PEOPLE FOCUS - CIPD

More documents

Recommendations

Info

PEOPLE FOCUS PUBLIC SERVICE Snip Nua' under the chair of economist, Colm McCarthy. But unlike the OECD or the Task Force, Colm McCarthy will effectively be looking at where exactly the axe will fall. Whatever merits there may be in employing the OECD and others to reform the public service, in a recession of the depth we are currently experiencing, reform is replaced by cutbacks. As the Task force pointed out, it really comes down to what level of public service the citizens demand and then, more pointedly, how much they are prepared to pay for it. With an estimated deficit this year of €15 billion and upwards and a public service paybill inching past €20 billion, budget arithmetic means it is inevitable that there will be some cutbacks in public service pay and numbers which means a cut in services. McCarthy’s An Bord Snip Nua is due to report in June but an interim report detailing with specific cuts in numbers will be made before then. The idea is that Colm McCarthy will work off his namesake, Dermot McCarthy’s Task force report, the idea being that the one will balance off the other. More with Less Based on Taoiseach Brain Cowen’s motto ‘more with less’, An Bord snip will identify the less while implementation of the Task Force’s recommendations will maintain and even enhance services of the post 'An Bord Snip Nua' public service A key challenge for the Task Force and indeed any public sector reform initiative is communication with an increasingly demanding and cynical public. As we slip deeper into recession it is the public service and the government itself which is coming under attack. Remarks like the ‘bloated public service‘, ‘feather nesting’ and ‘comfortable, pensionable jobs have been thrown around with abandon suggesting that it is the public service that dragged us into the recession. Of course with so many failed or ignored public sector reform initiatives in the past on top of countless reports gathering dust on various shelves, it is easy to see where the cynicism comes from. The Task Force identified this trust between the Government, the public service and its citizens as central to its reform proposals. “Delivering outcomes valued by the public and providing quality public services are central to the well-being of society, the health of the economy and the legitimacy of government. The task of prioritising outcomes and services is essentially a high-level activity that is political in nature. It requires clearly articulated targets, in terms of service outputs and outcomes that take account of available resources.
PUBLIC SERVICE PEOPLE FOCUS In a climate of resource constraints, a clear political direction focussed on what is to be achieved in the short, medium and long term is imperative” says the Task force report. People First But of even greater importance, the report suggests, is to communicate those aspirations to the public in such a way that it puts the citizen at the centre of the public service and engender a trust between the government, via the public service to its citizens - a trust that seems to have all but disappeared today. “The Task Force is convinced that the communication of these targets to the public is crucially important both in managing realistic expectations and in holding the Public Service to account in terms of actual delivery” says the report. In terms of how this will be achieved, the Task Force follows the OECD report in stressing the performance of individual public servants. “We agree with the OECD recommendation that the route to better services and outcomes lies in the enhanced performance of individual public servants, of individual organisations and of the Public Service as a system, against clear targets.” says the report. Targets “We recommend the development of output targets that allow the individual performance of individual organisations to be measured. We recommend that individualised systems of performance management should be extended throughout all sectors of the Public Service and that existing systems be significantly strengthened in order to demonstrate a real connection between performance rating and actual performance in terms of outputs. We believe that a major cultural change is needed to tackle underperformance, both at the level of the organisation and the individual, to provide value for money to the citizen and taxpayer, and in the interests of equity and morale” the report says. While the Task Force adds that what it admits is a 'major cultural change' should be agreed through partnership, to date, the public sector unions have been less than enthusiastic about performance management - even at senior level. The application of a performance based system for assistant secretaries introduced by the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Sector, for example, has been roundly criticised by the Review Body itself. The Review Body