Public Employment and Management

The work of the Directorate for Public Governance and Territoral Development on public sector employment and management supports productive managerial change and improved personnel policies in the public service, integrating them with budgetary and other reforms to improve the responsiveness of government and the efficient delivery of public services.

What's new

New OECD book on The State of the Public Service

11-Dec-2008

This new book takes stock of the main changes in the management of public services across OECD countries. It summarises the findings of the OECD Public Employment and Management working party over the past 15 years. Among other aspects, this book examines how countries find a balance between attention to fundamental values such as fairness, equity, justice and social cohesion, and a focus on efficiency, productivity and effectiveness. This book will help governments and the public better understand some of the complex issues involved in the management of the public service.

New numbers on public employment

05-Feb-2008

As part of a wider project on developing comparable data and indicators of good government and efficient public services, the OECD is currently developing a new methodology for gathering comparable data on public employment. The goals of this methodology are two-fold: to measure the production costs of goods and services of the "public domain" and to put public employment numbers and costs in the perspective of these wider costs.

OECD publishes review of human resource management in Belgium's governments

25-Sep-2007

The review of human resource management in Belgium's governments is the first country review of its kind to be carried out by the OECD. It provides a detailed diagnosis and solutions for improving the management of government employees in the Brussels-Capital Region, Federal Government, Flemish Government, French Community and Wallon Region. The report compares the policies and practices of Belgium with those in other OECD countries, as well as those across different governments in Belgium.

New working paper on political involvement in senior staffing and on the delineation of responsibilities between ministers and senior civil servants

13-Aug-2007

In their quest for legitimacy, democratic regimes find themselves having to balance two values that can be in some tension: fair and non-politically partisan public service delivery and, subject to the law, the responsiveness of public servants to the policies of the current executive. This paper depicts the way in which different countries have developed institutional arrangements which balance these two concerns, to avoid the extremes of a self-serving public service immune to political leadership, or an over-politicised public service hostage to patronage and serving partisan interests.

New working paper analyses performance-based arrangements for senior civil servants in OECD and non-OECD countries

19-Jul-2007

This paper details the findings of a study into how performance-based arrangements at the individual level are related to performance management arrangements at higher levels such as the agency or programme level. The paper aims to provide practical lessons and insights into performance-based arrangements for senior civil servants derived from country and practitioner experiences, and is meant to be applicable to countries starting to work with such arrangements as well as to countries wanting to improve their existing systems.

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