Recruiting Civil Servants Efficiently


Book Description

In 2007-08, central government recruited more than 40,000 new staff, with 78 per cent for positions at junior grades. The NAO's analysis of how six organisations recruit identifies three common issues: the costs of staff used in the recruitment process are too high; the length of the recruitment process is too long; and the quality of the recruitment process needs to be improved. There is no centrally held data on the cost of central government recruitment programmes but the NAO has found the internal staff costs of recruiting an individual vary from £556 to £1,921 per position. There is the potential to reduce these costs by up to 68 per cent, which could deliver savings in internal staff costs across government of up to £35 million a year, without compromising the quality of the candidates appointed. It can typically take 16 weeks to recruit a new member of staff. Time could be saved by better anticipating recruitment demands, using resources more effectively and, where possible, standardising the process. There is little evidence that central government organisations systematically test the quality or effectiveness of their recruitment process. Information on turnover of staff or surveys of candidates and managers are not routinely used to identify the successes and failings of the recruitment process. The report identifies a range of possible ways of improving external recruitment, ranging from better workforce planning and the standardisation of advertisements and job descriptions, to tailoring the amount of resource used in recruitment to the type of vacancy and sifting out unsuitable candidates at a much earlier stage in the process.




OECD Public Governance Reviews Skills for a High Performing Civil Service


Book Description

This report looks at the capacity and capabilities of civil servants of OECD countries and suggests approaches for addressing skills gaps through recruitment, development and workforce management







Outsiders and insiders


Book Description

This report examines the practice of recruiting externally to the senior civil service (SCS). Outside recruitment has been used to fill skills shortages and to bring new perspectives to government, but has also been criticised for potentially diluting core civil service values and for being poor value for money. PASC concludes that the senior civil service has depended too heavily on external recruitment in recent years, and should now take steps to reduce its reliance on outside appointments. PASC also found that external recruits do not appear to perform better than career civil servants - despite being paid more, on average - and many leave civil service employment relatively quickly. Nonetheless, given the existence of skills gaps and the other benefits that external recruits can bring, PASC believes that there will continue to be a place for outside appointments in civil service recruitment. PASC further concludes that the extent of recent external recruitment is symptomatic of a wider concern: the ability of the civil service to identify its current and future skills needs, and to plan effectively to meet those needs. PASC recommends that the emphasis of civil service employment policy should be on developing its own people and skills, rather than seeking to draw these in from outside.




Civil Service Journal


Book Description







Public Administration in East Asia


Book Description

Written by leading experts, Public Administration in East Asia: Mainland China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan examines the inner workings of governments in East Asia, in particular its public administration and related public policy processes. It focuses on the apparatus of government — the agencies, their values, context, and policies within which they operate. Organized in parallel sections, the book covers the history, public policy processes, organization, HRM, ethics, corruption, intergovernmental relations, performance management, and e-government. It discusses each of these topics separately for Mainland China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, providing an unusual and important comparative perspective. The book includes essential knowledge and facts, discussions of emerging issues, and useful resources for further reading. It addresses questions such as: What is the history of public administration in East Asia? How are decisions made? What is the role of Confucianism in shaping public administration? How does the developmental path affect public administration? Why is performance management emphasized? What is the state of citizen participation? How are ethical underpinnings of the civil service different from the West? Why are intergovernmental relations an essential issue in East Asia? What are the politics behind world-class achievements in IT? What is the nature of civil service reform? What is the nature of efforts to combat government corruption? You can find many books on trade policy and politics that sometimes give good insight into the operation of government agencies. You can also find a few edited books that contain single chapters on countries in the Asia-Pacific region. What is missing, however, is a single resource that provides an overview with depth on matters solely about public administration. This state-of-the-art resource brings together the fragments of existing knowledge on East Asian economies, filling the need for a comprehensive compendium that showcases the public administration practices in the region and East Asia’s innovative approaches to governance and its many challenges.




The Efficiency and Reform Group's role in improving public sector value for money


Book Description

The Efficiency and Reform Group (the Group) was established within the Cabinet Office in May 2010 to lead efforts to cut government spending by £6 billion in 2010-11. Its long term aim is to improve value for money across government by strengthening the central coordination of measures to improve efficiency. The imperative to make savings in the short term has involved the Group imposing new controls on departments, such as moratoria on certain expenditure. Sustained efficiency improvements, though, will need a much deeper change to both the culture and institutional structure of government. The Group also needs to clear up confusion over who is accountable for what in terms of improving value for money, especially in defining its responsibilities and those of the Treasury and individual departments. The Group's actions have resulted in efficiency savings of £3.75 billion across departments in 2010-11. It should continue to describe any future spending reductions accurately and explain any impact on services. The scale of the challenge to deliver efficiencies is huge: the Government intends that half of the £81 billion reduction in spending planned over the next three years should come from efficiencies rather than through cuts to services or delays to important projects. Many of the efficiencies must be achieved in areas where the Group currently has a limited influence, or by local bodies, where it has none. The Group should set out how it will operate to ensure that its approach can be replicated across the wider public sector.




HM Revenue & Customs


Book Description

In 2007-08, HMRC received more than a quarter of the 4 million Tax Credit renewals forms in July (the renewal deadline) and it processed half of the 8.2 million Income Tax Self Assessment returns during January to March. At busier times customers experience delays on their correspondence and receive a less responsive service. In the lead up to the Income Tax Self Assessment deadline in January 2008, HMRC answered just two thirds of the 7 million telephone calls made to its contact centres. By encouraging more customers to file tax returns online and removing the need for some returns, HMRC has smoothed peaks in workload and released resources of £7 million a year. The peak in Tax Credit renewal work has, however, increased as the deadline has been brought forward to reduce overpayments. Using different processing targets throughout the year and giving customers more information about how long their information will take to process during peak periods could help spread work out throughout the year. During busy periods, HMRC tends to process simpler Income Tax cases, postponing more complex checks and less urgent work. During peak periods, staff productivity is higher, partly reflecting the simpler cases, but HMRC also experiences increased staff sickness absence. The experience of HMRC and other organisations is that between 15 per cent and 40 per cent of contact with customers is avoidable. Reducing the number of avoidable calls by 15 per cent could release resources of up to £23 million a year or 11 per cent of its annual spending on contact centres.