The monthly focus of this 34^th issue is dedicated to modernizing the HR function and more particularly the impacts on structuring and professionalising. 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 support for working parents at Essilor as well as the new appraisal system for public servants in Cyprus.

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

The vision RH editorial team

Whether through recruiting, training or supporting personnel, public HR departments play an active role in government transformation. As a central part of reforms, they are directly involved when new management frameworks are introduced and are there to meet the needs of employees.

This trend has led to structural changes as well as the wider professionalisation of the HR function, driven primarily by the objectives of adapting to needs (at local or sector level) and speeding up decision-making.

There is emerging interest in creating HR career paths, akin to what has been done with IT professions. The United Kingdom has the Human Resources Profession, comprising HR professionals across the civil service working in ministerial departments and government agencies. Organised as an institutional function, it includes nine job families and four job levels. A framework sets out potential career pathways.

Inspired by this model, other English-speaking countries have taken a similar approach. Ireland recently established a pool of specialist managers. Managers with primary training or a background in HR work with their teams to develop and implement local strategies, part of the move toward regionalisation.

A good HR system can make all the difference. In South Korea, the government invested in e-Saram, a powerful and comprehensive multi-purpose information system which is used not just for personnel management but also for setting HR policy, thanks to decision-making assistance modules. All users have access, based on their profile, to the same up-to-date information. A similar system, DFØ-HR, has been introduced in Norway.

While most national in-service training providers now offer a diverse range of tiered theory-based courses, hands-on experience remains the best way to learn. In Belgium, HR professionals can earn certification in the areas of candidate selection and expertise, according to a methodology developed internally. Three successive levels of autonomy are offered. The paths combine face-to-face and online training and offer mentoring support.

Although there is a trend toward decentralisation, in France and elsewhere, some countries are taking the opposite tack. Finland, for example, uses a shared services centre (Palkeet) to which public entities can contract out all or part of their HR administration. To date, it has proven to be a popular method for optimisation among most administrations, both big and small. The P-direkt centre in the Netherlands provides a similar service.

Somewhere in between the two approaches is a system that provides occasional support for HR needs. It’s a model used by two smaller EU countries:

• In Malta, where all HR processes have been reorganised and departments are now involved in a continuous improvement process, the People and Standards Division actively supports departments in applying newly developed directives.

• In Luxembourg, by creating an HR skills centre tasked with providing tools and offering support and supervision services to departments, the government is taking a more operational approach to responding to one-off requests for assistance and training.

Ensuring that HR professions are recognized and respected so that they become a more popular career choice is the objective of the IPMA-HR (1), which is based in the United States.

¹ IPMA-HR for "International Public Management Association – Human Resources".

While all European civil services tend to operate within a general legal framework governed by similar laws or regulations, they are still largely shaped by the national context. To get a better understanding of how each country handles different aspects, the Czech government conducted a detailed comparative study on 15 participating EU countries, including France.

Because the public service will play an active role in the country’s recovery, while drawing lessons from the crisis, Italy’s new Minister of Public Administration presented his recovery objectives. Two major areas of focus will be adapting the recruitment process to needs and diversifying career paths. Regions, provinces and municipalities will have more autonomy to manage their own positions and staff.

Acting as an incubator for regional government departments, Lab @RCHIPEL has made a name for itself by developing a game (“Stade 2 la réussite”) to prepare prospective candidates for competitive exams. The game is now available as a mobile app with new features. Successful candidates starting in a new position can move on to “Integra-game”, a game to help onboard new hires and promote team cohesion.

Mindful of the need to adapt its communications to the audiences it’s trying to reach, the Spanish government has decided to reach out to citizens via live-streaming platform Twitch. The aim of the initiative, which is part of the government’s talent acquisition plan, is to start a dialogue by interacting with potential candidates and answering their questions.

Mid-career public servants in Canada will be able to apply for temporary assignments in the country’s universities to conduct research or teach in areas linked to departmental objectives. The government hopes to strengthen ties with universities through knowledge exchange, collaborate on public service recruitment opportunities and provide tomorrow’s workforce with an understanding of how government works.

Transferable skills – abilities that are useful across different professions and tend to be a mix of different skills – are the ones most sought after by recruiters, yet they often aren’t listed in existing databases. Norway’s Agency for Government Employers decided to address the issue by drawing up an inventory. The exercise will help employers craft better job descriptions and adapt training opportunities accordingly.

