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Bandeau DGAFP Vision RH
#24 - April 2020
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Rubrique édito

vision RH is a newsletter published by the French Directorate General for Administration and the Civil Service (DGAFP). It draws on information sources and reports issued by public administrations, the private sector, international organisations and the press, in several different languages. It aims to provide a broad view of current human resources and civil service initiatives.


The monthly focus of this 24th issue is dedicated to remote training challenges and more particularly the strong need keeping in touch with learners. 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 advantages of skills mentoring at Société Générale and the measures taken to improve attractiveness in the Israeli civil service.

We stay at your disposal for your opinions, remarks or suggestions. Do not hesitate to write to us: 
contact-visionrh@kiosque.bercy.gouv.fr

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Have a good reading. Take good care of you and others!

The vision RH editorial team


Edito part
Table of content icon list
MONTHLY FOCUS
■ Keeping in touch with learners is vital for the training sector 
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NEWS CIVIL SERVICE, HR POLICY AND INNOVATION
■ A Taskforce to reassign employees in the Australian public sector   ■ The three objectives of the future Canadian federal HR strategy  ■ “Suve”, a chatbot at the service of the Estonian population 
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NEWS RECRUITMENT, TRAINING AND SKILLS
■ New directives for the Italian government’s competitive examinations   ■ Peer support workshops in the hospital civil service   ■ Remote swearing in and onboarding in the United States  
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NEWS SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP, DIGITALISATION
■ Pay cuts for New Zealand’s government ministers and chief executives   ■ First edition of the guide for Director Generals of Intermunicipal Communities   ■ “En Abierto”, the Spanish government’s knowledge base 
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NEWS SOCIAL DIALOGUE AND QUALITY OF WORKING ENVIRONMENT
■ Greener travel in the German civil service  ■ Agreement for a contribution by Danish civil servants to national efforts   ■ “smartWorkLife” or Work-Life-Balance 4.0 in Austria  
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PRIVATE SECTOR
■ Société Générale offers skills mentoring to help non-profit organisations  
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CLOSE-UP
■ The Israeli civil service is banking on the appeal of its jobs and careers 
Rubrique dossier
Keeping in touch with learners is vital for the training sector

Training bodies for civil servants have also been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and have had to rapidly put face-to-face sessions on hold, and come up with a wide range of distance learning options.

As a number of national government departments had recently introduced innovative programmes, they are now finding it easier to face up to these extraordinary circumstances. 

Largescale rollout may highlight inequality as regards understanding and knowledge of digital resources. With an eye to having an accurate as possible overview and adjusting its offering, Italy has unveiled the “Syllabus” scheme. This is an assessment test broken down into five categories (including one for managers) giving everyone access to a customised training plan.

There must be a global distance learning strategy for the entire public sector to help ensure improved coordination between different courses. Ireland has taken this approach with its OneLearning learning and development centre. The platform is available to all civil servants, who can take advantage of a vast selection of interactive sessions and courses, whether in the area of business skills or personal development.

New forms of training should also share the overall momentum of the digital transformation. In Germany, the new SIB project – the federal government’s in-house social media – is geared towards fostering and mainstreaming virtual collaborative work and includes a knowledge acquisition arm in which the offerings of the various operators are slated to be gradually included.   

Many media are now used to cater for all requirements. The government in Spain has made a large number of MOOCs available to provide its employees with training in structured blocks. The courses are all online so trainees can study at their own pace. Although this training has been a resounding success, a recent study has revealed a number of limitations when the topics addressed require interaction.

Technology can contribute to alternative learning methods. An example is the Netherlands which uses virtual action learning whereby, during a remote discussion, civil servants examine their own actions or experiences by answering questions from the trainer. The latter acts as a tutor to help trainees improve their performance levels. 

In the United Kingdom the government is looking to go further with regards to real-life situations by using resources that are still under-exploited in this field. It is especially interested in immersive learning which uses augmented reality technology. The leaders of the immersive learning series flag up the benefits of immersion which they claim effectively addresses problems with concentration.

There may be an inclination to reduce training as we know it but this could eliminate the social ties between learners and networks which are nourished by group courses. Perhaps the answer lies in a combined approach:

• In Denmark, a number of public bodies offer flipped classrooms, an inverted model in which only exercises and practical work are carried out on-site.

• In Greece, the National School of Public Administration has put part of its training programme online on the Open eClass e-learning platform.

