Policy & Practice | Summer 2025

opportunities for their staff, leaders must find ways to keep new hires engaged, ensure they are up to date on policies, and prepare them for a productive future that best serves their communities.

interactive, and customizable onboarding experience.

3. Falconer, R. (2025). States target fired federal workers in recruitment drives.

Axios. https://www.axios.com/ 2025/03/03/fired-federal-workers

Take the Tennessee Department of Human Services’ (TDHS) recently redesigned onboarding process, for example. To improve training, reduce turnover, and enhance the overall employee experience, TDHS rede signed its onboarding program for new hires. The redesigned program uses a three-phased approach, including a 30-day welcome program, virtual training courses, and specialized role-specific courses, providing stan dardized learning objectives and engagement between key stakeholders. Training and Development Training and development shouldn’t end with the onboarding process. Both new and tenured employees routinely seek learning programs that are easily accessible and relevant to their current roles and future career goals. Ongoing training is essential to stay up to date with federal and state policy changes across human services programs, as these updates can directly impact daily responsibilities, and the messaging provided to recipi ents regarding eligibility. Inadequate training can result in compliance and regulatory risks stemming from unintentional errors in casework; inconsistent employee experience, with gaps in program, policy, or system fluency; and delayed integration of new tools or processes due to lack of training on system and process updates. AI-powered learning-as-a-service solutions provide secure, hosted plat forms with a curated library of courses tailored to address the mission-critical human services knowledge and skills. These solutions can help agencies meet workforce development needs by accelerating onboarding for new hires, enhancing skill development for current staff, and fostering a culture of continuous learning. This approach also allows supervisors to dedicate more time to coaching and mentoring the next generation of employees. While resource-constrained agencies often struggle to provide continuous training and development

doge-cuts-states-hire-drive ; Quinton, S. (2025). States pitch open jobs to laid-off federal workers. Pluribus News. https:// pluribusnews.com/news-and-events/states pitch-open-jobs-to-laid-off-federal-workers ; Sisson, P. (2025). Local governments vie for fired federal workers. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/ features/2025-04-01/local-governments vie-for-fired-federal-workers-after-doge-cuts 4. For instance, see New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions. (2025). Resources for impacted federal workers. https://www.dws.state.nm.us/ FederalWorkerResources 5. Partnership for Public Service (2025). Beyond the capital: The federal workforce outside the D.C. area. (2025). https:// ourpublicservice.org/fed-figures/beyond the-capital-the-federal-workforce-outside the-d-c-area 6. Commonwealth of Kentucky (2025). Your new Kentucky home: KY state government employment resources for your new Kentucky home. https://personnel.ky.gov/Pages/ FederalEmployees.aspx 7. State of Wisconsin (2025). Gov. Evers announces Evers administration to recruit federal workers affected by mass Trump administration firings. https://content .govdelivery.com/accounts/WIGOV/ bulletins/3d8b3d0 8. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (2025). Continue your public service with the Commonwealth. https://www.pa.gov/ agencies/employment/open-jobs/careers for-federal-employees.html ; Cole, J. (2025) Shapiro signs executive order aimed at attracting federal employees. Pennsylvania Capital-Star. https:// penncapital-star.com/government-politics/ shapiro-signs-executive-order-aimed-at attracting-federal-employees 9. Schorsch, K. (2022). Cook County state/2022/8/29/23324988/cook-county health-hospital-staffing-labor-shortage resignation-pandemic-government-nurses wait ; Cook County Health (2023). CCH HR updates, Valerie Amos, Chief Human Resources Officer. 10. Reyes, V. Bordeaux, C., Sivak, M., & Mathur, M. (2023). Transforming the new hire onboarding experience. Deloitte. https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/services/ consulting/blogs/human-capital/new hire-onboarding.html Health struggling to fill thousands of jobs,” Chicago Sun Times. https:// chicago.suntimes.com/metro

Looking Ahead The broad federal downsizing

offers state and local human services agencies an opportunity to fill skill gaps and open positions with seasoned government employees. But effec tively attracting and retaining people requires rethinking the process of hiring, onboarding, and training people. Doing so requires states to revisit notoriously slow hiring pro cesses and increase their flexibility when evaluating candidates with spe cialized federal experience. About Deloitte This communication contains general information only, and none of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, its member firms, or their related entities (collectively, the “Deloitte network”) is, by means of this communication, rendering professional advice or services. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your finances or your business, you should consult a qualified professional adviser. No entity in the Deloitte network shall be responsible for any loss whatsoever sustained by any person who relies on this communication. As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte Consulting, LLP a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/ us/about for a detailed description of our legal structure. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

Copyright © 2025 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved

Reference Notes 1. Fox-Sowell, S. (2024). State, local

governments trying new strategies to fill workforce gaps, report shows. StateScoop. https://statescoop.com/state-local government-workforce-strategies-report/ 2. RIF watch: See which agencies are laying off federal workers (2025). Government Executive. https://www.govexec.com/

workforce/2025/02/rif-watch-see which-agencies-are-laying-federal workers/403342/

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