Even though Denmark is one of the top-ranked countries for gender equality, it still has a gender wage gap, due in large part to outdated classifications of certain professions. The issue was raised in Parliament, which will vote on a proposal to significantly increase public sector pay scales for female-dominated professions, based on equivalent levels of training for similar positions.

To enhance the profiles of civil servants performing Analysis Function roles in various ministerial departments and help them better position themselves, the UK’s civil service decided to develop a capability framework. There are three levels to the framework, which details the required capabilities and responsibilities associated with each. Another aim of the initiative is to give more visibility to employers.

While it has been a mainstay of work life over the past year, videoconferencing has presented issues for remote meetings in terms of recording summaries of decisions and securely sharing documents. In Austria, the federal digital services provider developed a solution: participants have their identity confirmed, and once meeting minutes have been electronically approved they can no longer be edited.

The pandemic has introduced new ways of working. To put the lessons learned to good use, France’s Interministerial Directorate for Government Transformation (DITP) has published a compilation of practices designed to inspire lasting change. Organised into eight information sheets across three themes, the document offers ideas on how to reshape how teams work, improve how information is disseminated and develop group problem-solving techniques.

An outcome of collective bargaining with unions representing contract employees, an agreement to make a special payment to German civil servants has been extended to tenured personnel. All civil servants up to and including middle management will receive a one-time payment in compensation for pandemic-related hardships. Three different amounts (ranging from €300 to €600) will be paid out in inverse proportion to job level.

According to a survey of government departments in the Netherlands, stress levels are up from having to work more from home and adapt to new conditions. To improve well-being, the government launched the IIR Vital initiative: regular meetings just to stay in touch, with no specific work objective. Preliminary feedback has been very positive so far.

Striking a healthy work-life balance has been all the more of a challenge since the start of the pandemic, particularly under lockdown – making parent-friendly measures a welcome move from employers.

As part of its recent diversity and inclusion agreement, lens manufacturer Essilor has committed to helping its employees fully perform their parental duties alongside their work responsibilities. The following measures, which are more generous than France’s legal minimum requirements, have been introduced:

• Paternity leave has been doubled (22 days instead of 11).

• Mothers returning from maternity leave can take off one paid day per week for the first two months.

• Special accommodations are available to parents pursuing adoption or undergoing fertility treatment.

• In the three years after an employee returns from parental leave, any required training must be organised in such a way that travel arrangements and time away from home are compatible with the employee’s family situation.

The company has also committed to supporting parents of school-age children, signing a partnership with Campus parentalité Nathan (1), that offers different levels of support for families and a selection of fun and educational resources.

¹ Designed by educational experts, the Campus is a digital platform that supports families.

When it comes to performance appraisals in the civil service, it can be difficult to set criteria that are both objective and reflective of reality.

In Cyprus, where the proportion of civil servants evaluated as “exceptional” is an unrealistic 97% (and growing), the government decided to make performance appraisals a priority of its reform.

After a first unsuccessful attempt in 2016, in early 2020 Parliament voted in favour of a new reform that includes the major amendments sought by Pasydy, the country’s largest union representing public sector workers.

The new appraisal system is based on three principles – objectivity, transparency and merit – and will see civil servants awarded a grade between 1 and 10 every year. Although quotas have been deemed unconstitutional, every grade awarded (whether increased, decreased or the same as the previous year) must be thoroughly documented by management and can be appealed to the civil service commission (EDY).

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One of the government’s objectives is to guarantee equitable access to promotions to promote mobility across ministries. The Ministry of Finance decided to connect the two measures by making appraisals the main criterion for applying to a higher-level position. Prospective applicants must now receive a score of 5 or higher for at least 3 years.

To ensure balance, other weighted criteria are included (score on a selection exam, recognized professional qualifications, experience). The weightings will depend on the responsibilities of the position.

The only situation where appraisals will not be a factor is for positions in category A14 and above (1), i.e. senior management, open to both internal and external candidates, to ensure equal treatment among candidates.

Additionally, all managers may request a 180-degree evaluation, where their superior interviews the members of their team. It’s an individual approach that uses co-worker feedback to support career advancement.

According to the minister, the primary objective is to put an end to the culture of “coasting upwards”, where promotions are based on nothing more than seniority and agents aren’t incentivised to work at at developing their careers or upgrading their skills.

¹ There are 16 compensation categories for public service jobs (A1 to A16).