noted that the virtually all assistant secretaries received the average award from their immediate superiors - the secretary generals. Fear of upsetting senior staff was the problem but as the Review Body pointed out this completely undermines the whole idea of such a performance based pay system. The gradual introduction of a Performance Management Development System (PMDS) through all levels of the public service has also been beset by public sector union resistance. The PMDS links the payment of increments to performance with the top performers getting a double increment while the worst performers are denied the increment. But like the assistant secretaries scheme, the vast majority of public servants were given their increments with only a handful deemed to be under performing. While the civil service unions have reluctantly accepted PMDS, they are watching very closely for fear that PMDS will in the future be applied to pay. It will indeed require a “major cultural change” as the Task Force report admits. Another key point of the OECD report adopted by the Task Force is the need for mobility across the public service, an area of increasing relevance in the current economic climate if the public service, as Taoiseach, Brian Cowen says has ‘to do more with less’. Barriers “The collaboration required for better policy making and service delivery can be promoted, in the human resources area, by moving to a unified labour market across the public service and by heightening the service-wide identity of public servants. Removing barriers (sectoral, professional, industrial relations and geographical, for example) to movement between different sectors and organisations in the Public Service is essential in promoting deeper collaboration.” the report says. But again the Task Force reports the difficulties in achieving this. “Putting in place the means to redeploy employees across existing boundaries to areas of greatest priority, and adjusting employee numbers in line with available resources and skills demands through targeted redundancy and retirement programmes is another very challenging step” warns the report. The problems that beset decentralisation, where public servants could not cross the semi-state/civil service boundary, show how difficult this will be. The Task Force places great emphasis on the political leadership required to effect the changes recommended. “The Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Finance must play a stronger role in overtly linking (a) Government’s policy objectives, (b) resource allocation decisions and (c) the public service change agenda through the cabinet process” says the report. It also backs the OECD’s recommendation for the creation of a public service leadership cadre. “The Public Service must empower leaders at all levels” it says. “We have recommended specific, politically-led, leadership and oversight arrangements through the creation of a Cabinet Committee chaired by the Taoiseach and centres to drive implementation with each sector - Education, Health, Local Government, Civil Service, Defence and Justice. We recommend the creation of a central Programme Office to support local offices, to support political championship, to co-ordinate the transformation efforts across sectors and to provide accountability mechanisms”, the report concludes. But all this will all have to wait the recommendations of 'An Bord Snip Nua' so the Government can see exactly what public service it has left to reform ■ 10
Page 1 and 2: PEOPLE FOCUS Chartered Institute of
Page 3 and 4: WORKPLACE PEOPLE FOCUS Building and
Page 5 and 6: ANALYSIS PEOPLE FOCUS Imaginative a
Page 7: PUBLIC SERVICE PEOPLE FOCUS TRYING
Page 11 and 12: PEOPLE FOCUS LEGISLATION NERA was s
Page 13 and 14: PEOPLE FOCUS RESEARCH whose well-be
Page 15 and 16: PEOPLE FOCUS RESEARCH AND POLICY Ne
Page 17 and 18: PEOPLE FOCUS LEGAL 2. The person ag
Page 19 and 20: EMPLOYMENT PEOPLE FOCUS Directors r
Page 21 and 22: PEOPLE FOCUS RECESSION 6 Look for c
Page 23 and 24: PEOPLE FOCUS HR MANAGEMENT training
Page 25 and 26: PEOPLE FOCUS HR MANAGEMENT Hearts,
Page 27 and 28: PEOPLE FOCUS COMMUNICATION Communic
Page 29 and 30: PEOPLE FOCUS DEVELOPMENT Education
Page 31 and 32: PEOPLE FOCUS LEARNING A time to ref
Page 33 and 34: PEOPLE FOCUS HR MANAGEMENT Helping
Page 35 and 36: PEOPLE FOCUS COACHING Figure 1 - Cr
Page 37 and 38: REGIONS: COLLEGES: GRADUATION PEOPL
Page 39 and 40: REGIONS: COLLEGES: GRADUATION PEOPL
Page 41 and 42: PEOPLE FOCUS UPGRADES Cork Bon Seco
Page 43 and 44: PEOPLE FOCUS REGIONS: MIDLANDS Offi
Page 45 and 46: PEOPLE FOCUS REGIONS: EASTERN CIPD
Page 47 and 48: PEOPLE FOCUS REGIONS: WESTERN Dr. T
Page 49 and 50: PEOPLE FOCUS REGIONS: REGIONS: WEST
Page 51 and 52: PEOPLE FOCUS REGIONS: WESTERN Minis
Page 53 and 54: REGIONS: SOUTHERN PEOPLE FOCUS “W
Page 55: REGIONS: SOUTHERN PEOPLE FOCUS Nove

PEOPLE FOCUS - CIPD

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?