Vacancy rates in the Public Service: a critical analysis Standing Committee on Public Accounts 24 October 2007

2 Presentation outline Decentralised regulatory framework Vacancy rates according to PERSAL Analysis of the data Key contributing factors –Information on PERSAL –Organisational structures –HR management capacity in departments –Skills attraction and retention Corrective measures Concluding remarks

3 Public Service Act and Regulations Public Service has a decentralised regulatory framework Responsibility for – –The management of human resources; –Personnel administration; –Organisational structures; etc vests with departments (specifically Executing Authorities and their delegates)

4 Vacancy rate in the Public Service

5 Vacancy trends: national departments

6 Vacancy trends: occupations

7 Vacancy rates in selected departments

8 Putative and actual vacancy rates Departments spent on average 98% of their personnel budgets in 2006/07 The turnover rate is 11,5% (managers and professionals) and 7,7% (rest) Benchmark proposed by the PSC: a vacancy should be filled within 9 months Vacancy rate should be approx. 12% Nominal vacancy rate is 24% (336,024 vacant and 1,073,403 filled)

9 Time taken to fill a post

10 Management of organisational structures 17 month average must be seen in context – often there is no intention of filling a post once is becomes vacant Departments often restructure and create new posts but do not abolish posts which will no longer be used These ‘vacant’ posts are therefore unfunded as funds have been diverted to other posts In practice these posts are dormant, existing only on PERSAL Most departments rely on systems (Excel) outside PERSAL for management information

11 HR management capacity in departments Capacity to administer PERSAL –Administrators are not able to keep up with the continuous changes in the organisational structures –Conflict between administration function required by PERSAL and the management value-added function required by the Regulations –PERSAL managers are very junior Recruitment capacity –Open competition resulted in a huge administrative burden to process the filling of vacancies

12 Skills attraction and retention Vacancy rates do not only reflect systems and HR personnel challenges: –Capacity assessments conducted to determine “whether government has the all-round capacity, the proper organisational structures and the resources, successfully to implement our developmental programmes” Finding that there were public servants in sufficient numbers but many lacked the necessary skills National skills shortages also existed including IT, engineering, technical and medical professionals Public Service experiencing difficulty attracting retaining managers and professionals (owing to remuneration and working environment, amongst other factors)

13 Reasons for terminations EMPLOYEE REASONS FOR TERMINATIONTOTAL% OF TOTAL Financial considerations/Promotion % Reason/s not given % Personal aspirations % Career development4319.6% Relocation1553.5% Leadership and management style of senior management % Working environment811.8% TOTAL %

14 Working environment Human resource matters Lack of career pathing following abolition of rank and leg Application of the performance management system Perception that job evaluation not consistently applied Doubts expressed about the quality of the selection process Market related salaries required for scarce skills –Management and leadership Lack of management skills consistently been identified Lack of communication and clarity on roles Red tape Time consumed to obtain decisions have been consistently been identified. The red tape is in areas of procurement as well as HR related matters.

15 Years of service trends

16 Personnel Expenditure Review –In 2006 the dpsa conducted a Personnel Expenditure Review (PER) to form the basis of a new remuneration policy for the public service –The PER found that remuneration has some flexibility but not enough to be competitive –High turnover and vacancies in some occupations supported this –Supply of skills in certain occupations limited –The PER developed the concept of the occupation- specific dispensation: a remuneration structure, grading, career pathing and pay progression that would be specific to a profession –Professional remuneration dispensations were developed initially for medical and legal professions educators, and dispensations for engineers and veterinarians underway

17 Dispensations for professionals All categories of nursesJuly 2007 Legal profession within the Justice ClusterJuly 2007 All school-based educatorsJanuary 2008 Office-based educatorsApril 2008 Educator specialistsApril 2008 Medical officer, medical specialist, pharmacologist, pharmacist and emergency care practitioners July 2008 Correctional officialsJuly 2008 Medical and therapeutic support servicesJuly 2009 Engineers, architects, environmentalists and other identified professionals July 2009

18 Corrective measures (1) Developing capacity –SAMDI to become Public Service Academy “Massified” training for public servants –Competency assessments for SMS for recruitment and development purposes –Accelerated Development Programme –Implementation of the draft Human Resource Development Strategy once finalised Turnover –Assessment of the current job evaluation process and system –Introduction of government agencies in the Public Service Amendment Bill –Considering imposing restrictions on movement prior to completion of probation

19 Corrective measures (2) Quality of information on PERSAL –Circulars to departments requiring them to ‘clean up’ their PERSAL information –Developing strategy to enhance data Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) –will consolidate and renew government’s back office applications –Will cover Financial Management, Human Resource Management, Supply Chain Management, Asset Management and Business Intelligence

20 Corrective measures (3) Quality of organisational structures –Regulations amended to require departments to consult the Minister regarding amendments to the top three levels of their organisational structures –Guide on the development of organisational structures developed PSCBC resolution to fill all funded positions within 6 months Project to strengthen the role of Human Resource Management practitioners within departments (“Repositioning the HR function in government”) Departments’ HR management scrutinised –Public Management Watch – set of key HR and financial management indicators run quarterly

21 Public Management Watch

22 Concluding remarks (1) Various contributing factors to high “vacancy rates”: –Administration: Outdated information on PERSAL Intentionally not filling posts after they have been vacated Delays in HR administration in recruitment and selection processes –Skills shortages and gaps: Skills gaps within the Public Service Skills shortages nationally –Public Service as employer: Working conditions Remuneration Red tape

23 Concluding remarks (2) Public Service has undertaken corrective measures to address these factors Quality of organisational structures improving Remuneration imbalances largely addressed with occupation-specific dispensations A critical success factor will be the extent to which the Public Service is able to develop the capacity and skills of serving public servants Capacity and skills of HR professionals in the Public Service is an urgent focus to improve both HR management and personnel administration

Siyabonga