Trends and developments in human resources management in the public sector

1. Trends and developments in human resources managementin the public sector Prof. Dr. Annie Hondeghem EGPA Study Group on Public Personnel Policies

2. Introduction Study Group on Public Personnel Policies Trends in human resources management in the public sector Future challenges Discussion

3. Study Group on Public Personnel Policies

4. In existence since 1987 • Aims • to study public personnel policies in European countries • to disseminate information on developments and research in the subject areas • to create a network of experts on public personnel management.

5. Working method • The study group chooses a theme to work on for two to three years. The theme always deals with new developments in public personnel policies. A call for papers is made for each EGPA-conference. Participants are invited to present papers. They get feedback from colleagues which they can take into account in revising their papers. The result of our work is a publication which includes the most interesting papers, covering different European countries or different aspects.

6. Themes • 1992-1995: The new public manager • 1996-1998: Flexibility of staffing and personnel policies • 1999-2000: Competency management in the public sector • 2001-2003: Staff participation and public management reform • 2004-2006: The future of public employment • 2007-2009: Leadership, professionalisation and HR-policies • 2010-2012: to be decided

7. Publications • Books • Special issues For each theme For example: Public service motivation • Book ‘Motivation in public management. The call of public service’ (eds. Perry and Hondeghem), Oxford University Press, 2008. • Special issue International Public Management Journal, 2008, 1. • Special issue ‘Public service motivation and performance’ ,in International Review of Administrative Sciences, 2009, 1.

8. Third transatlantic dialogue 2007 ‘Leading the future of the public sector’ • Publication • Book ‘Public sector leadership. International challenges and perspectives’ (eds. Raffel, Leisink, Middlebrooks), Edward Elgar, 2009.

9. 2. Trends in human resources management in the public sector

10. Citation From rule-based personnel administration to performance oriented human resources management

11. Trends • Employment numbers and compensation costs • Composition of the public sector workforce • Decentralisation and devolution of HRM • Increasing flexibilities • Performance management • Competency based management • Senior public management • Model employer

12. Employment numbers and compensation costs OECD study (2008) • Employment in government represents between 5% and 28% of the workforce in 21 OECD-countries • In most countries numbers of government employment have been relatively stable between 1995 and 2005. • In most countries changes of the size of government employment is consistent with the changes of the share of the compensation costs of government employees in the GDP. • In most countries changes affecting the share of compentation costs of government employees are consistent with the changes of the level of production costs of goods and services in the public domain. • In several countries poduction costs of goods and services in the public domain and produced by the private sector have increased.

13. Composition of the public sector workforce Feminisation of the public workforce Generational shift traditionalists babyboomers generation X generation Y Ageing of the workforce

14. Decentralisation and devolution of HRM • Aim: improve responsiveness to changing needs and focus on local and sectoral demands • Strategies: • decentralisationof HRM from central management bodies to line departments and agencies • devolution to line managers (people managers) • Areas: Staffing, recruitment and selection, pay, classification and grading, ... • Role of central HRM bodies: Standards and guidelines, control on personnel costs, management of top officials, equal employment policies, …

15. Increasing flexibilities • Employment conditions in government have come closer to general employment rules • Areas of flexibilities: • Staffing: ongoing employment/ time-based employment / consultants and contingent workers / service providers • Contractual flexibilities: permanent / non permanent positions • Working hours and working life • Career mobility • Result:Public service has become less homogeneous

16. Performance management • Performance management is at the heart of New Public Management • Performance management cycle for employees: • Planning • Monitoring • Developing • Rating • Rewarding • For each step, new HR-instruments have been developed • EG. Appraisal systems; personal development plans,… • Limited success of Performance Related Pay • Sanctioning of poor performance is still a problem

17. Competency based management • Competency management focuses on the varied assets, skills, knowledge, and capabilities that people need to achieve the strategic objectives of the organization and then seeks to embed these competencies in the organization’s structure, processes, and social relationships (Lado & Wilson, 1994). • Steps in competency management: • Developing competency frameworks • Define competency profiles • Assessment of existing competencies and gap analysis • Using competency profiles in different HR-tools • Recruitment and selection; development; appraisal; pay; …

18. Senior public servants • Contractualisation of steering relation and labour relation • from a tradional hierarchical steering towards a contractual steering based on a performance agreement • from a traditional status of public servant towards an ordinary employment contract • Different aims • Political: align top civil servants with political vision • Managerial: moreresponsibility + accountability • Mobility: enhance corporate identity + coordination and collaboration (whole of government) • In several countries: separate structure for senior public servants (eg. UK: SCS, the Netherlands: ABD, …)

19. Model employer • Equal opportunities policies • Women • Ethnic minorities • Persons with disabilities • Ethics and integrity of governance • Ethics infrastructure • Code of conduct

20. 3. Future challenges

21. Citation “Managing and motivating an increasingly diverse public sector staffing mix, comprised of varying employment categories and service provider relationships, in a way that promote employment equity, bolster efficiency and foster harmony in the workplace.” (Lavelle, Public personnel review, 2006)

22. Challenges • Workforce planning and management • Capitalizing on mature and older workers • Talent management • Strenghtening public values • Leadership • Diversity management

23. Workforce planning and management • Remains an underutilized and appreciated process in HRM • Need for strategic workforce planning and management is increasing because of • Demographic evolutions (retirements, shortage on labour market) • Increasing mobility of the workforce • Blurring boundaries between the public and private sector • Steps in workforce planning (Lavelle, 2007) • Basic gap analysis • Workforce analytics • Modeling and forecasting • Segmentation • Dimensions in segemention (Lavelle, 2007) • Critical / non critical skills • Scarcity / cost to source • Employment relations

24. Capitalizing on mature and older workers • The vast majority of public organisations persist in HR-strategies that were designed for a youthful workforce. • Strategies that capitalize on ageing: • Management information systems • Flexible retirement schemes and incentives • Knowledge management • Adapting working conditions • Continuing development • Motivation and rewarding older workers

25. Talent management • Attraction • Government as an employer of choice • Development • Training (opportunities + transfer) • Mobility (horizontal + vertical) • Retention

26. Strenghtening public values • New Public Management and blurring of boundaries between the public and private sectors have lead to a weakening of traditional public service values • Specific motivational characteristics of public service • ‘Public service motivation’ (PSM) • An individual’s predisposition to respond to motives grounded primarily or uniquely in public institutions (Perry and Wise, 1990) • Aspects: rational, normative, affective • Positive effects on behavior of public servants: attraction, job satisfaction, retention, performance, … • HRM can contribute to preservation of PSM

27. Leadership • «How to develop more public officials who can draw others into a strong spirit of public service geared to the needs of contemporary society, and thereby make their services to government and to citizens more effective.» (OECD, 2001) • Need of leadership next to management • Improved leadership is necessary not only at the top of the organisation, but at all levels. • From hierarchical, authority-based organisational leadership to collaborative internal as well as external leadership

28. Diversity management • Diversity management means enabling every member of our workforce to perform to his or her potential (Roosevelt T. jr.) • Arguments • Diversity as an ethical requirement • Diversity as a performance requirement • Organisational capacity to fully utilize and effectively manage diversity remains limited • Need of developing diversity competencies of managers and employees

29. 3. Discussion

30. Contact: Prof. Dr. Annie Hondeghem K.U.LeuvenPublic Management InstituteParkstraat 45, bus 3609B-3000 Leuven0032 16 32 32 70annie.hondeghem@soc.kuleuven.bewww.publicmanagementinstitute.be