Key insights:

• • • Well-being is a professional necessity — Judges experience decision fatigue, emotional stress, and personal biases that can affect their rulings, making mental and physical well-being a judicial duty.

    • Community engagement builds better judgment — Staying connected to the communities they serve helps judges develop empathy, recognize bias, and deliver fairer decisions.

    • Diverse experience strengthens the judiciary — Varied backgrounds and ongoing education in areas like restorative justice make courts more responsive, inclusive, and publicly trusted.

Judges play a unique and essential role in society. They are tasked with interpreting the law, resolving disputes, and upholding justice — often under intense scrutiny and pressure. Their decisions shape lives, influence public policy, and reinforce the rule of law.

Indeed, judicial rulings may be the most visible part of the job, but they are not the only measure of a judge’s effectiveness — or of the judiciary’s overall health.

To truly understand and support a robust legal system, it is vital to look beyond the courtroom and examine the broader context in which judges operate. A judiciary that is fair, empathetic, and resilient depends not only on legal expertise, but also on balance, self-awareness, and active engagement with the communities it serves.

The weight of the robe & the value of connection

Despite the solemnity of the judicial office, judges also carry personal experiences, cognitive biases, and emotional responses. The weight of responsibility in adjudicating complex, often emotionally charged cases can lead to stress, burnout, and decision fatigue. that judicial decisions can be influenced by factors such as time of day, caseload volume, and even personal well-being.

When judges prioritize their own well-being through physical health, mental resilience, and time away from the bench, they are better equipped to render fair and consistent decisions. Judicial wellness is not a personal luxury; rather, it is a professional imperative.

Equally important is the role of community engagement. The law does not exist in a vacuum but is shaped by social norms, economic realities, and cultural shifts. Judges who remain isolated from the communities that are affected by their rulings risk losing touch with the lived experiences of the people before them.

Judicial rulings may be the most visible part of the job, but they are not the only measure of a judge’s effectiveness — or of the judiciary’s overall health.

Engagement with the public helps judges better understand how the law impacts and operates in people’s lives. It also builds the empathy and contextual awareness needed for interpreting statutes or imposing sentences.

For example, a judge who volunteers with youth programs or participates in community forums on public safety may develop a more nuanced understanding of cases involving juvenile offenders or policing practices. Similarly, a judge who attends local cultural events or listens to community leaders may be better positioned to recognize implicit biases or systemic inequities that may be inherent in the justice system.

Community involvement also strengthens public trust. When citizens see judges as accessible and engaged, rather than distant or aloof, confidence in the judiciary increases. And these ideas of transparency and connection are key to maintaining citizens’ trust in the courts.

These themes are explored more in depth in the Thomson Reuters Institute’s video series,��Beyond the Bench. For example, in the episode��,��Associate Justice Tanya R. Kennedy shares her experience educating youth, participating in civic organizations, and leading legal reform initiatives. The episode also highlights how service beyond judicial duties enhances judges’ decision-making and strengthens community ties.

Another episode of the series,��,��examines the personal and professional challenges faced by judges and attorneys alike. It features a candid interview with Judge Mark Pfiffer, who emphasizes the importance of mindfulness, peer support, and institutional policies that promote mental health and sustainable work practices.

A judiciary that reflects society

The same principle applies at the institutional level. A judiciary is strongest when it reflects the range of experiences and perspectives present in the society it serves.

Beyond individual judges, the judiciary can benefit from diversity and inclusion. A bench that reflects the full spectrum of society is more likely to deliver balanced and equitable justice. But diversity is not just about representation — it’s also about perspective.

Judges who have worked in public defense, civil rights advocacy, or rural legal services bring different insights to the bench than those who have spent their careers in corporate law or prosecution. These varied experiences enrich judicial deliberation and help ensure that decisions are informed by a broad understanding of justice.

Encouraging judges and court personnel to engage in lifelong learning, mentorship, and cross-sector collaboration further strengthens the judiciary. Programs that support judicial education on topics like implicit bias, trauma-informed practices, or restorative justice are essential to modern, responsive courts.

Improving judges’ well-being

The quality of justice depends not only on what happens in the courtroom, of course, but on what happens outside of it. Judges who maintain personal balance, engage with their communities, and remain open to diverse perspectives are better equipped to serve the public good.

Legal professionals, court administrators, and policymakers should support the kinds of initiatives that promote judicial wellness, community outreach, and professional development. By fostering a judiciary that looks beyond the bench, we ensure a justice system that is not only legally sound, but also humane, inclusive, and trusted.

In the end, judges and the justice they mete out are not defined by court rulings alone. It also depends on relationships, context, and public trust. Recognizing that reality is essential to preserving the well-being of the judiciary and the integrity of the law.

The��“Beyond the Bench”��video series is available on

Key highlights:

• • • Universities face pressure over pedagogy— Academic institutions are adopting AI as a reputational marker that’s driven by market pressure rather than educational need, creating a risk for students who can work with AI but not independently of it.

    • Entry-level roles under threat— AI is being deployed most heavily to automate the grunt work of entry-level positions in which foundational professional skills are traditionally built through struggle and feedback.

    • K-shaped cognitive economy emerging— Experienced professionals with existing expertise are gaining efficiency from AI, while entry-level workers are losing access to skill-building experiences.

According to Harvard University’s Professional & Executive Development division, innovation is defined as a “process that guides businesses through developing products or services that deliver value to customers in new and novel ways.” Along this journey, professional judgement in decision-making is used numerous times to determine next steps at key stages.

Notably, the word technology is nowhere to be found in this definition — an absence , Assistant Professor of Learning Technologies at the University of Minnesota, has long found revealing. Instead, innovation is framed as creative problem-solving, contextual intelligence, and the ability to work across perspectives. Interestingly, Dr. Heinsfeld adds, none of these require constant automation. In fact, many of them are undermined by it.

