Effective Local Government HR Practices Boost Resident Satisfaction with Public Services, Reveal UKG, Polco in First-of-its-Kind Study

UKG, a leading provider of HR, payroll, and workforce management solutions, announced the results of a first-of-its-kind study of 52 U.S. communities showing effective HR practices in local government are directly linked to resident satisfaction with municipal services and quality of life in their communities. The study was conducted by UKG in partnership with Polco, a platform for community engagement and data insights for local government, and the government management and policy research team of Barrett and Greene, Inc.

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“This is the first empirical study to show that internal municipal HR practices directly impact how residents perceive their local government,” said Nick Mastronardi, Ph.D., co-founder, CEO, and board chair at Polco. “It validates what many municipal HR professionals have long believed: that investing in city employees leads to better public service.”

“Our research provides a roadmap for local government HR departments to become strategic drivers of community satisfaction and trust through a high performing workforce that spans both frontline and front-office staff,” said Bob Lavigna, public sector fellow at UKG. “These timely findings should resonate with all government leaders — not just with HR. Local governments must meet rising resident expectations while managing tight budgets. With this data, these governments should confidently prioritize HR as a lever for meaningful, measurable civic impact.”

The report, “Building Better Government from Within: Workforce Excellence and Resident Satisfaction,” is based on a comprehensive 73-question survey. It found five HR strategy areas linked to resident satisfaction and provides best practices to create effective HR programs:

• Performance management practices demonstrated the strongest correlation with resident satisfaction. Municipal governments should ensure their employees have clear goals and that their accomplishments are recognized.
• Communities with HR departments properly staffed with qualified professionals also rated higher. Proper staffing enhances success attracting talent and nurtures a positive employee experience across the entire employee lifecycle, including onboarding, and career and skill development.
• Employee well-being for municipal workers correlated strongly to resident satisfaction. These include programs that span financial literacy, create manageable workloads that prevent burnout, and foster better manager-employee relationships that help boost retention.
• Effective recruiting and hiring, driven by technology, can reduce overall time-to-hire and expand the qualified candidate pool, helping to ensure new hires possess needed skills and embody community values.
• Communities with strong compensation and benefits practices, including programs that ensure pay equity, communicate the value of total compensation, and provide flexible leave, can better attract and retain talent.

“Local government leaders now have data-driven evidence that HR isn’t just a critical back-office function, it is a frontline driver of public trust,” said Katherine Barrett, co-principal at Barrett and Greene.

“This research serves as proof that investing in a high-performing workforce is one of the smartest — and most fiscally responsible — moves government can make,” said Richard Greene, co-principal at Barrett and Greene. “We believe that many people think of human resource departments are purely a back-room operation, but we’ve found that their skills and capacity have real world impact on residents.”

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