1. HRM for innovation: Managing the new normal
Vietnam 2015

2. Changes in CPA Employment Levels (2008-2013)
The first slides are to set the context of recent HR Reforms in OECD countries. These are based on the survey conducted in 2014 regarding austerity reforms after Focus is on central public administrations.
Our data confirms that, from , important downsizing trends took place in most OECD countries’ central public administrations (CPA).
As such, this reform trend in the field of public employment is the most important reform trend in most countries’ CPAs.
Almost all EU countries are in a process of reducing public employment in their CPAs.
Source: 2014 Survey on Managing Budgeting Constraints: Implications for HRM and Employment in Central Public Administration

3. Average number of reforms by bundle per country (2008-2013)
Other significant reforms include training system reforms, working time reforms, and especially important are remuneration reforms which has a large impact.
Changes in Public Employment includes various downsizing instruments such as recruitment freezes, dismissals, encouraging voluntary departures, privatization, or decentralisation of employment.
Training system reforms includes reductions of training time and budgets, as well as various efficiency mechanisms such as reducing travel costs and providing training through electronic means when possible.
Working time reforms includes changes to the number of paid holidays, various kinds of leave, or increase in working hours.
Salary reforms include salary reductions (for top-level or all staff) abolishment of allowances, reduction of performance-related pay, and pay freezes.
The bundle, “Cost Saving Measures in the field of HRM”, includes the use of furloughs, promotion freezes and reductions of hierarchical levels.
Job security reforms asked whether it had become easier to dismiss civil servants and public employees.
Status reforms include changes in the use of civil servants and other public employees, including fixed-term employees.
This presentation will focus on the three with the biggest implications: Employment Reforms, Remuneration system reforms and Training system reforms.
Source: 2014 Survey on Managing Budgeting Constraints: Implications for HRM and Employment in Central Public Administration

4. Towards a new normal for Public Employment?
Traditional Public Employment
The New Normal?
Big public administration
Leaner
Reduction of public employment
Exercise of public powers by nationals
More Diverse
Towards more diversity, exercise of public powers also by migrants
Young workforce
Ageing/multi-gen workforce
(older) Men in top-position
Increase of women in top-functions, also young leads old
Recruitment at entry level, focus on qualification, seniority
Higher Qualified
Flexible recruitment, LLL, Competency Management, Skill focus
Central workforce planning
More Agile
Sectoral variation (education, security, research, IT)
Dominance public law status
More flexible legal status
Low internal mobility
All sorts of mobility, restructuring, outsourcing, shared services
Specific Working conditions for CS
Alignment of Working Conditions
Our survey supports trends in OECD central public administrations towards leaner, more diverse, higher qualified and more agile civil services.

5. Changing core competencies of the public sector
Political mandate
Sharper priorities of tasks and service levels
Policy making process boundaries
Changing
boundaries
of the core
public sector
Suppliers
Rethinking of sourcing strategy & core competencies
Users
Increased involvement of users to optimise service value and exploit gains from co-production & auto-management
At the same time as the civil service composition and structure is changing, the job civil servants are doing is also changing.
All of this change means that the way the civil service is managed also needs to change to keep up with the times.
Partnerships
Innovative use of joint incentives in public & private communities
Service delivery process boundaries

6. Towards an HRM for Public Sector Innovation
This is a model of the trends and structures that we see in OECD civil services.
It starts on a foundation of merit: (see question above)
Then is the question of strategic agility: (question above)
But innovation requires more than merit and strategy: (next question)
Let’s look at each one.

7. Building on a foundation of Merit
Fundamentally, man is the key to all problems, not money. Funds are valuable only when used by trained, experienced and devoted men and women. Such people, on the other hand, can work miracles even with small resources, and draw wealth out of barren land.
Dag Hammarskjold (U.N. SG )
Guiding Questions:
Is the workforce professionalized and educated?
Are they managed through fair, rule-based and transparent practices?
HRM for innovaiton starts builds on a foundation of Merit.

8. Merit indicators
Merit is hard to measure, but this indicator helps to show how politicised a civil service is. Only a small number of OECD countries systematically change their civil servants below the second level of management.

9. Merit-based Recruitment
In 21 OECD countries a central HRM unit is responsible for standardizing recruitment and designing skills profiles
23 countries use standardized competitive examinations
In 20 countries, candidates apply directly to a specific post.
Merit–based recruitment can happen in various ways. In countries which have career-based systems, it is often ensured through standardized testing at the beginning of the career. In position-based systems, merit is usually ensured through clear requirements for positions, transparent and open application and selection systems including board interviews.

10. Merit based job advancement
Top management
Middle management
Professional
Secretarial staff
Technical support
Years of experience 15 19 17 16 13
Performance appraisals 24 22 21
Qualifications (relevance of education) 26 28 27 23
Other 12 8 5 4
Performance assessment is mandatory for almost all employees in almost all OECD countries. The chart at the bottom of the slide shows that performance appraisals are very important for career progression in most OECD countries, more than years of experience.
The index on performance assessment is composed of the following variables: existence of a formalized performance assessment; use of performance
assessment tools (meetings with supervisors, frequency of meetings, written feedback, etc.); performance assessment criteria used; and the importance of
good performance assessments for career advancement, remuneration, contract renewal on the same job/ remaining in the same job and employment
contract renewal in the public service. The index ranges between 0 (no use) and 1 (high use). Missing data for countries were estimated by mean
replacement. This index provides information on the formal use of performance assessments in central government, but do not provide any information on
their implementation or on the quality of work performed by public servants.

