1. Gudrun Nachtschatt, Peter Oberbichler Arbeitsmarktservice Österreich Targets and Activities of the benchmarking group Mutual Learning – Benchmarking among Public Employment Services EU-Benchmarking Group Meeting 6. and 7. 10. 2010

2. Gudrun Nachtschatt, Peter Oberbichler Arbeitsmarktservice Österreich Why does AMS Austria invest much resources in the Benchmarking? Organisation „survives“ only if it  is innovative,  avoids the question of legitimacy by good business results Innovation is stronger by external comparisons  Copy is “cheaper” than a new development Management needs support to take decisions  Are the achieved results good or unfavourable?  Assessment is only possible by external comparison  The comparisons show possible ways to improve performance

3. Gudrun Nachtschatt, Peter Oberbichler Arbeitsmarktservice Österreich Why does AMS Austria invest much resources in the Benchmarking? Personal experiences  “Tourism” to other PES didn’t bring sustainable results:  It is necessary to have information about other PES to choose the “right” PES with the “right” questions (frame for comparison).  The visited PES-colleagues need information to be able to prepare themselves to give tailor-made answers  Data comparison on an ad hoc basis doesn’t bring results  Spontaneous exchange about process and result data leads normally to more questions than answers

4. Gudrun Nachtschatt, Peter Oberbichler Arbeitsmarktservice Österreich Benchmarking and Good Practice exchange as innovation process Benchmarking ……  Stimulates critical reviews on one’s own processes  Widens the horizon by building partnerships between PES  Guarantees quick information on changes, discussions, reforms in other PES  has lead to changes/innovations in some PES of this group  May reduce costs of development and individual benchmarking

5. Gudrun Nachtschatt, Peter Oberbichler Arbeitsmarktservice Österreich Continuation of the work group with new challenges Main targets of the Working Group  Continuation of data collection  Differentiation of the indicators according to gender, age or educational level  Improvement of the comparability of the already defined indicators  Extension of the existing indicator set according to new challenges in national employment strategies  Comparison of development of indicators over time

6. Gudrun Nachtschatt, Peter Oberbichler Arbeitsmarktservice Österreich Continuation of the work group with new challenges Main targets of the Working Group  Validation of results recognising background and context of each PES  Improvement of context variables  Yearly update of the list of main tasks and the key data of the PES  Evidence based identification and extrapolation of good practice examples  Documentation of good practice examples as a point of departure for a systematic dissemination and discussion

7. Gudrun Nachtschatt, Peter Oberbichler Arbeitsmarktservice Österreich Continuation of the work group with new challenges How to deal with the growing number of participants?  Integration of the new PES to take over an active role  Enhancing the personal contact between the participants  Preparation of decisions (e.g. new indicator) by the coordination group or by sub-groups  presentations in the workshop to the whole group, discussions on specific items in smaller groups,  discussion on new indicators/new issues between the workshops by e- mail or in the forum on the website.

8. Gudrun Nachtschatt, Peter Oberbichler Arbeitsmarktservice Österreich Tasks and responsibilities of the benchmarking group members Letter of commitment signed by the heads of PES  Active participation in the workshops  Collecting data in one’s own organisation  Putting the data into the database on the website  Providing information on the measurement procedures  Providing information on the own PES and reforms  describing the good practices of the own organisation  Discussion of results of benchmarking and selected good practices within the management of the own organisation

9. Gudrun Nachtschatt, Peter Oberbichler Arbeitsmarktservice Österreich Tasks and responsibilities of the benchmarking group members  Becoming specialists in interpreting the benchmarking data  Be able to assess the indicator results according to differences in definitions, measurement methods, context variables, strategies ………. Every participant is responsible that the indicator values of other PES remain anonymous to the public until there is a different decision of the Heads of PES The management of AMS Austria doesn’t get the name of the PES behind the data values to avoid to read in news papers that AMS Austria is better or worse than PES X.

10. Gudrun Nachtschatt, Peter Oberbichler Arbeitsmarktservice Österreich Steering the benchmarking group Coordination group: Belgium (VDAB), Netherlands, Slovenia and Austria  preparing the content of the work shops  developing suggestions for the continuation of the work process  A procedure for a change of participants has to be developed  Cooperation with PES to PES dialogue, proposals for peer reviews AMS Austria as project leader  responsible for the tendering process of the EC  representation of the project towards the outside,  organisation of the external scientific and organisational support,  acting as the main contact point with regard to content and organisational questions.

11. Gudrun Nachtschatt, Peter Oberbichler Arbeitsmarktservice Österreich Sub working group  A working group with more than 8 participants is not able to work out definitions on indicators and context variables  A sub working group from 4 to 5 PES with a clear mandate: team members of the working group or national data experts discuss the details and develop a proposal.

12. Gudrun Nachtschatt, Peter Oberbichler Arbeitsmarktservice Österreich Two meetings per year Meeting in autumn – main topics  Critical discussion on numerical values of indicators and context variables  To get a better understanding what is going on in the national PES,  To increase the accuracy und comparability of indicators and context variables.  Critical discussions on definitions and measurement methods to increase the accuracy and comparability of the definition and the measurement method,  Discussion of the results of sub working groups in improving existing or developing new indicators,  Decision on which areas should be the subject of a closer discussion to explore possible good practices.

13. Gudrun Nachtschatt, Peter Oberbichler Arbeitsmarktservice Österreich Two meetings per year Meeting in spring – main topics  Good practice Presentations by single PES to identify possible good practice)  Input for dissemination of good practice within the planned PES to PES dialog of the EU Commission. In order to raise the identification of the participating PES with the results, it is planned to organise the workshops of the working group and the working meetings of the coordination group in the member state which currently holds the EU presidency.

14. Gudrun Nachtschatt, Peter Oberbichler Arbeitsmarktservice Österreich Weak points in the benchmarking exercise so far  Limited discussion of results within there organisations in some PES  Resources and support of working group members (data collection)  Little continuation of delegates within the benchmarking group – problems of delegates to be involved or to follow the discussion  Combination and consolidation of the single indicator results towards a comprehensive sight of PES performance  Connection of indicator values and values of the context variables,  Connection of used indicators and the single national strategic indicators (Management Information System, Business Plan, …..). we have to improve ….