in November 2023 but ramifications of those outbreaks continue to have a big effect on the state’s ability to export chicken and chicken parts, such as chicken feet, to different countries, including China, one of Georgia’s biggest export markets for chicken feet.
In 2022, frozen chicken feet, for example, accounted for more than 85% of all U.S. poultry exported to China, according to Farm Progress, publisher of 22 farming and ranching magazines.
The $30 billion poultry industry is Georgia’s largest segment in its No. 1 industry — agriculture.
China has also placed a ban on the import of chicken products from 41 other American states. The ban on Georgia products went into effect Nov. 21, 2023. Efforts to reach the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. were unsuccessful.
Georgia Poultry Federation President Mike Giles estimates the state’s loss at “well into the millions of dollars.”
“It’s a significant amount in a significant export market for us,” he said. “Poultry paws [feet] immediately lose value because of the loss of demand.”
The ban has forced Georgia poultry producers to find alternative markets for their products that would normally be headed to China.
“Some are sold domestically, some are frozen and stored, hopefully to find markets later on, and some go to other countries,” Giles said.
This isn’t the first time China has banned U.S.-produced poultry products due to a bird flu outbreak. The country instituted a ban in January 2015 which lasted until November 2019 — even though U.S. poultry products were deemed free of the disease by August 2017.
After that ban was lifted, China’s appetite for American-produced chicken products became voracious.
In 2022, U.S. producers shipped nearly $6 billion in poultry meat and related products (excluding eggs) to over 130 countries. China has emerged as the second largest destination for U.S. poultry exports, increasing from $10 million in 2019 to a record $1.1 billion in 2022, according to Southern Ag Today.
Chicken paws, for instance, are eaten in many Asian countries, including the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Korea.They can also be found on Chinese dim sum menus throughout the U.S. and are also popular in Jamaica, Trinidad, Russia and Ukraine in everything from soups and curries to fried snacks.
Three Georgia counties have reported H5N1 outbreaks since 2022. The most recent case was late last year. Henry, Sumter and Toombs counties each reported one case of H5N1 bird flu. Those outbreaks are resolved, poultry and state agriculture officials say.
“When HPAI cases are found in any state, that state is given a designation that could lead to foreign countries halting trade on poultry products from that state,” Georgia Department of Agriculture spokesman Matthew Agvent told State Affairs.
Not since 2016 has the United States experienced such a fast-moving case of the H5N1 avian influenza. In the last two months, the virus has spread in parts of the United States from birds to dairy cows, some milk supplies and humans. Two people — a Texas dairy worker and a prison inmate in Colorado who was killing infected birds at a poultry farm — are reported to have caught the virus, according to news reports. The outbreak is the largest in recent history, impacting both domestic poultry and livestock as well as wild birds and some mammal species.
State officials are continuing to monitor the national outbreak and its impact on Georgia.
Georgia’s poultry & egg industry: At A Glance
Annual economic impact: $30.2 billion
Percentage of the Agriculture industry: 58% *
Jobs: 87,900
Counties involved in poultry & egg production: 3 out of 4
National ranking in chicken broiler production: No. 1
Daily production of table eggs: 7.8 million
Daily production of hatching eggs: 6.5 million
Pounds of chicken produced daily: 30.2 million
Pounds of chicken produced annually: 8 billion
Number of chicken broilers processed each day: 5 million
Counties involved in poultry & egg production: 3 out of 4
Source: Georgia Poultry Federation; The Center for Agribusiness & Economic Development, University of Georgia, Ag Snapshots 2024; Georgia Poultry Federation.
Have questions? Contact Tammy Joyner on X @lvjoyner or at [email protected].
Is it safe to eat chicken and eggs and drink milk? Answers to your most pressing questions about the latest bird flu outbreak
A two-year-old strain of bird flu has heightened concerns in Georgia and the rest of the country after the virus recently spread to dairy cows. Here’s what you need to know about the virus and its impact on Georgia and the rest of the country. What are the symptoms of this flu in humans? Eye …
Kemp signs bills on education, health care, taxes
Gov. Brian Kemp signed a slew of bills over the past week or so, including the private school voucher bill long sought by Republicans and a bill that will ease regulations over the construction and expansion of medical facilities in rural areas.
His bill-signing events were clustered into themes: education, health care, military members, human trafficking and Georgia’s coastal communities.
Education
Among the education-related bills Kemp signed was Senate Bill 233, also known as the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act, which provides the families of Georgia students enrolled in underperforming school districts with $6,500 scholarships that can be used toward private school or homeschooling expenses, including tuition, fees, textbooks and tutoring.
“Georgia is affording greater choice to families as to how and where they receive their education, while also continuing our efforts to strengthen public schools, support teachers, and secure our classrooms,” Kemp said, and thanked leadership in the House and Senate for prioritizing passage of the bill, which had failed in a close vote in 2023.
Democrats and many public education advocates who opposed the bill argued it will drain resources from public schools and primarily benefit students from wealthy families.
Kemp also signed Senate Bill 351, sponsored by nine Republican senators, which will require social media companies, as of July 1, 2025, to verify their users are at least 16 years old unless they receive approval from a parent.