However, AI adoption has the real potential to automate away the very experiences that build these capabilities from university lecture halls to corporate offices. With notable data already suggesting that , the risk that the current approaches to AI use in universities and companies are engineering away innovation and professional judgement skills is real, notes , Group Leader in AI Research at Harvard and NTT Research.

Indeed, some observers view AI as the largest unregulated cognitive engineering experiment in human history. Yet, unlike medical drugs that require years of approval and testing, AI systems are reshaping how millions of students think, learn, and make decisions without a comparable approval process or a shared framework for discussing any potential “side effects,” as Dr. Heinsfeld pointed out.

Most worrisome is that AI is being deployed most heavily to automate precisely the entry-level roles where foundational professional skills are built.

So, what happens when an entire generation of future employees learn to delegate judgment before they develop it? And what actions do universities and companies need to take now to avoid this reality?

Risks of universities adopting AI under pressure

For universities, AI “has become a reputational marker, and not adopting AI is framed as institutional risk, regardless of whether an educational case has been made or not,” says Dr. Heinsfeld, adding that this is being driven, in part, by market pressure rather than pedagogical need.

Already, companies can greatly influence universities as employers of new graduates; and as such, AI systems are currently being optimized for speed, agreeability, and accessibility to stimulate ongoing use. However, as Dr. Heinsfeld contends, as universities race to earn the label AI ready without a careful, cautious and detailed understanding of how it may impact students’ cognitive processes, they run the risk of damage to their reputations of pedagogical integrity.

In addition, the “data as truth” paradigm is a complicating factor, she says. Drawing on her research, Dr. Heinsfeld explains how data “is often framed as the idea of being a single source of truth based on the assumption that when collected and analyzed, it can reveal objective, indisputable facts about the world.” Indeed, this ubiquitous mindset across universities and corporations treats data — such as that used to train large and small language models — as objective and indisputable.

Yet this obscures critical decisions about what gets measured, whose perspectives are included, and what forms of knowledge are systematically excluded from AI systems. As Dr. Heinsfeld warns, when data becomes synonymous with truth, “knowledge is what is measurable and optimizable.” This narrows professional judgment to efficiency metrics rather than the interpretive depth, ethical reasoning, and cultural context that are essential for sound decision-making.

Judgment gap widens in workforce downstream

Under the current AI adoption approach, students could leave universities able to work��with��AI but not independently��of��it, a distinction emphasized by Dr. Heinsfeld. Like calculators, AI works as a tool only when foundational skills for its use exist first. Without this, graduates enter the workforce with a critical judgment gap that compounds from their lives as students at college campuses to becoming employees working in corporations.

AI adoption has the real potential to automate away the very experiences that build these capabilities from university lecture halls to corporate offices.

Most worrisome is that AI is being deployed most heavily to automate precisely the entry-level roles where foundational professional skills are built, warns Dr. Tanaka. Indeed, this is exactly the type of grunt work that teaches judgment through struggle and feedback. Over time, overuse of AI will result in quality being sacrificed because critical evaluation skills have atrophied.

Looking into the future, Dr. Tanaka foresees a K-shaped economy of cognitive capacity. Experienced professionals with existing expertise and contextual judgment built through years of experience will gain increasing efficiency from AI. Entry-level workers, however, will lose access to the valuable experiences that build professional judgement. This gap widens between professionals who can independently accelerate their workflows using AI and those whose traditional tasks are merely displaced by it.

Intervention may be able to break the cycle

The pattern is not inevitable, as both Dr. Tanaka and Dr. Heinsfeld explain. Drawing on Dr. Heinsfeld’s emphasis on institutional agency, meaningful intervention will depend on conscious, intentional choices made at every level. Both experts share their guidance for how different organizations can manage this:

Academic institutions — Universities must first recognize that AI adoption is a decision rather than an inevitability and make educational need the North Star for decision-making around AI. In her analysis, Dr. Heinsfeld emphasizes that when vendors set defaults, they quietly redefine academic practice. Defaults shape what is made visible or invisible and what becomes normalized. In AI-driven environments, universities often lose control over how models are trained and updated, what data shapes outputs, how knowledge is filtered and ranked, and how student and faculty data circulate beyond institutional boundaries — especially if decision-making is left to vendors. As a result, the intellectual byproducts of teaching and learning increasingly become inputs into external systems that universities do not govern.

Private entities — For organizations, Dr. Tanaka calls for feedback loops and other mechanisms that will promote more open discussion about AI use without stigma. In addition, companies need to proactively redesign entry-level roles��to ensure these positions continue to cultivate judgment and foundational skills in an AI-driven environment. Likewise, Dr. Tanaka suggests that companies explicitly provide feedback about cognitive trade-offs to employees, fostering an understanding of possible skill entrophy.

Employees — Similarly, individuals working for organizations bear much of the responsibility for making sure critical thinking is enhanced by AI. Indeed, strategic decisions about when to use AI while seeking to preserve cognitive capacity and professional judgement are key.

Looking ahead

In today’s increasingly AI-driven environment, a new paradigm is needed to combat the current operating assumption that optimization from AI is the sole path to progress. And because the current trajectory sacrifices human development for efficiency, the need for universities and companies to choose a different path is urgent — while they still have the judgment capacity to do so.

You can find out more about how organizations are managing their talent and training issues here

Key insights:

• • • The awareness crisis — Nearly half of Gen Z workers have never been exposed to local government career opportunities, which means that an entire generation enters adulthood unaware these jobs exist.

    • Values alignment paradox — Gen-Z individuals trust local governments more than other institutions, and they strongly align with public service values like making a difference and solving community problems.

    • Beyond salary solutions — Some cities are proving that targeted marketing campaigns can be successful; and connecting public sector work to meaningful impact rather than simply raising wages can attract interest.

San Francisco’s local government has been stretched to its breaking point. Mayor Daniel Lurie signed his this summer, which would eliminate 1,000 positions permanently, potentially resulting in layoffs for 140 employees. The city still grapples with a vacancy rate among its city workers that hit 13.7% two years ago, with . Residents have experienced delayed emergency responses, understaffed public hospitals, delayed city buses, and other gaps in public services.