In Singapore, on-site training has already been significantly cut back. Civil servants have access to the learn.gov.sg website which contains all the courses on offer based on this model. Employers are required to give staff four hours per month out of their working hours which represents almost half of the number of hours earmarked for training.     

Notes
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Rubrique dossier
A Taskforce to reassign employees in the Australian public sector

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Australian government has set up a Taskforce to oversee the temporary mobilisation of staff across government functions. Employees (from all government departments) whose assignments are identified as non-critical to the government’s COVID-19 response can volunteer to be made available – depending on their experience and skills, and for a fixed term – for functions considered critical.

Notes
For more information: apsc.gov.au
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The three objectives of the future Canadian federal HR strategy

The Treasury Board, which is responsible for HR policy, has outlined its Departmental Plan for the civil service. It contains three objectives for the employer arm: Public Service attracts and retains a skilled and diverse workforce, the workplace is healthy, safe and inclusive, terms and conditions of employment are fairly negotiated. The results of the annual Public Service Employee Survey have been selected as indicators to monitor the achievement of these objectives.

Notes
For more information: canada.ca
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“Suve”, a chatbot at the service of the Estonian population

Having been developed by a multi-disciplinary team during a hackathon, the authorities have put a chatbot online to provide a first level of information and guidance for the population. The answers, which are official and have been validated by the relevant government agencies, are updated in real time. This instrument, which uses open source technology, is available to other countries and around forty have already expressed their interest.

« A new way to get information that is both essential and safe and to reduce the workload of crisis call centers »
Notes
For more information: valitsus.ee (in Estonian), (machine translation into English)
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Rubrique dossier
New directives for the Italian government’s competitive examinations

With its “Cura Italia” scheme, the government has adjusted the conditions for organising its competitive examinations which have been upended by the current situation so that the mass recruitment planned for 2020 can still take place. Departments will have to mainstream online pre-selection so as to severely limit the number of applicants taking the written exams and also conduct interviews using videoconferencing. 

Notes
For more information: funzionepubblica.gov.it (in Italian), (machine translation into English)
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Peer support workshops in the hospital civil service

In order to buttress this sector that has been significantly affected, the National Management Centre (CNG) is offering peer cooperation workshops on actual professional situations related to the health crisis. Managers of hospitals, healthcare, social and medical/social and care establishments will be able to expand on their ideas and discuss potential solutions so as to act more effectively within a framework of cooperation.

Notes
For more information: cng.sante.fr (in French), (machine translation into English)
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Remote swearing in and onboarding in the United States

Recasting certain procedures, even formal ones, is the rationale behind the decision to allow federal agencies to administer the oath of office through video connections and for newly-recruited employees to conduct their entire onboarding process online. Employees must undertake to send electronic versions of the signed documents to their employers to validate the various steps.

« The HR department will be in charge of examining all the electronic documents collected and adding them to the employee's personal file »
Notes
For more information: fedweek.com
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Rubrique dossier
Pay cuts for New Zealand’s government ministers and chief executives

Cutting the pay of the Prime Minister, Government ministers and public service chief executives by 20% over the next six months has been presented as being “about showing leadership”. The Prime Minister added that although this cut will not shift the country’s overall fiscal position, it is an acknowledgment that every person and organisation has a part to play. 

Notes
For more information: beehive.govt.nz
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First edition of the guide for Director Generals of Intermunicipal Communities

The French Association of Community Director Generals (ADGCF) has published its first guide for Director Generals of Intermunicipal Communities in the form of a digital library comprised of a number of original factsheets, booklets and associative studies. It is intended to help regional managers with their transformation projects and in their everyday work.

Notes
For more information: adgcf.fr (in French), (machine translation into English)
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“En Abierto”, the Spanish government’s knowledge base

With “En Abierto”, the National Institute for Public Administration (INAP) is striving to gather together all digital documentary media across government departments and make them available to civil servants, a great many of whom are teleworking. This knowledge base, which uses cloud technology and can be accessed outside in-house networks, helps all employees to carry on with their work.

« We invite departments to participate in this initiative by adding their resources to continue enriching and expanding its content »
Notes
For more information: inap.es (in Spanish), (machine translation into English)
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Rubrique dossier
Greener travel in the German civil service

Berlin is implementing a new recommendation laid down by the Federal Ministry of the Interior concerning business travel. From now on, all journeys within the country should be made by train, even if the travel time is longer and additional costs, such as accommodation at the destination, are generated. This demonstrates that environmental considerations are taking priority.

