Quality, efficiency and productivity: a challenge for official statistics EFTA/CROSTAT/EUROSTAT Strategic Management Seminar, Split, 22-23 November 2007

Heinrich Brüngger Director, Statistical Division UNECE Geneva Session 1b Development of human resource policies and regional cooperation Heinrich Brüngger Director, Statistical Division UNECE Geneva

Human resource policy for NSIs Human resources are the most important single factor of production in the national statistical offices; therefore, investment in human resources is critically important. Hence, the development of human resources should be a high priority of the top management, and this should be signalled to staff It is essential to integrate human resources work with the corporate and strategic plans and the statistical programmes 10 November 2018

Human resource policy (ctd.) The statistical office is competing with other public and private institutions to attract a limited supply of qualified staff, and for most NSIs salaries and bonuses cannot be the major incentive in this competition Statistical programmes have to adapt to changing societies. Therefore, flexibility and adaptability of human resources within official statistics should be leading principles 10 November 2018

Human resource policy (ctd.) This requires that most professionals should be generalists within official statistics (managers of statistical surveys and processes), while a smaller but still crucial proportion should be specialists Gradually, all professional posts have to be filled with university graduates; all vacant non-professional posts have to be checked for upgrading to the professional level 10 November 2018

Responsibility/autonomy Direct responsibility for human resources rests with the line management. Their activities should be supported by the human resource departments NSIs have to obtain the legal and factual possibility to set up a human resources policy that takes into account the specific needs of HMR in official statistics. They can not rely on the overall human resources policy of the government to provide all the specific HMR tools for statistics 10 November 2018

Recruitment/development In recruiting new staff, national statistical offices should always aim at selecting the best individuals and give them opportunities to develop Retention of staff is as important as recruitment. There are many ways to encourage staff to stay in the office, such as offering training opportunities, job satisfaction, healthy working environment, work-life balance, being part of a learning organization, etc 10 November 2018

Development (ctd.) NSIs should strive to create a culture of continuous learning, based on different forms of training, career guidance, incentives for mobility and rotation Human resources development consists of both formal and informal training; the largest part of competence development occurs as a by-product of work, unless the routine character is predominant 10 November 2018

Development (ctd.) Participation at international meetings and regular contacts with colleagues from abroad are both an incentive for staff to stay and an effective way of competence development Setting targets for performance of individual staff members and organisational units, and evaluating performance against these targets in a transparent way, are essential instruments for HRM 10 November 2018

Training Training courses for statisticians have to be open for all staff of national producers of official statistics, not only to NSI staff, and may occasionally even involve some regular users Training for staff should include the following components: Fundamental principles/code of conduct/legislation Methodology (area specific and general) Management, including quality management English IT tools 10 November 2018

Regional co-operation The only peers with similar jobs are in NSIs (or other producers of official statistics) of other countries. Therefore easy communication with professionals from neighbouring countries should be strongly encouraged by management Learning both from positive and negative experiences in other countries. Readiness to be open about one’s own negative experience and not be constrained by status or image considerations 10 November 2018

Regional co-operation (ctd.) Get inspiration from the cooperation of NSIs between the 5+ Nordic countries 10 November 2018