RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF STAFF IN CROATIAN CIVIL SERVICE

1. RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF STAFF IN CROATIAN CIVIL SERVICE Dubravka Prelec Central State Office for Administration Zagreb, November 04, 2008

2. Reform Projects – HRM field • CARDS 2001 ”Public Administration Reform – Support to the Reform of the Civil Service”, November 2002-December 2004 • Bridging project, UK Foreign Office,April 2005-April 2006 • CARDS 2003 “Support to Implementation of the Civil Service Reform Programme ”, January 2006-January 2008 • Denmark’s Pre-Accession Assistance,“Public Sector Capacity Development” 2005-2007 and 2008-2010

3. Attraction and Recruitment • Mandatory adoption of the short-term recruitment plan for the civil service • Public and internal announcements • Transparent and objective selection of the candidates through mandatory skills and knowledge testing • Special recruitment commissions and participation of the CSOA representatives in each commission • Civil Service Board as an independent body dealing with appeals of the candidates

4. Civil Servants RetentionMeasures • Promotion – vertical (by advancement to a higher job category) and horizontally (within the same job category to a higher working post), regular and exceptional • Secondment to workoutside the civil service • Possibility of work at detached sites (“distance working”) • Education and training – systematic and continuous civil servants training and skill development; personal training plans

5. Challenges in Practice • Planning – short-term, ad hoc • Inadequate job descriptions • Insufficient number of candidates – for professional jobs for which exists a great demand in civil service • Employment procedure – 3 to 6 months; emphasis remains on formal qualifications, skills are neglected – e.g. negotiation skills, analytical skills, etc. • Role of the CSOA representative in recruitment commissions? • New manager role– significant time and effort invested to implement measures and activities within the HR management and development system

6. Job Satisfaction Survey • July - September 2006; civil servants working in the EU Assistance field; 122 responses (response rate 2/3) • 3 main reasons for job dissatisfaction: • Low salaries not linked to actual performance • Unsystematical development of Human Resources • Uneven distribution of the workload, which creates pressures on personal life

7. Some statements of respondents • What kind of job would they consider more attractive? The job… • with more freedom in decisionmaking, better paid; with clearer and better organized tasks, higher level of responsibility and diversity • Salary and bonuses • despite dissatisfaction with the salary, 25% of respondents have left the question “The fair monthly salary for my current job would be...” unanswered; the biggest concerns about the salary are amongst trainees and young civil servants • Managers - “Be a good manager!”; “Have more confidence in your staff. Give credit to your staff rather then criticizing them at all times,”; “Be more committed and professional, improve your management and communication skills”; “What we need are real leaders and professionals”

8. Challenges - Goals • Mid-term and long-term employment planning • Introduction of a competence-based system • Continuous education of Management staff

9. Challenges - Prerequisites • Strengthening of the role of the HR units, civil servant education • Exit Interviews • Surveys – data – central civil servant and employee register • Realistic/appropriate job descriptions based on prior job analysis • Improvement to the performance evaluation and promotion system

10. Challenges – Operative Measures • Organisational Development Strategies • Human Resources Development Strategy - long-term (2009 - 2020?)

11. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! dprelec@uprava.hr