Client: Maine Department of Health and Human Services
Region: Statewide Maine, including rural and northern communities
Engagement: Cross divisional assessment and strategy development, including a November 2024 assessment
DMC Focus: Workforce development, recruitment and retention, employee experience, organizational effectiveness, customer feedback and service access
Deo Mwano Consultancy developed an integrated workforce and service improvement strategy for Maine DHHS, connecting the conditions employees need to perform effectively with the experiences of residents accessing essential services. The work gave the Department a roadmap for addressing staffing pressures, improving internal coordination and using employee and customer feedback to guide decisions.
The challenge
Maine DHHS serves hundreds of thousands of residents through a statewide network of offices, programs, facilities and community partners. Its responsibilities span health coverage, family assistance, child welfare, disability services, behavioral health and other essential supports. Different divisions operate with distinct staffing structures, professional requirements and service demands.
DMC identified staffing shortages that affected workload, morale, efficiency and service quality. Competition with hospitals and private employers made some nursing and social work positions difficult to fill. Caregiver shortages also affected services for older adults and people with disabilities.
These pressures interacted with organizational silos, uneven performance measures, manual processes and communication gaps. Vacancies could increase workloads and burnout, creating further retention challenges and placing additional pressure on public service delivery. Residents also faced language, digital, geographic and process barriers when seeking assistance.
The work considered the different operating realities and service populations across major DHHS functions, including:
- Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention
- Office of Aging and Disability Services
- Office of Behavioral Health
- Office of Child and Family Services
- Office for Family Independence
- Office of MaineCare Services
- Office of the Health Insurance Marketplace
- Division of Licensing and Certification
- Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center
- Riverview Psychiatric Center
This was particularly important because workforce structures and operational demands differ considerably across DHHS. Larger offices such as OFI and OCFS manage hundreds of employees across numerous functions, while other divisions operate with smaller, highly specialized teams. The assessment found a combination of permanent state employees, contracted personnel, administrative teams, policy functions, compliance responsibilities, and analytics capabilities.
Rather than recommending a one-size-fits-all solution, DMC developed a framework that could establish department-wide priorities while allowing individual divisions to adapt implementation to their workforce, customers, and operational realities.
DMC responsibility
DMC was contracted to assess organizational practices and develop strategies to strengthen the workforce, internal systems and service delivery. The engagement examined staffing, governance, communication, decision making, recruitment, retention and access to services. DMC connected these findings in a framework that established department priorities while allowing divisions to adapt implementation to their operating realities.
DMC approach
Assess → Listen → Analyze → Co Design → Build for Implementation
Understand the organization across divisions
DMC gathered perspectives across DHHS offices and reviewed staffing, governance and service delivery practices. The November 2024 assessment included representatives from the Office for Family Independence, Division of Licensing and Certification, Office of Child and Family Services, Office of MaineCare Services, Office of Aging and Disability Services and Office of the Health Insurance Marketplace.
The broader strategy considered the Department’s varied functions, including public health, behavioral health and state psychiatric centers. DMC examined how permanent employees, contracted personnel, administrative teams, policy functions and specialized staff contributed to the overall service system.
Build recruitment pathways and improve hiring
DMC developed recommendations to strengthen talent pipelines through relationships with high schools, colleges, universities, training programs, professional associations and community organizations. Proposed internships and apprenticeships would help prospective employees experience DHHS careers and understand opportunities for long term growth.
The strategy also recommended broadening geographic recruitment where local talent was limited, communicating the value of a public service career and reducing hiring delays that could cause qualified candidates to accept other positions.
Strengthen the conditions that influence retention
DMC examined employee experience alongside recruitment. The assessment identified existing strengths, including flexible and hybrid work, employee feedback opportunities, recognition, incentives and professional stipends. It also identified opportunities to improve workload management, communication, management autonomy, technology and collaboration.
DMC translated respect, empathy, accountability and collaboration into observable behaviors such as active listening, constructive feedback, recognizing contributions and following through on commitments. Recommendations included reinforcing these behaviors through manager expectations, leadership communication, interactive training, recognition and employee feedback.
Improve coordination and decision making
DMC identified opportunities to clarify roles and authority, strengthen communication across divisions and reduce unnecessary approval bottlenecks. The strategy recommended giving managers appropriate autonomy to resolve operational issues while improving feedback between frontline employees and leadership.
Technology recommendations addressed information sharing, interoperability, standardization and manual processes. The aim was to help employees obtain the information, tools and organizational support needed to serve residents effectively.
Connecting workforce strategy with public service
Design continuous employee and customer feedback
DMC recommended a 360 degree feedback model that connected employee experience, operational performance, community partner perspectives and resident experience. Proposed channels included feedback after service interactions, statewide surveys, focus groups, listening sessions and ongoing input from community organizations and service providers.
The strategy addressed language interpretation and translation, digital usability, transportation and distance to services, awareness of available programs and the complexity of application processes and handoffs. Employee feedback would help identify operational barriers alongside the experiences reported by residents.
Establish measures for improvement
DMC found that workforce and service measures varied across offices. Recommendations called for consistent department measures alongside indicators suited to each division. Proposed workforce measures included vacancies, time to hire, retention, turnover, satisfaction and workload. Operational measures included processing times, call waits and caseloads; customer measures included satisfaction, ease of access, unmet needs and accessibility barriers.
DMC recommended dashboards, pre and post assessments and ongoing feedback to help leaders track implementation, identify trends and adapt their approach.
Delivered value and strategic impact
DMC’s documented contribution was a cross divisional assessment and an integrated recruitment, retention and service improvement strategy. The work identified interconnected workforce and operational challenges and translated them into practical recommendations for leadership consideration.
The resulting roadmap connected talent pipelines and hiring efficiency with employee experience, management practices, internal coordination, customer feedback and accessibility. It also proposed a measurement framework for evaluating future progress across workforce health, operational performance and resident experience.
The engagement demonstrates DMC’s ability to assess a complex public sector organization and connect workforce strategy to its service mission. The strategic impact was a clearer basis for planning and implementation; the recommendations were designed to support a more sustainable workforce and more accessible services.
Client perspective
“Work with Deo Mwano Consultancy was an exceptional experience. DMC was professional and operated with a genuine commitment to clear communication and delivering quality results. Their delivery of a strategic plan for Recruitment Retention Strategy to Maine DHHS was handled efficiently and deadlines were met.”
— Maine DHHS Project Lead