What you need to know: CalHR is setting a new standard in the public sector by demonstrating how prioritizing employee engagement leads to meaningful organizational success. By embedding strengths-based development into its culture, CalHR not only boosts the effectiveness of its own workforce, but it also paves the way to extend these impactful practices across California’s state government.
SACRAMENTO —The California Department of Human Resources (CalHR) has been named a 2026 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award (GEWA) winner for strengths development. The award recognizes organizations that create workplace cultures that help people do their best work.
“As we work to modernize and streamline state government operations, prioritizing employee engagement is not just good practice, it is essential for delivering better services efficiently,” said CalHR Director Monica Erickson. “Winning this award affirms our commitment to treating employee engagement as a strategic priority. Our success with strengths development sets a powerful example for how investing in people drives effectiveness across California’s government. By helping people work from their strengths, we improve how CalHR serves state departments and ultimately how the state serves Californians.”
CalHR launched its Getting Started With Strengths rollout in 2025 and embedded CliftonStrengths into onboarding, leadership forums and internal communications. To date, 85% of CalHR employees have completed the CliftonStrengths assessment, reflecting strong internal participation. The CliftonStrengths assessment is an online tool from Gallup that helps people discover their natural talents and how they think, feel and act. Based on decades of research, it shows 34 common talent themes.
CliftonStrengths gives individuals and teams a simple way to understand and use their strengths. This supports leadership and professional growth by focusing on what people do best. CalHR has reported measurable gains in employee engagement scores since the program’s launch, including:
- Supporting recruitment efforts with over 150 statewide recruiters providing job information and guidance to more than 3,400 participants across 36 events
- Enhancing employee benefits customer service through a redesigned website with over 871,000 views and an innovative chatbot that provided timely answers to over 4,500 benefit-related questions, helping employees and their families make informed decisions about their health and financial wellbeing
- Delivering 2.5 million hours of training through 225,000 course enrollments to over 100,000 active users, empowering state employees to develop skills and advance their careers
Why is this important: In a public sector environment where employee engagement is often overlooked, CalHR’s recognition stands out. Previous Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award Winners for strengths include Charles Schwab, Mercedes-Benz and Mercedes-AMG, Southwest Airlines, U.S. Bank and other multinational companies.
CalHR delivers critical services that impact the lives and careers of more than 227,000 public employees and 237,000 retirees across California, represented by over 150 state departments. By leading this approach, CalHR is paving the way for other state agencies to harness employee engagement as a driver for improved service delivery statewide.
The initiative was piloted within CalHR and is only available to only CalHR staff. CalHR intends to expand the model to support other state departments in the future and is designing the program to be scalable across the broader state workforce. State of California department leaders who are interested in employee engagement can visit the Employee Engagement webpage for more information.
For a complete list of GEWA winners, visit the 2026 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award Winners page (available on March 4). Learn more about the awards.
About CalHR
CalHR is responsible for all issues related to employee salaries and benefits, job classifications, civil rights, training, exams, recruitment and retention. For most employees, many of these matters are determined through the collective bargaining process managed by CalHR. For more information about CalHR, please visit our website.
About Gallup
Gallup delivers analytics and advice to help leaders and organizations solve their most pressing problems. Combining more than 80 years of experience with its global reach, Gallup knows more about the attitudes and behaviors of employees, customers, students and citizens than any other organization in the world.