The monthly focus of this 22^nd issue is dedicated to recruitment in administrations and more particularly to the necessary evolution of methods and practices. As usual, we present you the last trends in several countries on this theme and the inspiring ways in which they are implementing them.
Beyond the news, you will get acquainted with the agreement on occupational well-being and motivation of Peugeot and the project for a fair optimization of the meetings in the Swedish public sector.

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The vision RH editorial team

In the vast majority of countries, the issue of public-sphere recruitment is becoming ever more prevalent. All of them are confronted with the challenge of making the public sector appealing and matching candidates to the positions on offer.

Whether they use traditional competitive examinations (primarily in Spain, Greece, Ireland and Italy) or an application-based selection process, and whether they choose a centralised, pooled or delocalised method of organisation, countries are making every effort to modernise their recruitment procedures.

Innovative approaches are being taken, which are worth noting against the backdrop of each national context:

• In Germany, on the website die-unverzichtbaren.de (the indispensable ones), users can search for public-sector professions by indicating their interests and job preferences. In addition, 25 employees from all areas of the public sphere serve as ambassadors: they discuss their career path and why they chose their professions.

• In Belgium, "cross-media" job postings means that positions can be spotlighted and given greater visibility. They are published on the institutional website but also on social media, as well as in banner ads appearing on the homepages of popular job boards and professional sites. Customisation of the process can also include the "job-mailings" sent out to target audiences.

• in the US, Hiring Managers is a website for managers that provides virtual assistants to help with posting jobs, selecting candidates and workforce planning. It gives managers the tools they need to better target their staffing needs and organize the work of their teams.

• In Italy, the government has streamlined its competitive examinations (compulsory pooling and online pre-selection when there are too many candidates) and introduced professionalisation tests (digital skills and problem-solving questions), the results of which are given the same weight as the academic part of the exam.

• In the Netherlands, the focus is on staff development. A single set of guidelines governing skills and assessment facilitates the work of recruiters. The aim is to avoid bad "fits" and to be able to correct them where necessary. An application has been developed that allows users to make career projections.

• In the UK, the Civil Service has established "Success Profiles", a new selection method that focuses on behavioural skills and recognition of professional experience. This shift should make it possible to limit the number of "generalist" profiles in favour of specialists whose experience will make them better able to carry out key reform projects.

Finland has recently launched an initiative. Palkeet, the national HR service centre, has set up a unit of recruitment experts. They provide support to government departments that do not have the required skills or even enough in-house resources. Above all, the idea is for departments to gradually become more autonomous. To this end, the unit provides training in new recruitment techniques and on how to model procedures based on profiles and/or professions using innovations such as AI and behavioural science.

Having one's recruitment certified and obtaining external recognition is a step that some countries (Belgium, Finland, United Kingdom) are now taking.

Thirty years after the country's reunification, there are still few federal departments in eastern Germany. As part of a plan to support economically weaker regions, the government has announced the relocation of several central government administrations. The civil servants concerned will, however, have the right to remain in their homes, which should make it possible to transfer positions that become vacant.

Organisational advisers for France's three civil service branches have set up a regional professional network to share best practices and experiences in their respective fields. Although the scope of their remits varies, a territorial approach allows for pooling within the same employment basin and should contribute to mobility between services.

A Professional Diploma in Public Service Innovation has been developed jointly by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) and the University of Ireland. By mastering the techniques of creative thinking to put it at the service of their organisation and the problems it seeks to solve, graduates of this unique year-long programme will become key players.

Until now, federal government employees who had left the public sector could not be rehired at a salary level higher than their last one, regardless of how long they had been away. This is now viewed as a serious hindrance to making a return to public service appealing. A new provision now makes it possible to take into account experience acquired in the private sector.

Belgium's federal administration has introduced Lumen, a network of internal coaches. Thanks to agreements signed with their employers, selected employees receive qualifying training, after which they commit themselves to working with partner services, on request, for (individual or collective) professional coaching or skills development services.

Developing innovation and leadership through a mentoring programme that focuses on these two themes is the strategy implemented by the country's National Institute of Public Administration (INA). The scheme aims to put volunteer public officials in touch with experienced professionals from different sectors of activity, with a view to skill-building and strengthening individual capacities.

