As a result of changes in organisation and working methods, as well as the growing use of IT systems and digital tools, public sector HR departments are thoroughly reviewing their roles and responsibilities.

While this is still a somewhat marginal trend, as shown in a major global survey from 2018,¹ the public sector is aware, just like the private sector, of the need to move towards a strategic or even predictive, approach to human resources.

In addition to the traditional management functions, there are new roles involving consulting (for career management, work organisation, etc.) and – in some countries – data analysis (data processing can drive simulations or sourcing).

These initiatives are still too isolated at local level. However, some countries are launching national approaches:

• The UK civil service has set up an HR Digital and Analysis team tasked with supporting the HR transformation. To do so, it has recruited data analytics specialists.

• Slovenia’s Ministry of Public Administration has launched an HR efficiency improvement programme, whose goal is to cross data from HR and other sources (notably using the world’s first State Cloud).

Similar experiments are being conducted in Australia, Canada, Finland and the UAE.

Another country that has led the way, especially for training its HR professionals in the value-added of data, is Singapore. Its Civil Service College has set up a special course that gives HR staff and managers new skills and introduces them to the basics of data analysis.

The range of new HR roles covers a scope that goes beyond staff management. For example:

• The Belgian federal administration’s Talent Plus career counsellors, trained to provide individualised coaching, and who intervene in various situations

• The Maltese civil service’s “People Support and Wellbeing” counsellors, tasked with providing solutions for a better work/life balance for civil servants

• The Swedish Agency for Government Employers’ “employer brand” experts, responsible for carrying out projects to promote the government as an employer.

IPMA-HR, the International Public Management Association for Human Resources, with more than 10,000 members, is focused on developing innovative solutions to improve perceptions of HR positions in the public sector. By launching its HR 2020 shifting perspectives project, it analyses five topics (leadership, HR culture, talent, communication and technology) through three different perspectives (economic, innovation and strategic focus).

Its website includes a self-assessment.


¹ Only 6% of respondents stated that they currently have a strategy incorporating HR data analysis, whereas 79% of respondents are convinced that it would be useful.