Every day, millions of public servants across the globe deliver essential services to citizens.
While many citizens take these services for granted, governments are increasingly grappling with workforce challenges, including high turnover rates and hiring difficulties putting their ability to deliver essential services at risk.
Reasons behind this challenge include a rapidly aging workforce approaching retirement, inadequate capabilities for expedited onboarding of new hires, a lack of robust succession planning, heightened competition from the private sector, and constrained budgets. These factors collectively hinder the ability to maintain workforce continuity and agility.
Government must adopt innovative strategies to meet these challenges, and technology offers a compelling pathway towards a sustainable solution.
Technology can help governments, overcome present workforce challenges, gain new insights, improve data connectivity and create operational efficiencies. The outcome is a more seamless, accessible, digital experience for citizens, improving service delivery and strengthening stronger connections between public institutions and the communities they serve.
Technology-enabled public services can turn workforce challenges into opportunities.
Below are key strategies public sector agencies can adopt to alleviate workforce shortage while improving citizen experience:
Partner with a BPS: As public sector demands grow, government agencies can turn to business process service (BPS) partners to manage non-fiduciary tasks, allowing internal teams to focus on core functions. This approach has proven effective across various services, from outsourcing front-office citizen services to managing back-end functions such as printing and dispatch to running omnichannel contact centers. With proper training, these outsourced teams can replicate internal processes, ensuring seamless customer experiences. By strategically outsourcing specific tasks, agencies can enhance operational efficiency, manage surges in workload, and improve service quality without overburdening in-house teams.
For instance, during peak periods or staffing shortages, BPS partners can quickly augment the existing teams with a trained workforce, thus maintaining service levels and increasing customer satisfaction by reducing waiting times and enhancing response quality.
Outsourcing these non-core functions provides public agencies with flexibility and cost efficiencies while maintaining high service levels. BPSs can also be incentivized based on performance outcomes, aligning their goals with agency objectives. With a result-driven approach, BPSs bring innovation and process improvement, directly impacting operational metrics like customer satisfaction, processing times, and cost savings.
For governments worldwide, strategic BPS partnerships provide an agile solution to meet rising public demands and ensure consistent service delivery in an ever-changing environment.
There are three ways government departments can outsource:
Performance-based outsourcing includes complete service outsourcing with no capital investment by the service provider. This comes under strategic outsourcing and is adopted to measure the service provider's performance or services. The government sets the goal for the service. The service providers, BPS providers in this case, then work with the required workforce. They develop solutions to achieve the goals predetermined by the department.
In Build-Operate-Transfer (B-O-T), the service provider builds, operates, and transfers the service. Generally, the projects undertaken are public service development and large infrastructure projects. It involves public-private partnerships. In the BOT model, a private organization builds and finances the project and operates it for the next few years. It earns profits during this time. On completion of the contract, the project is returned to the department that originally allocated the project.
Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (B-O-O-T) is a strategic outsourcing method used for large-scale projects such as power station set-up, water treatment plants, sewage treatment systems, and public infrastructure projects, to name a few. In this method, the government entities grant financial, construction, ownership, and operation rights to a third-party service provider. This grant is for a specified period. It is similar to the BOT method. However, in this case, the private company retains ownership of the assets until the contract expires. After the project tenure ends, the completed project or infrastructure is returned. It goes back to the department originally granting it to the service provider.
Case in point: The government of India implemented the Passport Seva project, based on a public-private partnership model, aimed at providing passport-related services to Indian citizens in an efficient, transparent, secure, and convenient manner. In the project, the sovereign and fiduciary functions of granting and issuing passports remain with the Ministry of External Affairs while their technology partner manages the complete technology, IT, and business operations. From online portal and mobile app (for filling and submitting the form to fee payment to status check) acceptance of application with supporting documents, biometric and photograph capture, setting up and running of data centres, network, and hundreds of passport facilitation centres across the country, everything is taken care by the private partner. However, the fiduciary functions are carried out by the government staff. The private partner is paid based on applications processed and service levels achieved across various IT and non-IT performance parameters.
Some of the areas that can be outsourced include:
Permit and license servicing and management:
BPS partners can manage the end-to-end processing of various permits and licenses, including food, property, firearms, and parking permits. A BPS partner could streamline tasks like document collection, application submission, and compliance tracking, as seen in partnerships similar to India’s Passport Seva initiative.
Health and human services:
Government health programs, welfare campaigns, and social services can benefit from BPS support to handle citizen outreach, campaign management, and communication. Outsourcing these functions allows public health departments to engage the community more effectively, managing social media channels and public inquiries.
BPSs can drive awareness for public health initiatives, ensuring continuous citizen engagement while enabling staff to focus on strategy and direct service delivery.
Transportation and infrastructure management:
BPS partners can play a valuable role in managing transportation services, from customer service for public transit to monitoring traffic and road safety compliance. Tasks like traffic CCTV monitoring, road inspections, and digital surveys can be outsourced, enabling municipalities to oversee road safety, manage complaints, and plan infrastructure improvements. This ensures compliance, increases safety, and supports long-term planning without overextending internal resources.
Property and compliance management:
BPS providers can manage end-to-end processes for planning, compliance, and management of property services, reducing the administrative load on government staff. Through digital inspection services, BPS partners can efficiently conduct building safety checks, manage property ownership changes, and oversee compliance with regulatory standards.
Legal and legislative affairs:
Legal process outsourcing provides governments with access to specialized skills in areas like contract management, legal drafting, and public awareness campaigns for local laws. BPS partners can assist in managing legal documentation and supporting legislative functions, allowing government legal teams to focus on more complex cases.
A BPS partner with expertise in legal compliance can handle routine documentation and contract reviews, providing a cost-effective way to manage increasing legal workloads.