State and local governments have sought workforce stability in the five years following the Covid-19 pandemic. Generational retirements, the so-called Great Resignation, a shrinking workforce, low unemployment rates, and heightened work environment expectations have had a dramatic impact over the last five years, leaving many states and public sector organizations trying a myriad of approaches to build and enhance their talent pipeline.

The root cause of our public sector workforce woes may surprise you. A decline in civics education in the classroom means that young people aren’t as exposed to government institutions as they once were. And many enter the workforce wholly unaware of the problems governments can solve or the career paths open to them within it.

Invisible institutions: Bridging the civics gap

Depending on your age, you may recall civics exposure as a mandatory part of your K-12 education. Civics education has been largely absorbed into the social studies curriculum, and the results are damning. Less than of one-quarter (22%) of 8th-grade students in the United States are working at a . Civics exposure and knowledge have a direct correlation to higher rates of voting and participation in civics activities, but currently, cannot name a single branch of the federal government.

Now, many states are taking matters into their own hands through legislative action, with states like requiring that all 8th graders take a civics test aligned with a year-long course on citizenship and federal and state government.

For adults already out of the K-12 system, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation piloted a geared toward employers in 2025. The Civics @ Work program addresses the unfortunate fact that an estimated 70% of Americans could not pass a basic civic literacy test. When civic awareness is low, young people enter adulthood with a limited sense of how government institutions function and what professionals are needed to keep those institutions running reliably.

Interestingly, members of the Gen-Z generation are quickly becoming the largest demographic in the workforce, but they are overwhelmingly not choosing public sector careers. Gen-Z members currently represent 18% of the US population but as of this past spring. A on civic learning and engagement found that while Gen-Z has higher rates of trust in organizations, they appear to be less likely to see themselves working there. And a McKinsey study on attracting Gen-Z talent into public service notes that this demographic is more likely than other generations to be aligned with public service values.

Rebuilding the pipeline through exposure

The city and county of Denver is no stranger to targeted public sector recruitment campaigns. The city and county have partnered with AOR, a Denver-based branding and marketing firm, in 2016 and in 2025 for public sector recruitment marketing efforts. The , for example, targets individuals in the hospitality, security, nursing, education, and coaching industries to consider a career pivot to public safety.

The 2025 city and county-wide campaign launched with AOR, , highlights career paths that many may be unaware exist within local government. Denver saw increased growth in both awareness, click-through rates on Google and LinkedIn, and an increase in job application rates.

Successful methods in this area could potentially find a wide audience, research shows. Mission Square Research Institute’s on undergraduate attitudes toward careers in public service notes that business, accounting, and finance undergraduate students had the lowest level of awareness around public sector career paths. Exposure to a public sector career path is just the beginning, however, these organizations need to connect to the issues young people care about and demonstrate that a public sector career offers meaningful work and growth opportunities.

Investing in the next generation of public servants

Mission Square’s findings noted that in 2025, undergraduate Gen-Z students are prioritizing salary, work/life balance, personal satisfaction, and job security. Those students who were surveyed perceive government salaries as negative (when compared to the private sector).

How the public sector paints the picture of a career is crucial to success and presents an opportunity for recruitment. Gen-Z, as a demographic, is highly motivated by public service values, and can relate strongly to messaging around making a difference, solving local problems, and delivering real impact. The Minnesota Citizens League report on points out that employers should consider loosening restrictive job requirements (such as degrees, years of previous experience, etc.) and instead recruit for mindset and soft skills and invest in the talent development of younger employees.

This doesn’t come without some risk, of course. Job tenure for younger workers averages 2.8 years — less than one-third of the tenure of Baby Boomers and Gen X in the workforce, according to Mission Square.

Civics education as the first step, not the final one

As San Francisco is reconciling, increasing wages can’t always be the final solution. Exposure and education around public sector opportunities are a critical first step to building a workforce pipeline. Legislative approaches taken in recent years at the state level — include for example, requiring student-led civics projects in middle and high schools; and forming a task force to study civics education, engagement, and media literacy — can certainly help, because civics education alone is likely insufficient.

Students need a formal introduction, in K-12 and beyond, to public sector opportunities, and these introductions should address the stereotypes that government is inefficient, clarify the non-political role of day-to-day operations, and highlight meaningful work, problem-solving, and personal career satisfaction.

For those governments and local organizations that are already struggling with persistent vacancies and a shrinking workforce, investing in the student pipeline is essential.

You can find out more about the challenges around talent and other issues faced by government agencies and their workers here

Key insights:

• • • Ethics must be embedded, not bolted on — Corporate leaders should move beyond legal compliance to proactively weave ethics into decision-making and define their legacy by how results are achieved, not just what is achieved.

    • Misconduct is usually systemic, not individual — Unethical behavior often arises from environments in which there are misaligned incentives, pressure, and self-deception. Thus, redesigning rewards and evaluations to balance short- and long-term outcomes is pivotal.

    • A practical playbook exists — Use a catalytic anchor event, measure the ethical climate rigorously, empower local teams with data and AI-driven tools, align policies and incentives globally with core values, and run small, iterative experiments to refine what works.

We’re at a pivotal moment in history, a defining moment in which rapid societal change and mounting crises are intersecting with awe-inspiring technical advancements. This convergence — undoubtedly dangerous — is also an opportunity for leaders and their teams to turn the tide and demonstrate how principled decisions can lead to transformative outcomes for business and society.

As we navigate this critical juncture, it’s clear that the path forward requires more than mere compliance with laws and regulations. It calls for proactively embedding ethics into all aspects of organizational decision-making. Indeed, this is corporate leaders’ opportunity to redefine their legacies — to be remembered not just for what they achieved, but for how they achieved it.

