When Your Workforce Plan Needs Work
A Midwestern utility dramatically improved its recruitment and retention by creating career progression pathways. Read the full story in November 2024 WE&T.
Author Archives: Jessica Rozek
Breaking Down Silos
Siloed organizations, characterized by isolated departments and fragmented workflows, are an important topic in workplace management. This is because a siloed organization can negatively affect its customers, stakeholders, and employees. Read more in August 2024 WE&T.
What Every Operator Needs to Know About Workforce Development
WE&T‘s May 2024 Operator Essentials column highlights what every operator should know about workforce development. Read more.
Tapping the Talent Pipeline: Developing the next generation of leaders in your organization
Across the United States, water and wastewater utilities are challenged with managing aging infrastructure, tight budgets, and understaffing — not to mention rising retirements and a shrinking talent pool. Many organizations believe they lack the resources to do succession planning or focus on workforce development, but it can be done. This article looks at two …
Bringing People to the Center of Water
From the start of the standing room-only Opening General Session on October 2, one thing was clear: Attendees were in for an immersive experience. This innovative look at culture, music, and storytelling began with a welcome from hip-hop artist Benny Starr, Senior Fellow of Arts and Culture at the U.S. Water Alliance (Washington, D.C.), who …
‘Be Curious’: Embracing Our Unique Selves
By any measure, Belinda Sturm has had an illustrious career. She has rubbed shoulders with many researchers over the years. But as at the start of her much anticipated talk at WEFTEC 2023, “Embracing the Imposter Among Us: How Interdisciplinary and Intersectional Identities Are an Asset,” she cited a surprise influence on her philosophy: Ted …
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To Flush or Not to Flush: Florida video contest encourages high schoolers to tackle baby wipes, cotton balls, and other unflushables with their own public service announcements.
The Florida Water Environment Association (FWEA) Public Communication and Outreach Committee (PCOC) is now in its sixth year of sponsoring an annual contest that encourages high school students to showcase their creativity — and fact-checking — when it comes to talking about what should or should not go down a toilet. In 2023, the FWEA …
The Recipe for Success: Three essential ingredients for building the workforce of the future
Good employees are hard to find. This fact should come as no surprise to anyone in the water sector, and it will hold true in 2024 as well. Most public utilities have record numbers of vacancies, and overall low unemployment numbers mean that job seekers have many options when choosing where they want to work. …
‘Water’ You Talking About? Communicate Smarter and Improve Engagement
Are you sending mixed-up messages? At a loss for words? Effective communication is one of the tenets of authentic leadership and is essential for leaders to relay information, build trust, and motivate employees. So, if your colleagues are asking, “‘Water’ you talking about?” it’s time to communicate smarter. Read the full article in Water Environment …
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Keep Calm and Connect: Lead Authentically by Building Relationships
When you think of an authentic leader, who comes to mind? Chances are, it is someone who can enthusiastically engage with others to achieve great results. Being a connector is one of the most important tenets of authentic leadership. Strong connectors align people and resources to their goals by developing personal relationships, identifying and utilizing …
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