Behind the Scenes: Serving the Nation, Colleagues and the Public

Meet Erika Baumgardner, assistant district director for the Wage and Hour Division in the Omaha Area Office in Nebraska. When Erika joined the Wage and Hour Division in 2011, she was no stranger to public service. But serving in the United States Air Force and later as a civilian for the United States Department of Defense involved different tasks, with fewer opportunities to interact with the communities her work served.

Erika started as an investigator in the Cedar Rapids Field Office in Iowa, which included visiting businesses as part of her investigative work, answering calls from the public to provide guidance, answer questions or take complaints, and learning the nuanced applications of changing labor laws and regulations. Suddenly, serving the public became an up close and personal daily occurrence.

Erika’s role has evolved over time as she shifted from conducting investigations to supervising investigators. We talked with her to learn more about what she does and how she views public service at the Wage and Hour Division

Q: Describe your average workday as an assistant district director for the Wage and Hour Division.

I don’t have an average day. I try to manage my time around the needs of the investigators I supervise. There are routine functions like approving leave, submitting timesheets, answering emails, and reviewing case files, but my day changes once investigators start calling me.

I try to work my schedule around their needs. I know what it’s like to be an investigator and needing action or answers on a case before being able to move on, and I don’t want to keep anyone waiting on me.

Being a manager is about more than just helping an investigator get their case done though. I’m kind of a jack of all trades. I have to slide my counselor hat on at times and help them get past family issues, moving house, or reassuring them that we’ll figure it out together. So, my days are never the same except that I’m always taking care of what they need first, and then I get to my own work.

Q: What is your favorite part of your job?

Taking care of the investigator because that’s what I think my job truly is. Whatever I can do to make their job easier, short of doing their job for them, I try to do.

Q: What do you think is key to effective public service, especially at the Wage and Hour Division?

The Wage and Hour Division is here to make sure employers are in compliance with the law, so I think the most effective way to serve the public is to be neutral. Conducting non-biased investigations and neutral outreach to educate the public as a whole is so important.

Outreach is just as vital as conducting investigations because we will never have enough investigators to reach every business, so we need to encourage and educate the public through different methods to reach our compliance goals.

Q: For those considering public service as a career option, is there any advice or thoughts you'd like to share?

There are so many great benefits to a career in public service. I could talk about flexibility, pay or parental leave, but the reward is greater than personal benefits. We're doing good every day for the public. Sometimes it’s in a big way, and sometimes it’s tiny, but it's rarely appreciated by everyone. And you have to be okay with that. You have to know you're doing a good job, and do a good job because it's the right thing to do.

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