The challenge

First, we acknowledge the trade-offs and ethical dilemmas that often seem insurmountable in the corporate world. The perceived tug-of-war between people and profit, speed and safety, or quality and quantity, pose significant challenges. However, our belief is that, despite these hurdles, it is indeed possible to create ethical ecosystems that not only survive but thrive.

What is important to understand is that ethical lapses are often . Employees don’t suddenly become dishonest; however, in the absence of an evidently ethical culture, rationalization and post-justification can make it seem as if one is grappling with complex ethical dilemmas of balancing benefits against potential risks. While this dilemma is often real, it can also be fundamentally self-serving, cloaking the profit motive in the guise of the societal benefits — be it patient care or financial well-being.

Further, misconduct in business arguably most often stems not from a couple of rogue actors, but rather, the broader environment that either promotes, or fails to curb, unethical behavior. In other words, it’s , and more about a work environment that allows ordinary people to succeed professionally, through what they perceive to be acceptable compromises. Misconduct therefore doesn’t occur in a vacuum; it festers in conditions in which flawed incentives, unreasonable commercial pressures, and ethical blindness prevail. Similarly, hyper-competitive performance evaluations that incentivize individuals to compete in a zero-sum contest, rather than and their ethical conduct, can encourage unethical cultures to spread.

5 steps toward ethical cultures

Admittedly, redesigning these systems requires a paradigm shift in business. However, there are several practical steps that enlightened business leaders can take to foster ethical organizational cultures.

1: Identify an anchor

To initiate such a transformation, it’s��crucial to identify an anchor — a notable event that can serve as a catalyst. For example, this could be prompted by a scandal or a change in leadership. The key is to use this event not just as a standalone occurrence, but to signal a shift in how seriously ethics is taken within the workplace.

Use your anchor event to announce your intention to enhance your organization’s ethical infrastructure. This should be the moment that captures people’s attention.

2: Establish a baseline��

While data from engagement surveys may offer some insights, they often lack the rigor needed to assess the ethical climate of the typical workplace. To create a precise measure, consider other factors such as employees’ perceptions of fairness and trust.��These perceptions can be evaluated using methods such as anonymous surveys and confidential interviews.

By establishing a robust analytical system, you will be able to produce a clear picture of the current ethical climate across your organization, while identifying those business areas that need intervention.

3: Empower locally��

Presenting data can ignite interest and spark meaningful conversations about ethics, which in turn can help shift the narrative and establish a common understanding.

Focus on creating interactive sessions in which leaders can digest data and discuss implications for their business areas.��Empower HR, Risk & Compliance, Legal, Finance, and other corporate functions with the tools and training needed to analyze and interpret the data. This could involve training modules, workshops, and the integration of AI tools to provide nuanced insights.

4: Act globally��

While empowering local teams to address ethical dilemmas is crucial, it is equally important to ensure their policies and processes are aligned with the organization’s overarching values.��While such alignment can be a challenge for large multinational organizations, emphasizing these universal values can be done.

For example, revisit incentive systems and check that they promote desirable behavior,��rather than solely focusing on financial��performance. Also, ensure that these systems are transparent and communicated clearly and consistently to all employees.

5: Embrace experimentation��

Finally, foster a mindset of experimentation. Run a series of small-scale pilots to test various interventions. Approach this with humility and scientific rigor, acknowledging that adjustments may be necessary, and that success is rarely straightforward.

This approach, while it may sound daunting, is actually quite manageable. By embracing the challenge with the curiosity and methodology of a scientist, you can pave the way for genuine and lasting improvements.

Moving forward to an ethical environment

Today’s business leaders are navigating a multitude of hazards, ranging from rising geopolitical tensions, rapidly evolving AI-driven technology, and society’s shifting attitudes and expectations. Yet, in these challenges lies an unprecedented opportunity for leaders to redefine their legacy by embedding ethical principles deeply into the heart of their organizations. In this way, business leaders can turn these risks into sources of long-term competitive advantage.

You can find out more on how within their workplaces here

To succeed in the future, companies have to know the critical role in organizational success and profitability that managers play. Traditional corporate learning and development (L&D) models for managers, however, are inadequate. What is needed instead is manager development programs that provide tailored, strategic, and meaningful support — rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, according to , Co-founder of Mento, a career coaching and mentorship platform.

Existence of dual challenges

In a given week, managers may have to navigate a multitude of challenges that are evolving rapidly due to various factors like technological advancements, economic shifts, and changing workplace cultures. Indeed, managers are expected to juggle multiple roles including being effective individual contributors, strategic visionaries, exceptional leaders and communicators, and culture builders. Further, this is occurring when the pressure on managers has increased, with many organizations expecting them to manage both the technological and human aspects of their roles without adequate training or support.

Companies’ efforts to support managers are not working well, Albers says. “Many companies invest very little in manager development — often less than $500 per manager annually,” she explains. “And there’s also frequently a disconnect between generic training programs and the personalized, ongoing support managers actually need to apply new skills.”

In addition, traditional models offering one-off trainings or videos for managers are insufficient, Albers says, adding that many L&D initiatives fail to address managers’ own well-being and burnout, focusing solely on skills without ensuring that managers have the capacity to implement them.

The 80/20 coach/mentor modality

To better invest in managers, innovative organizations are adopting new, adaptive approaches, many of which involve investing in tailored leadership development programs and fostering a culture of continuous learning and support. One emerging model that is producing positive results is the coach/mentor modality, in which an executive manager is 80% coach and 20% mentor. More specifically, this method involves managers devoting 80% of the time to coaching, in which they discuss challenges, receive tailored feedback, and workshop solutions in real-time. The other 20% of the manager’s time is spent on function-specific challenges as a mentor.

“This approach combines coaching to build self-awareness and problem-solving skills with mentorship from experienced operators who can offer practical guidance,” Albers explains.