11. Merit Based Pay Determination
Job content is the most important factor in determining base salary in most OECD countries.
Relevant experience is a key factor in top determining base salary for management positions,
In subordinate positions, educational qualifications are also important.
Trend toward greater use of performance-related pay and less emphasis on seniority-based pay.
Pay should also be merit-based – people should be rewarded for the skills they bring and the difficulty of the job they do.
In all hierarchical levels—from top management to the secretarial and technical support levels—the most important factor in determining base salary is job content. Relevant experience is a key factor in top determining base salary for management positions, while in subordinate positions, educational qualifications are also important. Seniority in the position ends to be only somewhat important across all hierarchical levels. The employee’s age and ministry generally do not influence income levels significantly.
In 26 countries seniority-based pay is in place, although nine countries (Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Korea, the Netherlands, the Slovak Republic, Switzerland, and Turkey) have reduced seniority-based pay increments in recent years. Ten countries do not use seniority-based payment.

12. Enabled by Strategic HRM
HRM for innovation is enabled by strategic HRM capacity

13. Use of Strategic HRM tools
While almost all OECD countries have fairly strong merit-based practices, there is greater differentiation amongst the use of strategic tools.
The index is composed of the following variables: the existence of a general accountability framework; the existence of HRM targets built into performance
assessments of top and middle managers; elements that top and middle management should take into account when planning and reporting within the
general accountability framework; regular review and assessment of Ministries’/Departments’ HRM capacity; existence of forward planning to adjust for
adequate workforces to deliver services; and elements considered in governments’ forward planning. The index ranges between 0 (low utilisation of strategic
HRM practices) and 1 (high utilisation of strategic HRM practices).

14. Strategic integration
Strategic HRM is about aligning HR policy and planning the strategic objectives of the government. This ensure vertical and horizontal integration for more effective and efficient policy design and service delivery.

15. Strategic Workforce Planning
Strategic workforce planning is central to strategic HRM and ensure a future vision for workforce management. This is the process used by all agencies and ministries in the USA.

16. HRM for Innovation
HRM for Innovation recognises the motivation and desires of the civil service workforce and supports them to make improvements to their workplaces and their countries.

17. Incentivizing staff and building a culture of innovation
Ability I can do it
Skills (hard and soft)
Knowledge
Motivation I want to do it
Intrinsic
Extrinsic
Opportunity I am allowed to do it
Work design
Organisation

18. Cases received Learning in Networks Awards and Competitions
Holistic and Individualised HRM
Mobility Programmes
Collected over 20 cases from member countries which we grouped into these categories.
Holistic HRM – focus on supporting a variety of employees to maximize their contribution to work and innovation:
Switzerland multiple career paths for lawyers, recognises that not all professionals want to work up the ladder to become management. So they created 4 different career paths which encourage a better match of skills and interests with their jobs.
Belgium’s NWOW is about a more dynamic workplace that can be better suited to workers’ needs.
Learning in Networks: giving employees the opportunity to work outside their “box”.
Spain’s innovation ecosystem includes an innovation network that extends across all ministries, supported by a virtual social media site.
The German Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs’ junior staff orientation programme and Israel’s Civil Service Cadet Program enable networking and learning for new civil servants.
Mobility programmes: aim to attract outside talent, can be a source of engagement ideas or a challenge.
Korea’s Open Position System, Job Posting System and Job Exchange programmes bring people from the outside into specific positions to lead innovation.
Canada’s interchange programme gives civil servants opportunities to work outside the public sector to learn new skills.
Awards and Competitions: positive encouragement and branding the public sector:
Australia’s Awards of Excellence in Public Sector Management includes innovation as a key criteria;
Poland’s contest for the best innovative practices in public management has the specific goal of changing the image of the public sector…
But these are just the tip of the iceberg…

19. Managing Leadership and Management Tensions
Bottom Up
Top Down
Horizontal
Vertical
People Development
Organisational Development
Autonomy
Stress
Holistic integration
Individual tools
Formal HRM
Informal Culture
Steady State
Innovation and Change
Efficiency
Slack
In all of the cases, leadership at the senior and middle manager levels is necessary. Because this kind of way of working challenges traditional command and control bureaucratic methods, leaders will need to manage a number of tensions and contradictions. The cases show the following.

20. HRM for Innovation: Refined framework based on PEM input
HRM-related Levers
Cases Collected
Performance
Learning in Networks
Awards and Competitions
Leadership
Work /
Organisational development
Ability
Opportunity
Motivation
Holistic HRM
Mobility Programmes
Strategic HRM Systems:
Recruitment & Selection
Performance Mgmt
Training & HR Development
Compensation and Rewards
Put together, we’ve developed this framework to guide future research efforts.
Enabling infrastructure
e.g. modernized organizational enablers (HR, Finance, IT, procurement etc); effective strategic planning processes; enabling regulatory environment; risk acceptance and effective risk management practices, etc (see other chapters of the report)