1. Activities of the Human Resources Working Group
Stefan Ritter

2. Agenda Cross-Border Mobility of Public Sector Workers
Information on the Structure of the Civil and Public Services of the EU Member and Accession States
Decentralisation and Accountability as Focus of Public Administration Modernisation

3. Cross-Border Mobility of Public Sector Workers
Initiative of Austrian Presidency to update and complete mobility-related information (including Accession States)
Based on
Report on different issues specific for mobility (2000)
„Mobility between the Public Sectors in the European Union – a collection of information and guidelines“ (done by the Danish Presidency 2002)
National contributions and analysis to be published on
Mobility put on the agenda of Social Dialogue

4. Cross-Border Mobility of Public Sector Workers
Main areas of interest:
Nationality Condition
Recognition of Diplomas
Recognition of Professional Experience and Seniority
other legal specificities of cross-border mobility of public sector workers (language requirements,…)
other aspects of cross-border mobility of public sector workers (best practices)

5. Information on the Structure of the Civil and Public Services of the EU Member and Accession States
Document elaborated during Irish Presidency, updated during Luxembourg Presidency
Information on
Structure of public service
Number of public servants
Number of Ministries
Structure within each Ministry
Department with responsibility for HR policy
Current HR reforms
Management Summary “Civil and Public Services in the European Union: Facts and Figures”

6. Decentralisation and Accountability
Mid Term Programme: Public Administration Modernisation
Study by Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and EIPA
In close cooperation with IPSG
Workshops at 1st HRWG Meeting
2 Focuses: Accountability and Consequences for HRM
Case Studies: EC, Spain; Finland, Austria
Decentralisation and Accountability as Focus of Public Administration Modernisation: Challenges and Consequences for HRM
Questionnaire divided into 5 sectors:
Public Administration Modernisation (key factors, most important topics,…)
Decentralising and Centralising Public Administration (typical decision making situations, asked which levels are typically involved)
Strengthening accountability (forms of accountability, political, legal, control measures in HRM)
Perspectives for HRM (how does decentralisation affect HRM)
Additional Information (organisation of a typical ministry (of finance), staff number…)
Workshops:
GUARANTEEING ACCOUNTABILITY IN A DECENTRALISED ENVIRONMENT – CHALLENGES AND CONSEQUENCES FOR LEADERSHIP (Hammerschmid)
DECENTRALISATION: CHALLENGES AND CONSEQUENCES FOR HUMAN RESSOURCE MANAGEMENT (Demmke)

7. Decentralisation and Accountability
Survey with participation of all EU Member States, EC and the Accession States
First comparative study in this area
Draft report available beginning of May
Feedback possible until mid May

8. Public Administration Modernisation
E-government consistently the most important topic
Accountability high on the agenda in most countries
NPM topics superseded by good governance topics
Size relevant regarding accountability and decentralisation
Main focus on head count reductions (eg. Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Malta, Slovenia, Sweden)
Tendency of strongly centralized approaches

9. Decentralisation
Administrative/managerial decentralisation eg. Austria, Estonia, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Sweden, UK
Political (multi-level) decentralisation eg. Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Spain
Budgetary decentralisation eg. Austria, France, EC
HR decentralisation
Horizontal: from central-HR unit to single ministries/agencies eg. Austria, Hungary, Ireland, Malta, Poland, Spain, Sweden, UK, EC
Vertical: increasing amount of discretion given to line managers eg. Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Sweden
Regional  eg. Greece, Sweden
HR-decentralisation less relevant than political, administrative and budgetary decentralisation

10. Outcome of Decentralisation
Performance/productivity improvements
Increased citizen satisfaction due to increased service speed and quality
more flexible HRM functions better suited to local needs
More compatible pay levels
Increased focus on tasks and performance accountability
Increased motivation
Empowerment of management
Regional benefits
Need for increased coordination and accountability
Duplications and resource/competence deficits
Danger of wage bill inflation
Lack of transparency
Increasing politicisation

11. Accountability Performance accountability gaining relevance
Broad spectrum of tools and instruments to ensure accountability:
regulation (laws, guidelines)  dominating form
supervision (hierarchical control, audits)  high relevance
managerial/performance instruments  high relevance
personnel contacts / informal control / networks  high relevance
information dissemination
Codes of Ethics, good governance, values
External (transparency, Ombudsman etc.)

12. Consequences for HRM Considerable changes for central HR units:
reduction of direct control along with increasing controlling tasks
Shift of focus from administrative to strategic / policy tasks
proactive leadership functions
Decentralisation results in the need for further training and development of managerial skills
Most countries with government-wide management training programmes (voluntary or compulsory) and specific institutes
Strong focus on strategic management, policy making, leadership skills, ethics
Increasing relevance for institutionalising possibilities to share information and good practices

13. Thank you for your attention!