The 80/20 coach/mentor relationship also helps managers develop critical long-term well-being skills, such as identifying what’s in their control, managing stress, and aligning their work with organizational goals to reduce internal friction. In fact, according to Mento research, managers strongly agreed (9.4 out of 10) with this statement: “Mentor/coaching helps improve how I solve business challenges.”

By integrating learning into day-to-day work rather than relying on infrequent trainings, the coach/mentor model enables continuous growth and application of new skills, leading to more confident, motivated, and effective managers. More broadly, to take further advantage of these positive outcomes, Albers recommends these three actions:

1. 1. 1. Tailor manager development to individual needs— Innovative companies are providing personalized and continuous learning experiences, often by identifying individual needs, providing ongoing support to ensure that learning is not a one-time event but a continuous process, and utilizing advanced technologies and platforms to deliver personalized coaching sessions and resources anytime, anywhere.
      2. Create a culture of partnership and collaboration — Successful implementation of a coach/mentor model requires a culture in which HR leaders and managers collaborate closely. This involves having active managers seek collaboration with HR to communicate managers’ needs and advocate for resources that will help them and their teams thrive.
      3. Intentionally invest in a growth-oriented and adaptive environment— Companies need to cultivate an environment that supports continuous growth and adaptation. This can be achieved by encouraging experimentation in which managers and employees are encouraged to try new approaches, pilot new programs, and learn from failures.

Investing in manager excellence

Investing in manager excellence also helps to build psychological safety through a workplace culture in which employees feel comfortable sharing ideas, taking risks, and being their full selves without fear of judgment or punishment. It is also foundational to building trust with employees and other stakeholders.

In fact, trust is an essential element of . In fact, goes unreported to management, according to research from Gartner. This high rate of unreported misconduct represents a significant risk for organizations and highlights the importance of improved reporting mechanisms and a stronger speak-up culture, which does not exist without psychological safety and trust.

Companies are increasingly recognizing that managers play an outsized critical role in organizational success. And those companies that invest in manager excellence are likely to remain attractive places to work to top level talent. Further, companies can experience the multiplier effect of better managers, culture, and employee retention, all while staying resilient and competitive, better positioning the company well for long-term success in an ever-changing business landscape.

You can find out more about here.

In fact, corporate tax modeling and tax planning have become essential components of a company’s financial strategy. These processes enable businesses to predict their tax liabilities, optimize their tax positions, and ensure compliance with tax laws. Effective tax planning can lead to significant savings and enhance a company’s financial health.

That means, however, that today’s modern tax department must cope with increasingly complex tax regulations — both domestic and global — as well as the need for real-time decision-making, all while having to synthesize large sets of data from across the business.

Corporate tax modeling

involves creating a financial model that estimates a company’s tax liabilities under various scenarios. This important part of tax strategizing is still done manually by many corporate tax departments, including having to do arduous and time-consuming data collection and scenario analysis. Indeed, collecting this data from across the business is not only inefficient, but it also increases the chances of error each time there is manual data collection that is entered into a single source for analysis.

Corporate tax modeling and tax planning have become essential components of a company’s financial strategy, enabling businesses to predict their tax liabilities, optimize their tax positions, and ensure compliance with tax laws.

This scenario analysis is a central component of tax models, incorporating various scenarios —such as changes in tax laws and regulations, shifts in business operations or acquisitions, or different economic conditions — into an analytical framework. Scenario analysis helps companies understand how these variables impact their tax debt or savings. Then, after various scenarios are considered, a studied risk assessment needs to take place to identify potential risks — the crucial the bedrock of all modeling.

However, to do all this acquiring and manipulating of data manually carries a much higher risk of inaccuracy as well as being time-consuming and inefficient. Many tax departments need to consider another way.

Advanced tools for enhanced tax modeling

For the modern corporate tax department, turning to advanced technologies to enhance its tax modeling processes may be the clearest path forward. Many departments already are enjoying some success in being able to work more accurately and quickly by leveraging tools that can manage vast amounts of data and provide precise, actionable insights. Here are some of the key technologies that corporate tax departments should consider:

• • • Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) — GenAI is revolutionizing the way tax departments operate by automating routine tasks and enabling more strategic decision-making. GenAI can analyze large datasets to identify patterns, assess risks, and provide real-time insights into the impact of tax regulations. This technology is particularly valuable for automating data entry, document management, and report generation, thereby freeing up tax professionals to focus on higher-value tasks. By leveraging GenAI, tax departments can significantly reduce the time they spend on mundane tasks while increasing the accuracy and reliability of their tax models.
    • Robotic process automation (RPA) — RPA is another critical technology that helps automate repetitive, rule-based tasks within corporate tax departments. This includes introducing processes such as data extraction, validation, and compliance reporting. By leveraging RPA, tax departments can reduce human error, increase efficiency, and ensure that their tax models are consistently accurate and up to date. RPA tools are designed to mimic human actions, allowing them to perform tasks such as copying and pasting data, moving files, and filling out forms with remarkable speed and precision. This not only improves the overall efficiency of tax departments but again allows tax professionals to focus on more strategic activities.
    • Advanced data analytics platforms — Effective tax modeling relies heavily on accurate and timely data, and advanced data analytics platforms allow tax departments to manage and analyze large volumes of tax-related data efficiently. These platforms integrate with the department’s existing enterprise systems to ensure that tax models are built on the most current financial data. Moreover, these tools help in scenario planning, allowing tax professionals to evaluate the potential impact of different business decisions on the company’s eventual tax liabilities. By using advanced data analytics, tax departments can gain deeper insights into their company’s tax positions, identify trends and anomalies, and make more informed decisions.
    • Cloud technology — Using the cloud offers flexibility and scalability, enabling tax departments to manage their data and applications more efficiently. Cloud-based tax tools facilitate seamless collaboration across different corporate functions and locations, ensuring that tax modeling and reporting are consistent and accessible in real-time. This is particularly important for multinational corporations that need to integrate tax data across various jurisdictions. Cloud solutions also provide enhanced security and disaster-recovery capabilities, ensuring that sensitive tax data is protected and always available when needed.
    • Workflow management tools — These tools are essential for organizing and streamlining the various work processes within the tax department, helping with tracking compliance deadlines, managing document flow, and ensuring that all tasks are completed on time. These tools also integrate with other tax technologies to provide a comprehensive view of the tax function’s performance and even identify areas for improvement. By using workflow management software, corporate tax departments can improve their operational efficiency, reduce the risk of missed deadlines, and ensure that all tax-related activities are carried out in a coordinated and systematic manner.

