Central government personnel: strategy and planning
In ten years' time, 62% of central government personnel will have retired or accepted a position elsewhere. This outflow will reach its peak between 2015 and 2020. We have audited the strategic personnel plans central government has drawn up in anticipation of this substantial outflow of civil servants. Strategic personnel plans set out the current and future personnel needs so that the ministries and central government as a whole can take measures to meet future needs.
Conclusions
Central government currently does not have a strategic personnel plan. It is therefore not capable of overseeing and anticipating the consequence of the ageing population, the declining number of younger people, the economy measures and the contraction of the labour market as a whole. With the exception of the Ministry of Defence, the ministries and executive agencies do not yet have detailed strategic personnel plans either. Some ministries and executive agencies have taken steps to prepare such plans but they are not yet ready.
The lack of strategic personnel plans means the development of the staff establishment cannot be steered effectively. This harbours a risk. If the spending cuts the government wants to make in the civil service in 2012-2014 cannot be implemented effectively, there may be adverse personnel consequences in the longer term; it may not be possible to perform certain government tasks properly.
The Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) announced that all ministries would have a strategic personnel plan by the end of 2012. In our opinion, this is no longer realistic. Firstly, a uniform instrument must still be developed in 2012 to evaluate the quality of the personnel. Secondly, P-Direkt, the ministries' joint personnel administration system, still does not have the functionalities necessary for strategic personnel planning. The additional functionalities will in any event not be available in 2012. Thirdly, the ministries' strategic personnel planning is not yet anchored in the planning and control cycle or management contracts and is therefore relatively open-ended: management is not yet convinced of the benefit of and need for strategic personnel planning.
Recommendations
In our opinion, the government should see the personnel consequences of the spending cuts in the light of the high outflow of retiring personnel in the years ahead. More priority should be given to strategic personnel planning. It would prevent the wrong members of staff leaving the organisation, or staying with it, when the spending cuts are implemented. Strategic personnel planning should become part of the ministries' planning and control cycle and management contracts. The ministries should actively work on the commitment of senior management. We recommend that the Minister of BZK ensure that a debate on the desired modernisation of the civil service and the associated staff establishment is placed high on the political and administrative agenda in the years ahead. If the goals of strategic personnel planning are not achieved by the end of 2012, the minister should intervene more directly in the ministries' strategic personnel planning. The minister should also make the necessary changes in the P-Direkt personnel system.
Response
The Minister of BZK agrees with our recommendations to give greater priority to strategic personnel planning and to hold a debate of the modernisation of the civil service and the consequences for the staff establishment. The minister does not share our view that the entire civil service should use a uniform model for strategic personnel planning. She notes that the personnel planning method developed in 2011 is not intended to be a blueprint for the entire civil service, but a guideline.