To help national administrations implement the Recommendation on Gender Equality in Public Life (2015), the OECD has developed a toolkit. It consists of effective and priority measures to increase the presence of women in all areas, as well as self-assessment questionnaires to enable institutions to systematically monitor their actions.

The UK's newly-created Government Security Profession career framework means that the digital professions offer broadened prospects for career development. This openness to career paths that are built on both skills equivalencies and on bridges between various areas of activity should enable staff to achieve greater mobility.

Under the provisions of Italy's Madia Act, which ushered in correlating collective performance of services with individual assessments of agents, as well as the duty of transparency towards the public, a new website will collect data relating to this. While ensuring the protection of personal data provided by HR departments, NoiPA will make it possible to display the results obtained within each administration.

Spain's highest administrative court has recently ruled that civil servants are authorised – regardless of the amount of work performed – to carry out a secondary paid activity in the private sector provided that it does not fall within the incompatibilities set by the 2012 law and that the compensation does not exceed 30% of the individual's annual civil service income.

In a bid to encourage senior citizens to continue working for as long as possible and under the best possible conditions, particularly since the implementation of the new Pension Act, a set of measures has been negotiated with the trade unions. Those over 50 years of age are offered an additional week's leave, the possibility of fractioned holiday leave, adapted working conditions and guaranteed job security.

Canada has developed an alternative to working from home but without having to go to an office when it is far away: alternative workspaces. Under the GCcoworking initiative, the federal government has opened ten sites (five in the capital region and five in major urban centres across the country). They feature different types of workstations, allowing individual and collaborative work, the possibility to organise meetings, and (not least) a friendly environment.

In response to a request from several trade union organisations, and after eighteen months of negotiations between labour and management, this innovative agreement (due to the broad scope of measures it contains) was jointly drafted, allowing all stakeholders to defend their interests.

It covers the organisation of work for service-sector employees, research and development and industrial sites. It applies to France, but the ambition is to make it viable in the various regions of the world where the group is present.

The French car manufacturer has committed itself to 32 specific measures (23 of which are immediately applicable)¹.They are based on three main areas of action:

• Providing peace of mind by offering working conditions that are conducive to well-being

• Developing employee autonomy and changing managerial practices, particularly through training in remote supervision

• Encouraging individual expression by developing participatory approaches and encouraging the use of collaborative tools

Given its comprehensive nature, this agreement is intended to be more effective by providing long-term actions in every area touching on both work/life balance and professional commitment .

¹ The other nine measures will be detailed in working groups established after the agreement was signed.

In recent years, Sweden has deployed its central government departments throughout the country. The headquarters of many government agencies are now located in cities other than the capital, sometimes hundreds of kilometres away.

While the goal was to readjust economic activity in the regions, doing so could have increased both costs and levels of greenhouse gas emissions from business travel.

To limit the effects and achieve profound organisational change, the country launched an ambitious nationwide plan for holding virtual meetings – the REMM project¹

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Developed by the Ministry of Transport (Trafikverket), a ten-step methodology was tested in twenty departments over a four-year period before being gradually rolled out. Beyond the financial aspect, the initial results were very promising:

• Average per-employee CO2 emissions fell by 10%, while increasing by 9% over the same period in other departments

• One out of every three trips was cancelled in favour of participation in an online meeting. The results showed that in one-third of cases, the time saved helped improve work/life balance by eliminating overtime hours.

Today, all 188 government departments use REMM (there must be a compelling reason to hold a face-to-face meeting). With an uptake rate of 60%, emissions have been cut by 25%.

What sets REMM apart is the tools provided to users:

• An analysis grid to choose the tool best suited to each need and optimise the meeting

• Help getting started, which frees users from worrying about technical issues

• Streamlined comparison thanks to an online simulator that makes everyone aware of the time, emissions and cost factors involved

On the strength of its success, the project has convinced local authorities (counties, municipalities and cities) who have just launched their own "REDI" initiative.

On a more global scale, REMM has also served as inspiration to the United Nations .

¹ "Resfria Möten i Myndigheter": meetings without travel in public administrations.