Wood County Health Department’s (WCHD) workforce development plan is central to the department’s ability to address the critical public health challenges facing Wood County. These challenges include an aging public health workforce, funding cuts, and maintaining accreditation
by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). It is essential to the work of WCHD to identify gaps in knowledge and skills, as well as awareness of organizational and individual needs to create a workforce that can meet the most pressing health needs of Wood County residents (Wood County Health Department, 2020).
One such avenue for the development of the WCHD workforce is health equity. Specifically, creating a workplace that is more equitable and empowering employees to engage with health equity on a daily basis regardless of their programmatic area. The American Heart Association cites health equity as a factor that improves workforce productivity (American Heart Association CEO Roundtable, 2022), and WCHD’s workforce development plan (WDP) is a great opportunity for department leadership to gain insight into ways they can make the workplace more equitable.
We propose a new and improved engagement survey that will yield informative and insightful feedback that can be used to inform the WDP and allow WCHD to reform practices as necessary to create a more competent, equitable workplace. We also recommend additions to the current performance evaluations for non-supervisory and supervisory employees with the goal of providing a method for WCHD employees to be evaluated based on how they are incorporating health equity principles into their daily work. Performance reviews for supervisors as well as regular employees intends to foster equity within the department and reinforce health equity as central to the work of all employees regardless of their programmatic area.
Together, these recommendations will advance the WCHD WDP and the department’s strategic plan goal towards creating and maintaining a culture that exemplifies health equity (Wood County Health Department, 2022). If WCHD becomes more equitable internally while also incorporating health equity into the fabric of their daily work, the residents of Wood County will also reap these benefits, with a reduction of health inequities in Wood County and driving
improved health outcomes for all residents.
UniverCity Contact Info: UniverCityAlliance@wisc.edu