French government departments are being given more flexibility and responsibility for HR decisions. Taking inspiration from the method used to decentralise the budget process, new solutions are being co-designed based on real, on-the-ground experience. From region to region, collaborative workshops are held to define strategies and develop scenarios and action plans.

The German government is offering a tax credit of €5/day (up to 120 days/year and renewable in 2021) for people who have been forced to work from home due to the pandemic. The main purpose of the “non-bureaucratic” flat-rate measure is to allow those who don’t have a dedicated home office – normally required to deduct work expenses – to be compensated for extra expenses they’ve had to incur.

Taking inspiration from the US, Switzerland’s federal government is launching a fellowship program to temporarily recruit experts in IT, design and innovation from the private sector or with other high-potential backgrounds. The idea is to place them in cross-sector roles where they can contribute to projects from strategic development through to execution.