In recent years, Mississippi has temporarily suspended civil service protections for employees in some departments, reorganized those departments, and then reinstated civil service protection in those departments. State HR directors are surveyed to seek their opinions about at-will employment. Five survey items focus on the respondents' opinions concerning at-will employment as a managerial instrument; the responses are discussed and analyzed. We find that HR directors from smaller agencies and HR directors who trust political officials find utility in atwill employment as a managerial tool. We also find that female HR directors and HR directors with private sector experience disagree with the at-will employment in the public sector as a managerial tool.

The Empathetic Museum is a group of colleagues who advocate institutional empathy as a transforming force for museums. Our initiative emerged in the second decade of the 21st century amidst a confluence of seismic events in the US that forced the museum field to examine its relationship to social issues. The Empathetic Museum arose as a critique of museums’ indifference and reluctance to engage with issues deeply affecting their communities, especially those of color. We propose a lack of institutional empathy as a subtle yet powerful cause of this indifference. The article traces the development of the Empathetic Museum initiative; the evolution of its philosophy of institutional empathy; the creation of the Maturity Model as a key tool for empathetic practice; and its use and impact in the field. As a work in progress, the Empathetic Museum initiative has evolved and expanded through constant observation of, reflection on, and engagement with the important issues of our time.

In October 2007, 250,000 residents of San Diego County were forced to evacuate as wildfires burned 62 miles(2) in 24 hours. In 2005, the Sheriff's Department invested in Reverse 911® to contact residents upon emergencies. The system was used during this wildfire, and by the following midday, had made 394,915 calls. Shortly thereafter, 1,210 residents were surveyed to investigate the effectiveness of this technology. Findings reveal that 42 percent of respondents received their first warning from a Reverse 911® call while an additional 7 percent received the same call, but not as their first warning, as compared to all other methods used.

Across the US, coastal cities are threatened by many different man-made and natural hazards. From oil spill to hurricanes, tsunamis or coastal flooding, these cities should be prepared for emergency situations and should have well-organized emergency plans for their citizens. As a department that has contact with local government employees, human resource (HR) professionals understand the concepts that are important in times of crisis, including benefits management, training and development, and compensation. From mitigation to recovery, employees are vital to planning and responding to an emergency, and in a time when local government is focused on serving its citizens, local government human resource professionals serve those protecting those citizens – local government employees. The objective of this paper is to assess the roles and involvement of local government human resource professionals in emergency planning in coastal cities nationwide. Using responses collected from HR professionals in coastal cities with populations of 50,000 – 249,999, this paper investigates common HR issues included in emergency plans. Based on the analysis of their responses, gaps are identified and recommendations are made of ways in which human resources can contribute more effectively towards emergency planning for coastal cities.

Catastrophic events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and terrorist attacks can cost millions if not billions of dollars in damages. In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina decimated Mississippi's Gulf Coast and southeastern Louisiana. Many local governments lost facilities, equipment, vehicles, employees, and so on to the storm. In addition, many local government employees lost their homes, friends, coworkers, or family members, and they witnessed the evacuation of their families to other parts of the country. In this article, the authors use Phases 3 and 4 (response and recovery) of the Emergency Management Framework to analyze local governments' human resource management efforts following Hurricane Katrina. Under normal circumstances, human resource issues such as payroll, recruitment, and retention can be mundane. Managing human resources following a catastrophic event, however, can present challenges for the most mundane tasks.