Notes
For more information: berlin.de (in German), (machine translation into English)
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Agreement for a contribution by Danish civil servants to national efforts

As is the case in many countries affected by the pandemic that have introduced a lockdown, the majority of civil servants have had to stay at home. From the outset, government departments and unions signed a collective bargaining agreement that stipulates that all those who are unable to work, in particular due to childcare or the incompatibility of their assignments, are obliged to take five days’ leave during this period, at the date of their choice.

Notes
For more information: regeringen.dk (in Danish), (machine translation into English)
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“smartWorkLife” or Work-Life-Balance 4.0 in Austria

The designers of a new Smartphone app are attempting to foster the acquisition of habits to better manage work/life balance by regularly completing exercises on the frontiers between work and leisure. The app can be customised by setting up a personal account in which users can select the resources of their choice and save results in order to monitor their progress.

« An anonymous questionnaire present in the application allows you to make it progress by telling us if your well-being has improved »
Notes
For more information: tuewien.at (in German), (machine translation into English)
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Société Générale offers skills mentoring to help non-profit organisations

Increasing numbers of employees are expressing a desire to be more useful to society and this has even become crucial for a quarter of them according to study conducted in 2019.

Whilst the voluntary sector is stable in France, many workers are unable to participate due to a lack of time. To address this issue, a number of companies have introduced arrangements to give fresh impetus to their employees’ commitments.

Société Générale offers skills mentoring as part of partnerships with around forty non-profits chosen by its Corporate Foundation for Solidarity. This takes two forms:

One day per week, with the manager’s agreement and in compliance with professional requirements. No deductions are made from wages and this arrangement is especially popular with younger staff.

• Those who are three years away from retirement (and have at least ten years’ seniority) can leave, work part?time for a non-profit and be paid 70% of their final salary. Many senior employees see this as a way of better coping with the transition

These initiatives are also firmly in the bank’s interest as, drawing on feedback from numerous volunteers (10% of staff), they “help strengthen the company’s appeal, pride in belonging to the team, solidarity and internal cohesion”.


1 « Employee Observatory », Kantar Group, February 2019.

Notes
For more information: societegenerale.com (in French), (machine translation into English)
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The Israeli civil service is banking on the appeal of its jobs and careers

With the public sector representing 19.7% of the workforce and with 89.2% of public employees being civil servants, Israel’s circumstances are very similar to those of France. As the civil service has been suffering in recent years from a lack of appeal, particularly to young graduates, the country has decided to act. 

The Civil Service Commission, which is tasked with drawing up the HR policy, has successively introduced two programmes focusing respectively on new employee training and onboarding.

It first unveiled the Civil Service Cadets programme to select and train the next generation of civil service management. It comprises:

 • An eighteen month training period with the acquisition of academic knowledge leading to a Master’s Degree in Public Policy which is fully funded. This is supplemented by vocational training leading to qualifications given by top level training staff as well as practical internships.

 • Placement in a government department with cadets signing a personal contract which commits them to the civil service for at least four years during which the new employees must hold two different positions.

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Obviously, the government wants to take advantage of these initial years to incite its young managers to continue their careers in the public sector. This is the purpose of the Civil Service Onboarding assistance programme to foster integration.

This approach caters for two requirements: standardising existing procedures and bolstering the transmission of values to enable all employees to find their place in the organisational structure.

There is a pre-boarding stage two weeks before arrival. This covers everything to do with the work environment and, most importantly, designates the supervising mentor (different from the direct supervisor).

The entire programme lasts one year and is broken down into four steps:

 • Day one, presentation by the HR unit and head of the absorbing unit, and receipt of signed welcome emails from the Civil Service Commissioner and the Office Director

• First month, identification of professional needs and meetings with key administrative staff (training, welfare, etc.)

• From the second to the sixth month, deepening onboarding and integration (participation in two seminars) and first evaluation by the direct supervisor

• From the sixth to twelfth month, expanding job responsibilities and building professional independence through cross-referenced feedback

Smooth operation of the process is ensured by a number of resources: a monitoring instrument for the supervising mentor and educational software for the new employees who are provided with an onboarding kit and a modest gift.

Notes
For more information: gov.il
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French Directorate-General for Administration and the Civil Service (DGAFP)
Publication Manager: Thierry LE GOFF
Managing Editor: Xavier MAIRE
Editor-in-chief and Autor: Jean-François ADRIAN
Layout and graphic design: Jean-François ADRIAN and Aphania.
 
The texts of the publication do not reflect the point of view of the DGAFP
Reproduction is authorized with mention of the source
© DGAFP 2020 / N° ISSN: 2606-7528.
 
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