House Bill 409, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Daniel, R-Locust Grove, directs school systems to consider not having bus stops where a student would have to cross a roadway with a speed limit of 40 mph or greater. The bill also increases the penalty for passing a stopped school bus to $1,000 from $250.
Kemp noted that Ashley Pierce, the mother of Addy Pierce, an 8-year-old who was fatally struck by a motorist as she boarded her school bus, “passionately advocated for and was instrumental in the passage of this legislation.”
Senate Bill 395, sponsored by Sen. Clint Dixon, R-Gwinnett, states that no school visitor or personnel can be prohibited from possessing an opioid reversal drug such as Narcan and directs schools to maintain a supply. It also allows opioid antagonists to be sold in vending machines and directs certain government buildings to maintain a supply of at least three doses.
Senate Bill 464, also sponsored by Dixon, creates the School Supplies for Teachers Program to financially and technically support teachers purchasing school supplies online. It also creates an executive committee of five voting members within the Georgia Council on Literacy and limits the number of approved literacy screeners to five, one of whom must be available to schools for free.
Health care
The governor chose his hometown of Athens as the venue to sign several bills aimed at improving health care in rural and underserved communities.
Among them was House Bill 1339, sponsored by Rep. Butch Parrish, R-Swainsboro, which revises the Certificate of Need process by which the state determines if and how new medical facilities can be built or expanded. The bill provides for several new exemptions, including psychiatric or substance abuse inpatient programs, basic perinatal services in rural counties, birthing centers and new general acute hospitals in rural counties. It also raises the total limit on tax credits for donations to rural hospital organizations to $100 million from $75 million.
Senate Bill 480, sponsored by Sen. Mike Hodges, R-Brunswick, establishes student loan repayments for mental health and substance use professionals serving underserved youth in the state or in unserved geographic areas disproportionately impacted by social determinants of health.
House Bill 872, sponsored by Rep. Lee Hawkins, R-Gainesville, chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee, expands cancelable loans for certain health care professionals to dental students who agree to practice in rural areas.
Senate Bill 293, sponsored by Sen. Ben Watson, R-Savannah, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, reorganizes county boards of public health and opens the qualifications for the CEO of each county board of health to include either licensed physicians or people with a master’s degree in public health or a related field.
Military members and veterans
Kemp on Wednesday focused on bills to improve military recruitment and provide more work opportunities for veterans and military family members.
House Bill 880, sponsored by Rep. Bethany Ballard, R-Warner Robins, allows spouses of military service members to work under a license they hold in good standing in another state while under the supervision of an existing Georgia medical facility or provider.
Senate Bill 449, sponsored by Sen. Larry Walker, allows military medical personnel to practice for 12 months while a license application is pending, including working as a certified nursing aide, certified emergency medical technician, paramedic or licensed practical nurse. The bill also creates a new advanced practice registered nurse license and makes it a misdemeanor to practice advanced nursing without a license.
Human trafficking
The governor on Wednesday was accompanied by first lady Marty Kemp and other members of the GRACE Commission for the signing of an anti-human trafficking package. It includes Senate Bill 370, which adds certain businesses to the list of organizations that must post human trafficking notices, including convenience stores, body art studios, businesses that employ licensed massage therapists and manufacturing facilities.
Sponsored by Sen. Mike Hodges, R-Brunswick, the bill also allows the Georgia Board of Massage Therapy to initiate inspections of massage therapy businesses and educational programs without notice and requires massage therapy board members to complete yearly human trafficking awareness training.
House Bill 993, sponsored by Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, creates the felony offense of grooming of a minor and creates new penalties for offenses relating to visual mediums depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
House Bill 1201, sponsored by Rep. Houston Gaines, R-Athens, allows human trafficking survivors who received first offender or conditional discharge status to vacate that status for certain crimes, as long as the crime was a direct result of being a victim of human trafficking.
Coastal communities
Earlier today in Brunswick, Kemp signed legislation impacting Georgia coastal communities, including House Bill 244, which amends the laws around how wild game can be hunted and how seafood dealers operate, and House Bill 1341, which designates white shrimp as the state’s official crustacean.
Taxes
Earlier this month Kemp signed several bills related to taxation, including House Bill 1015, sponsored by Rep. Lauren McDonald, R-Cumming, which lowers the state income tax for tax year 2024 to 5.39%, accelerating a multiyear drop in state income taxes that started at 5.75% in 2023 and will continue through 2029.
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget estimates the tax cut acceleration will save Georgia taxpayers approximately $1.1 billion in calendar year 2024 and about $3 billion over the next 10 years.
Kemp also signed House Bill 1021, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Daniel, R-Locust Grove, which increases the state’s income tax dependent exemption to $4,000 from $3,000.
House Bill 581, sponsored by Reps. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, and Clint Crowe, R-Jackson, enables a constitutional amendment (House Resolution 1022) to let voters decide whether counties can provide a statewide homestead valuation freeze, which limits the increase in property values to the inflation rate.
The governor has until May 7 to sign or veto bills passed during the legislative session that ended on March 28. Those he takes no action on will automatically become law.
Legislation signed by Kemp is posted on the governor’s website.
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Have questions, comments or tips on education in Georgia? Contact Jill Jordan Sieder on X @journalistajill or at [email protected].
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