Conclusion

Tax modeling and tax planning are vital for corporate tax departments that no longer want to be seen as a cost center, and instead desire to help their businesses optimize their tax positions and ensure compliance with tax laws. By creating accurate tax models and implementing effective tax planning strategies, these departments can achieve identify significant tax savings and improve the financial health of their organizations.

Further, by utilizing advanced tools and software solutions, departments can enhance the efficiency and accuracy of their work processes, enabling their businesses to navigate the complex tax landscape with confidence. As tax regulations continue to evolve, tax department leaders need to stay informed and understand that being adaptable is critical to successful corporate tax management.

You can find more about how can use technology here.

We examined how three separate government agencies — in Washington, Colorado, and California — are taking an innovative approach to achieve these benchmarks through major overhauls of their programs and processes.

Washington state: Working on Island Time

San Juan County’s 17,000 residents primarily live across the four major inhabited islands in the San Juan Islands archipelago, in the Salish Sea in far northwest Washington state. These residents rely on ferry transportation to and from the mainland, a transportation system which has been plagued by staffing shortages since the pandemic. Following labor negotiations in 2023, the San Juan County government (which employs approximately 200 employees) compromised to meet cost-of-living adjustments in a perhaps unusual way: maintain the same rate of pay but reduce the number of hours worked. Thus, the agency introduced the to its employees.

The nomenclature is intentional: 32 hours per week does not universally translate to a four-day workweek. Numerous county offices remain open five days per week, such as San Juan County’s District Court, which is mandated by state statute to remain open five days per week. With employees working up to 32 hours as full-time equivalents (FTEs), however, this equates to a 4% cost-of-living adjustment and 416 additional personal hours realized.

says that an overhaul of the county court’s schedule for hearings and trials to adjust to the new 32-hour work week required staff creativity and a great deal of user education. For example, the daily court calendar was consolidated so that jury trials would not fall on Fridays.

Prior to the shift, the Court had a large criminal calendar and a jury trial term each week. Now, criminal calendars and jury trial terms have been , with the flexibility in place to hear arraignments on any Tuesday morning, regardless of which docket week it is. Trials are particularly demanding on staff resources, and this does cause some employees work more than 32 hours during those weeks. (Employees who work more than 32 but fewer than 40 hours are not eligible for overtime pay but are paid for additional hours worked at their regular rate.)

From a work efficiency perspective, the small district court team (which has 5.77 FTEs) has found an increased need to cross-train and fight siloing of roles. And they are anticipating a budgetary request for an additional .5 FTE for 2025.

Despite the at-times thin staffing to maintain five days open to the public, employees have indicated that they love the new weekly model. Many services and retail options are on the mainland and require a daylong trip off-island to be completed. Employees report more time for personal interests, hobbies, and the ability to to one day each week, without the need to use limited vacation or sick time for these necessities.

Silicon Valley: Personalizing employee wellness

Home to more than 1.8 million people, the government of Santa Clara County — the heart of California’s Silicon Valley — boasts more than 24,000 employees and is a major provider of health services for area residents through its Behavioral Health Services Department, Public Health Department, Emergency Medical Services Agency, and three county-owned hospitals.

If county employees work so hard to deliver health services to residents, leaders felt it was important that they too should also be able to take care of their own mental and physical health. To ensure this, the commitment was codified in an in 2018.

Since its rejuvenation in 2012, the , which is housed under the County Executive’s office, has been on the leading edge of putting employee well-being at the forefront of the organization’s culture. Program manager Teresa Chagoya said that although offerings have evolved over the years, the program continues to stress accessibility and personalization. are offered online (and will soon return to in-person), including some in newly developed onsite classrooms and exercise amenities held in county facilities. And in its recent employment campaign, Santa Clara County to the organization’s wellness offerings.

The Employee Wellness Division has four navigators who work with differing types of departments to meet their staffs’ unique wellness needs, including two who specialize in developing and delivering wellness programs for hospital and health workers as well as public safety employees. The public safety navigator works in tandem with the health and wellness coordinator for the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.

The Santa Clara County government also relies heavily on internal program ambassadors through its . More than 100 employee ambassadors across the organization connect wellness efforts to the county’s various departments. Champions help to spread the word about upcoming programs and offerings to their colleagues, as well as to share valuable feedback with Employee Wellness Division leadership. Post-pandemic, both mental health counseling and financial counseling are in high demand by Santa Clara County employees, and the county’s partnership with provides access to 24/7 counseling (whether in-person or virtually) with clinicians engaged directly in triage.

Golden, Colo.: A people-first workplace

City Manager Scott Vargo, the city manager of Golden, Colo., a city of slightly more than 20,000 just outside the Denver’s metro area, helped program last year. And Police Chief Joe Harvey jumped at the opportunity for his 72-member department to be the first to road-test it.

After nearly one year of the pilot, Chief Harvey says that he is serious about building a department and a culture in which people are “heard, respected, and taken care of” because he believes strongly that to deliver the level of public safety that Golden deserves, the organization needs “healthy, balanced, and grounded people” responding.

Chief Harvey stresses that numbers-wise, traffic stops have remained on par, while such as community engagement events and self-initiated calls for service (instances in which emergency service personnel call for service rather than the public) doubled and tripled, respectively. The outcomes of policing in Golden are actively getting better, he adds, while overtime costs were down 75% in the first year of the pilot compared to the year prior.

