1. Pool & Talent Management for Senior and Executive Civil Servants
France
David Corbé-Chalon
15 May 2017
Introductory presentation

2. Key Characteristics & Figures: Civil Service in France
A career-based system based on competitive recruitment
3 branches: State, Local and Hospital
5.4 million agents, including military, police, teachers, nurses
70 % are established civil servants
62 % are women
Career system :
- Nomination into a grade of the civil service is for life – Nomination into a position/job is revocable
- Confirmation into a grade after nomination into a corps as trainee, following – most of the time – a training period in a public service school
Possibility to move to a higher grade or even corps/category by way of examination or of choice of one’s hierarchy
3 hierarchical categories: A, B & C

3. Key Figures: Senior and Executive Civil Servants
Around agents i.e. 2.3 % of the civil service
State % of the branch
Local %
Hospital %
40 % of women : State 38 % Local 52 % Hosp 46 %
Average age : 48.1 y.o. : State Local 52 Hosp 48.8
Average remuneration :
State euros including 45 % bonuses & allowances
Local euros %
Hospital euros
Age: both women & men

4. State SCSs: Positions and Pool
What kind of positions?
Superior positions at Government's discretion, e.g.: prefect, ambassador, secretary general, director of central administration
Superior management and expertise positions, e.g. : head of department, sub-director, project director, high-level expert
Direction of State territorial administration
For what kind of civil servants ?
State / Audit Court / Foreign Affairs Councilor
General Inspectors
Civil / Finances / Statistics Administrators
Environment / Economics Engineers
Architects and Urbanists, Curators of Heritage

5. SCSs Pool and Talent Management: Context & Background
Changing world : increasing pace, complexity, digitalization …  initiative and risk-taking have to be promoted
Those are new challenges for public administrations  especially for SCSs, key actors of change management
Need for:
stronger SCSs profiles : diverse, skilled, professional
support to SCSs in building their professional paths
How do we design a more efficient & transversal HRM dedicated to SCSs ?
= Main focus here the policy designed for the Directors of Central Administration (DCA)
DCA & Secretary-Generals of ministries

6. DCA Pool and Talent Management: Goals & Design
Aims of the policy:
facilitate talent detection de-compartmentalize pools
professionalize nominations strengthen managerial culture
Inter-ministerial pool for appointments to 200 positions
Managed by a Mission of the Secretariat-General for the Government
Created in 2012, renovated in 2015: professionalized and more selective
 Scheme supported by ministerial Managerial plans
 Objective : that only 25 % of positions at Government’s discretion be filled by nominations from outside the pool
At the SGG: Executive Managers’ Mission
2015 reform of the pool :
650 members, too many
Need to be more selective in its composition:
Members informed of their selection
Members willing to be selected
Members having fair chances to reach top management positions
Selection taking into account gender equality goals
Ministerial Managerial plans :
Built to implement inter-ministerial priorities and to promote managerial culture inside the ministerial department, including new managerial practices key to conduct of change
Address issues of attractiveness, identification and retention of high potentials and talents, taking into account both the aspirations of managers and the difficulty to build motivating professional paths on over 40 years
Deemed to improve feminization of SCSs positions

7. DCA Pool and Talent Management: Implementation Policy & Actions
A comprehensive policy, based on six distinct actions:
Harmonized ministerial annual senior management review
Inter-ministerial assessment procedure for each pool candidate
Audition before a hearing committee for all candidates to the positions – including non-members of the pool
Council of ministers bound to examine at least 3 candidates, among which at least 1 woman and 1 pool member
Specific training, coaching and peer-to-peer exchanges offered to pool members and nominees
Management of the pool: limited volume and duration of membership
Example of the procedure, on the basis of the scheme working for positions of:
Directors of central governement administration
Heads of departement
Senior management review / Ministerial managerial plans:
MMP are supported by other instruments : review of managers, communities/networks of managers, prevention and remediation of difficulties encountered by managers
Assessment:
Purpose: objectify the selection procedure
Based on a referential of managerial skills
Conducted by an external partner
Completed by interviews led by the Executive Managers’ Mission
Hearing committees: give an advisory opinion
Training programmes:
Inter-ministerial cycle for State management: designed to develop managerial abilities for pool members and candidates to the pool (7 days on 8 months)
Managerial training actions for pool members
A specific program designed for women: address issues of self-confidence and visibility
Personalized support and collective actions offered to newly nominated directors (ie. Public speaking)
Management of the pool :
Volume of members reduced from 650 to 500
Each year a little less than 100 members (after 4 or 5 years) are invited to leave the pool + those who step off receive personalized advice

8. DCA Pool and Talent Management: First Results
Improved upstream ministerial selection:
Demonstrated by the good results of the assessment procedure
Enhanced management of the inter-ministerial pool:
Advisory opinions of hearing committees followed
Growing proportion of pool members among nominees
 Reduced proportion of non-pool members among nominees
Assessment : only 10% of the candidates proposed by the ministries were refused at the end of the inter-ministerial selection process
Hearing committees :
From july to december 2016, 31 hearing committees held
Ministers always nominated the candidate ranked #1 by the committees
Raising proportion of pool members among the nominees :
2012: 18% nominees among pool members ; 24% women
2015: 23% nominees among pool members ; 31% women
Non-pool members nominees : from 40 % in 2012 to 24 % in 2015

9. Questions ?

10. Thank You
David Corbé-Chalon