Environmental compliance and sustainability:
Environmental departments can outsource tasks related to grants management, compliance audits, and public awareness campaigns for green initiatives. BPS partners can facilitate data collection for environmental audits, manage complaints about compliance issues, and engage the public through digital content and social media.
By outsourcing these tasks, public sector departments can also enhance their sustainability programs and support green initiatives with consistent community engagement and regulatory adherence.
Other strategies can include:
Automate and augment repetitive process: Government functions are often burdened with repetitive tasks, such as processing claims, handling applications, and managing administrative paperwork. With advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, the repetitive, time-consuming tasks can be streamlined, reducing workload and improving accuracy. AI solutions present a powerful opportunity to augment employee efforts by taking over mundane or robotic aspects of their work.
Case in point: One of the largest public sector departments in the UK successfully used machine learning to optimize case management. The technology integrated multiple communication channels, automated repetitive workflows, and enabled straight-through processing and self-service portals.
As a result, the department:
Government workers can also use AI to automate document flow, match records to a single constituent, and flag errors proactively, allowing them to focus on complex, high-value activities – making their jobs more fulfilling while enhancing public service delivery.
Introduce digital and self-service channels: Digital channels such as web chat, email, and self-service portals can reduce the workload on call center agents and frontline employees. This can streamline service delivery and reduce the dependency on traditional phone support.
By empowering citizens to solve simple issues independently, such as renewing licenses or submitting forms online, agencies improve the overall user experience and free up personnel to handle more critical cases.
Digital channels also ensure 24/7 availability, enabling citizens to access services when it is most convenient for them.
Migrate to cloud: Cloud migration allows public sector departments to move beyond disconnected legacy systems, enabling genuine omni-channel customer service. Cloud solutions also facilitate flexible working models, allowing government agencies to attract talent from outside traditional geographical areas and support remote or hybrid work arrangements.
Case in point: One of the largest councils in Australia migrated its ERP environment to the cloud to improve its IT operations. The shift allowed the council to optimize capacity, standardize its architecture, and manage demand more effectively, reducing the total cost of ownership.
The cloud-based infrastructure laid the foundation for the enterprise to operate on a single platform. The agile platform embraced DevOps practices with automated provisioning, ensuring the system could scale effortlessly for future business needs, providing the much-needed resilience to the overall IT environments. The solution is replicable across similar projects for migration and can be leveraged for further programs.
The migration enhanced operational agility and empowered the council to deliver more integrated, seamless services to citizens. By aligning with industry best practices and leveraging economies of scale, the council improved service delivery, advanced innovation, and moved closer to achieving its long-term vision.
Invest in collaboration tools: Adopting AI-powered collaboration tools enable government employees to connect seamlessly with cross-functional teams, access essential data in real time, and complete tasks with greater speed and accuracy. It can also help them extract, share, and analyze data collaboratively.
This single interface can dramatically reduce hold time, wrap time, and average handling time. Tools such as Microsoft 365 workplace can also support remote work options for staff, reducing both infrastructure and travel costs, opening up broader talent pool to help public sector maintain continuity despite staff shortages or disruptions.
Many public sector departments are using collaboration tool these days for better collaboration, flexibility and improved efficiency across the globe.
Gen AI or knowledge-based software: Gen AI can provide government agencies with context-sensitive customer information and recommendations for next steps. When equipped with tools that enable them to act swiftly and accurately, employees perform better and are more engaged in their roles, benefitting the organization in several ways. Likewise, live chat bots and automated emails can enhance customer experience by providing immediate assistance.
The correlation between satisfied customers and engaged employees is well-documented; happier customers tend to have fewer complaints, which translates into a more positive work environment.
Case in point: One of the largest hospitals of NHS foundation Trust in UK, launched an AI chatbot to streamline patient consultations. The tool quickly identified urgent cases, offered initial advice and guidance, and reduce the time involved in obtaining patient history ~ by 40%, optimizing both patient and employee experiences while also removing dependency on the hospital staff for first level screening.
Leverage data for enhanced decision-making:
There has never been a greater opportunity to harness data on citizen interactions and service performance. Through advanced analytics, government agencies can gain a deep understanding of citizen needs and potential pain points, enabling them to tailor services more effectively, even if they do not have employees with required skill set to do this type of analysis.
Case in point: Consider the example of one of the largest hospitals in the United Kingdom, which provides both secondary care services to local populations and specialist tertiary services for nearly four million people across southern England and beyond. The hospital has leveraged advanced data analytics to transform operations and enhance patient care, eliminating the need to have a separate team to do this work.
Through automated data provisioning, accelerated data retrieval, and the generation of bespoke reports covering over 40 metrics – including admissions, discharges, length of stay, bed occupancy, number of escalations, critical care bed status, nurse-to-patient ratio, ambulance handover breaches, open bed gaps, and outliers – the hospital has gained a powerful view into its operations.
As a result, the hospital has achieved increased operational efficiency and a resilient system-wide view of areas of pressure in the delivery of health and social care. This has led to quicker responses to emerging issues, improved patient flow, and heightened staff satisfaction.
It has also ensured compliance with national and regional reporting requirements and an enhanced ability to confront peak-time pressures more effectively. This data-centric approach facilitates the delivery of high-quality, reliable care that meets the needs of patients and staff alike.
Strategically embracing technology can empower governments to become more accessible, proactive, and convenient.
In deciding which strategies to prioritize, government agencies should consider factors such as goals, staffing needs, budget constraints, and the predictability of demand cycles. Ultimately, however, the public sector’s effectiveness hinges on a robust, high-performing workforce. Addressing the staffing challenge is essential for governments to unlock the full potential of digital transformation and build resilient, citizen-centered services.