Meeting/Event Information

Governments across the nation are being asked to do more with less while, at the same time, the public demands more timely and responsive government service. Groundbreaking new research has revealed that effective HR practices are the key to meeting this growing challenge. The research showed that local government HR practices are statistically linked to resident satisfaction with local government services and – more important – residents’ satisfaction with the quality of life in their community.

As one of the HR directors interviewed in the research summarized the results, “Happy employees, happy residents.”

The research provides strong evidence that the public sector workforce is an asset to invest in, not a cost to be reduced or controlled. This is a critical finding not just for HR but for all local government leaders.

In this session, Bob Lavigna will describe the research, including the specific HR practices that drive resident satisfaction with local government and quality of life – and recommendations for how local governments can adapt and adopt these practices.

Bob will also make available the white paper, “Building Better Government From Within: Workforce Excellence and Resident Satisfaction with Government.”

Bio: 

Robert J. Lavigna

Bob Lavigna is an award-winning leader and innovator with more than 40 years of experience leading HR organizations and programs. He recently retired from UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group), where he advocated for, promoted and advised on effective practices that enable government to attract and retain talent.

He previously was founding Director of the Institute for Public Sector Employee Engagement, where he worked with organizations across the nation to measure and improve engagement as a key to maximizing organizational performance. He is the author of Engaging Government Employees: Motivate and Inspire Your People to Achieve Superior Performance (Harper Collins Publishing), the only book to focus exclusively on measuring and improving engagement in the unique environment of the public sector.

Before leading the Institute, Bob was Assistant Vice Chancellor and Director of HR for the main campus of the University of Wisconsin. He was also an adjunct professor in the School of Public Affairs.

Bob also previously served as Vice President - Research for the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service and was Director of the state of Wisconsin civil service system. Appointed by the Governor and unanimously confirmed and twice re-confirmed by the State Senate, he is the longest-serving merit system director in Wisconsin history. Bob began his career with the U.S. Government Accountability Office, where his positions included HR Director of GAO’s largest field office.

He is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, was selected as a “Public Official of the Year” by Governing magazine, and is a past national president of the Public Sector Human Resources Association. The organizations he led also received innovation awards from the Ford Foundation, the Urban League, PSHRA, and others.

Bob writes frequently on HR topics for professional publications and has spoken at conferences and events across the U.S. and in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, South America and the Caribbean.

The first member of his family to graduate from college, Bob has a B.A. in Public Affairs from George Washington University and an M.S. in Human Resources Management from Cornell University.