It’s not just about the financials, however, it’s about reaching the long-term goal of a healthier, more grounded workforce. Anecdotally, police department employees have shared positive effects of a shortened workweek that relate to physical and mental well-being — such as their ability to reduce in their blood pressure medication, sleep better, experience less stress, spend more time with their family, and feel more alert at the tail ends of their shifts.

While staffing ebbs and flows, and departments still find themselves needing to fund police academy expenditures as a part of the recruitment process, Chief Harvey says he was completely staffed at the moment. This affords the department the luxury of being more selective about whom they hire, ensuring that recruits who enter the Golden Police Department are a good cultural fit and align with the of “elevating public trust in law enforcement through accountability and equitable policing.”

Indeed, leadership is confident that if this pilot becomes permanent, the Golden Police Department will remain competitive in talent attraction. City leadership also stressed at the time of the that this program did not mean that city staff would be working less and doing less. Rather, as Chief Harvey clarifies: “[We] have to work smarter and �󲹰�����.”

As more government agencies make it a priority to achieve their goals of promoting a healthy work/life balance among employees and better manage staff members’ mental health issues, these three government agencies can act as beacons to show different ways it can be done and how success in this area can be defined.

For more strategies on managing government agencies, you can download the Thomson Reuters Institute’s State of the Government Legal Department Report 2024 here.

This scenario also is playing out in the legal industry for those lawyers working in government service as there has never been more of an opportunity for those lawyers to find creativity and impact and do more meaningful work to enhance their career satisfaction. At the same time, government agencies can deliver on their big drive to hire more attorneys as public servants.

Attorneys working at the state and county levels are quintessential examples of serving their communities. , Manager of the Corporates and Government enterprise content platform for ��������, was one of these lawyers being motivated to work as a public servant right after law school because of “the internal compass of wanting to work in an area where I was serving my community.” Indeed, Jurva worked in a county district attorney’s office in California, and it was in this role that she sought to maximize her professional and personal goals to help “people live with dignity and respect.” One of the most rewarding experiences of her almost half-decade long legal career was the opportunity to seek justice for crime victims. “It was always my primary motivator, and the county district attorney’s office was the best place to make an impact,” Jurva says. “It gave me that hands-on opportunity from day one.”

Another one of these lawyers was , who, in his words, was a recovering commercial litigator who then took a role as special counsel in the New York State Governor’s office to identify ethical and high risk issues, investigate them, and recommend potential fixes and policy and procedure solutions for the future. In particular, Konigsberg says he is proud of his role as deputy to the governor’s Chief Diversity Officer in helping to develop the policy provisions in Executive Order 187: Ensuring Diversity and Inclusion and Combating Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace.

Konigsberg says he also recalls feeling the most satisfaction when he reached a unity of purpose with his peers on some of the ethics issues they tackled, internal investigations they conducted, key regulatory issues they identified, and ways in which they worked with law enforcement. “When your teammates also agree that the work is vital to preserve the integrity and the public trust, and to ensure compliance with ethics and Public Officers law (all of which you must have to even think of creating any positive change in government), you go home at the end of the day feeling heartened,” he states.

Preparing the next generation of lawyers in government service

One of the big motivations for attorneys in public service is the opportunity to pay it forward and give back. Jurva shared that she had many mentors at the prosecutor’s office — from her boss to more senior attorneys, and even judges who helped her navigate the complexities of criminal law. She then, in turn, mentored law clerks and new attorneys.

Other public service attorneys also mentor law students and early career lawyers who are seeking legal careers in government — especially attorneys of color — because of the foundational belief that government as a platform for power and change should be reflective of the community.

In a world where instant gratification is rampant, Konigsberg notes that patience is important. While the enthusiasm of jumping right into to lawyering is an exciting prospect, focusing more on skill development and less on titles is important. “The ‘titles’ and other things will come later,” he adds.

Retiring government lawyers continue to contribute

The idea of service is at the core of many attorneys who are working in government — and they seek to continue that idea even after retirement. In fact, even with the current onslaught of retiring attorneys from the Boomer generation, there are many examples of seasoned attorneys continuing their service-oriented missions. These lawyers know that retirement does not mean that their service to their community ends. And while they may not be practicing attorneys any longer, many of them continue to mentor and act as resources for younger attorneys that are practicing now because these retired lawyers know they have a valuable knowledge base that they need to share with the younger generation.

Of course, the most common drawbacks to public service are the relatively lower pay (compared to the private sector) and the lack of resources, which can lead to increased feelings of frustration and burn-out. The low pay, plus the large amount of debt younger lawyers amass in law school can be a drag on their motivation, Konigsberg acknowledges, but if you can make ends meet, “working for the government is absolutely worth it (early and later in your career) and will pay off in your professional skill development because those same��skills will also make you well-suited��for private industry, if or when that interests you.”

When mentoring future attorneys, it is important for these seasoned lawyers to advise their younger colleagues not to lose themselves in their practice and to be true to the goals and mission that brought them into government service in the first place.

It is this very mission that inspires thousands of attorneys to join the department. and are two of these lawyers.

The DOJ as a ‘beacon of hope’

Howlette pursued his dream of becoming a Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney, after serving in the military and taking the bar exam while deployed in Afghanistan. He says that he viewed the agency as a “beacon of hope, in that the agency served as a bulwark against those seeking to harm others and a staunch defender of our civil liberties.”

Now, working on the civil side of the tax division as the litigating arm of the Internal Revenue Service, Howlette says he finds meaning each day because he gets to pursue justice through prosecutions by “seeking injunctions against dishonest tax return preparers who promoted fraudulent tax schemes and arrangements.” Many victims are from low-income backgrounds and are usually people of color, and Howlette says he finds this aspect of his work in particular, meaningful as an attorney of color himself.

Massey’s work for the DOJ as an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) affords those attorneys a unique opportunity to make a difference in their community, she explains. “Of course, AUSAs strive to hold people accountable for their crimes, but we also partner with law enforcement agencies on the federal, state, and local level to implement programs to prevent and control crime. These combined actions have a quantifiable impact on the daily lives of people living in our community.”

