OECD
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has issued its first international draft recommendation on Public Service leadership and capability.
It is now seeking input from public employees and interested citizens on its work so far.
Project Manager for Public Employment and Management at the OECD, Daniel Gerson said the recommendation sought to help member States decide how public employees should be managed and how employment policy should be set.
“To date, very little international guidance exists to address the complex challenges posed by people management and Civil Service reform in public administrations,” Mr Gerson said.
“As the first OECD recommendation to address public sector employment, the draft recommendation fills an important gap.”
He said the capabilities of Public Servants and those who lead them “are constantly required to adjust to challenges that are increasingly complex and specific”, with leaders now expected to work across organisational boundaries, sectors and jurisdictions.
“Too often, public employment systems are seen to be too slow to bring the right skills in, too rigid to re-skill existing employees and reallocate talent to emerging areas of need,” Mr Gerson said.
“In many areas, Public Services suffer from legacy employment policies which were designed for another context.”
He said the draft recommendation sought to provide for Public Services’ “commonly understood values [to] guide a results-oriented and citizens-centred culture of leadership and policy and services design”.
OECD recommendations are international standards which reflect good practice but are not legally binding, though those that agree to them commit to try to implement their objectives.
The online public consultation closes on 14 September.
Paris, 15 August, 2018