Autonomy, prosecutorial discretion & development opportunities

From a career development and litigation experience perspective, Howlette — as an early career attorney himself — believes his DOJ employment has allowed him tremendous autonomy to grow in comparison to private practice. From day one, he was the lead on his assigned cases. He is the person determining if justice is served by applying the law to the facts and circumstances of the case; and more specifically, he has the prosecutorial discretion to decide the direction of the case and how the arguments are framed.

For example, he had one case that involved a business owner who had a significant amount of unpaid taxes that accumulated while the owner was experiencing a series of dire health problems that impacted his ability to pay the back taxes and penalties. Howlette had the autonomy to come up with an equitable strategic solution to avoid taking the business owner’s assets, including his home, and to make recommendations for the settlement. Howlette says he did not see justice being served by us taking this person’s house to collect the back tax revenue when the home served as the residence of the business owner’s kids and grandkids. “This is the discretion that that I find to be very, very meaningful in my day-to-day work,” he adds.

The DOJ also is a great for training and development, both lawyers say. “The training at DOJ truly is second to none,” says Massey. Further, the department has personnel that ensure that each attorney is pursuing a career development plan. “Leadership is also great about checking in to make sure employees are on track to hit their performance goals and to offer new opportunities to work on different types of cases,” she explains.

Collegial work environment & informal mentoring

In addition to his high level of job satisfaction, the DOJ’s work culture is extremely welcoming, Howlette describes. “From my first day on the job, I felt like I was part of a family here in the tax division — a family filled with very intelligent, humble, and caring individuals.” He says that he felt a sense of community, in part, because of the mission. Also, he says he always felt comfortable seeking guidance on the litigation strategy of a case or about getting advice on a career question because of the supportive, harmonious culture.

For Massey, who started at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2019 after working as an in-house lawyer, the experience was similar, as she was welcomed by an entire team of peer mentors. “We are constantly helping and bouncing ideas off each other,” she says. “It’s great being part of a team where everyone wants to see you succeed.”

In a new series, , we examine how government service is great for those attorneys who are driven by purposeful work and career happiness

Pat Bak, who recently retired as the Deputy Executive Director at the (FTC), had a storied career as a lawyer in government service across multiple federal agencies. From (FDIC) through multiple roles at the FTC with a stint as an in-house counsel in between, Bak says she found all of her roles illuminating and meaningful.

“At each point of my career, I was motivated by different things, but the common theme was there was an inflection point of things that were going on in the outside,” Bak explains. Indeed, she worked for a member of Congress who sat on the House Judiciary Committee during Watergate even before going to law school. And after law school, Bak sought out employment at the , an agency created in the aftermath of the Watergate crisis.

After 10 years as an attorney in private practice handling large class action antitrust claims, she returned to government service at the FDIC in the middle of the 1980s Savings & Loan crisis. After that, she went in-house running a legal department for a large court-created class action trust, and because of her work in large class-action litigation, she was recruited back to public service as a lawyer at FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, which was then launching a class action project.

Later, based on her prior management of an in-house legal department, FTC management tapped Bak to help manage the agency over the last decade of her career, allowing her to flex her business and employee development skills, which was something she had enjoyed while working in-house.

Each time Bak transitioned from the private sector to�� government service, there was a new frontier in which to work. “With chaos comes freedom,” she says, adding that what she most enjoyed about the public sector was the opportunity to be on the front lines of something impactful. “Working at a government agency gave me the freedom to explore whatever I was interested in, and having worked in law firms for 10 years, you don’t get that freedom,” Bak observes.

FTC’s focus on mission & career growth

Because the purpose of the FTC is to preserve competition and protect consumers, it is hard to argue that the public service that the agency is providing is not meaningful. To that end, the agency has gone to great lengths to ensure its mission and career growth were front and center for its employees:

Aligning all employees, including support, staff to the mission — Among the program changes Bak implemented was broadening on-boarding training for new employees to include support staff. (Previously, this training had only been done for new lawyers.) She also made sure that the team in charge of planning and executing the two-day training program was led by FTC’s , which gave the elite group developmental opportunities around collaboration, budgeting, public speaking, and networking with the most senior agency executives. “It is hard to do support work and to really understand your work in the absence of understanding the mission,” Bak says, adding that this change was also an important component of the agency’s commitment to diversity, equity & inclusion since many of the support staff were employees of color.

Leave the FTC and come back — Bak advises other FTC lawyers to follow her example by transitioning to and from the private sector, for two primary reasons: i) their experience in the private sector will bring a different perspective when they return to the FTC; and ii) to earn private sector compensation. “We’ve ingrained the idea that at some point you should leave to go to that law firm to do something else, and then, come back to us to lead in some capacity,” she explains.

Staying in touch with alumni — Because government agencies are not able to compete on pay, Bak is a big advocate for government agencies staying in touch with alumni to bolster their ongoing relationship with the agency. “People have longstanding relationships with the FTC long after they’ve left,” she adds. “And, the agency does have this continued revolving relationship with alumni.”

Explore internal opportunities — To increase retention of attorneys in public service, Bak helped to carry the legacy of exploration and freedom at the FTC during a time called “open season,” where lawyers have the option of moving around to other divisions to maintain their thirst for learning and alleviate any feelings of stagnation in their careers.

If Bak had a magic wand to increase retention, she says she would use it to reduce the gap in pay between lawyers working in government and those in private practice. In addition, she would eliminate the practice of unpaid internships.

To make long-term investments in recruiting, Bak advocated for FTC economists to tutor in Washington, D.C.-area public schools to open up career possibilities for younger students. “I would love these kids to be encouraged to be in significant roles where they are taking good heavy math and they’re exposed to jobs where they see people having a good life and doing work that’s appealing,” Bak notes. “My feeling was, if I can’t get them to come to me, we should go to them.”