Introduction
There have been calls for agility in public service in the United Kingdom. Public service organisations are considered laggards in the delivery of services. There have been increased calls for reforms and improvements in the public service delivery that in turn call for reforms and changes in the public service delivery and specifically in civil service. Civil service performance is highly determined by the human resource practices adopted in the civil service hence reforms in the civil service greatly impact human resource management. The UK has faced some serious issues such as Brexit and covid-19 that have increased calls for agility in the public service (OECD, 2021). This discussion focuses on the UK civil service case and its human resource practices. It examines the various types of changes that have occurred in the HR system of the UK civil service recently. It examines whether there has been a clear strategy behind the changes that have occurred and the extent to which the changes will be successful or not and the reason for this success or failure. Thus, after the introduction, it is followed by the main body, which includes the main discussion points while the least parts sum up the discussion.
Most important changes that have occurred in the HR system of the UK civil service in recent years
Various changes have occurred in the HR system of the UK civil service. According to Workday CSW (2020), one of the changes is related to the need and demand for agile government or organisational agility in the public sector due to the emergence of digital technologies that have required public service to conform to digital trends and demands. There has been digitalisation of government services mostly due to pressure from stakeholders for the government to offer services that are digital and seamless. Thus, this has called for an agile workforce that is capable of providing digital services in a manager that is fast, reliable and convenient for the stakeholders. It includes increased reliance on digital technologies to execute various job functions. It includes capitalisation of work in processing centres and farms from the public eye. Hence, organisational agility in the civil service calls for a civil service that is adaptable, by having structures that are fluid and flexible to allow human resources to be reallocated and to be deployed to sectors where they are most needed (Gov UK, 2021). The other aspect of agility includes rapid and responsive planning where the plans are made and adjusted continually to the fact in various market developments. The other aspect of organisational agility is the demand for a skilled workforce to serve the increasing expectations of the public. It also requires empowered leadership and employees who have access to relevant organizational data required in decision-making out also includes having performance management metrics that can help leaders measure performance in the organization (Dib, Lodovico and Sengputa, 2020).
The other changes that have occurred in the HR systems or reforms in the civil service are related to the adoption of lean in the human resource management practice in the civil service. There has been the adoption of neoliberal paradigms in the public sector that calls for minimal government involvement and expenditure which has created a need for the government to cut wages and minimise taxation levied on private enterprise. The state is in a drive to increase efficiency and effectiveness in public service. The lean approach in the civil service implies redundancies, and job costs by merging departments and eliminating job duplications in different departments. The adoption of lean management entailed the standardisation of jobs and work processes and procedures to ensure that work in similar departments could be merged and enhance efficiency.
The other change or issue has to do with employee turnover in the civil service. In the Department of Workers’ Pension and the ministry of finance, Workday CSW (2020) noted that there is an annual turnover rate of 25% which is very high. Other departments are estimated to have an annual turnover of 20%. This means that in three or five years new employees are working in the departments which leads to a loss of institutional memory and organisational culture. Among the senior officials in the government parastatals and ministries, the level of employee turnover is even higher which is estimated to be 40% on an annual basis (Civil Service HR, 2021). This level of staff turnover is disadvantageous to the government in that it results in poor performance the government has to spend annually over 74 million in employee recruitment costs. This is without taking into consideration staff training costs and lost productivity that comes with high employee turnover, high employee turnover implies reduced employee engagement which overall reduces employee motivation and positivity in the workplace. This also robs the government of expertise and experience that is necessary for public sector jobs for efficient service delivery. One of the attributes that have been associated with the high staff turnover is the salary raise freezes implemented by the government as part of costs cutting strategies. Then there is the change of decentralisation of HR. in the United Kingdom the HR function has been decentralised to the line ministries. Thus, each line ministry sets its objectives and goals and then ensures that these objectives have been met through the HR practices such as recruitment, training and development, pay and performance evaluation (Gov UK, 2021).
The clear strategy underlying the changes that have occurred
There is a clear to address the changes that have been identified above. The HR strategy entails engaging in strategic human resource management with a focus on attracting and retaining talent as identified by Workday CSW (2020) which highlighted three HR aspects that were critical in addressing the HR issues in the UK civil service. These were recruitment and retention of talent, skills support in form of employee training and development, employee motivation and rewards, performance management and leadership to ensure that there is partnership and cooperation between various government agencies and ministries to enhance service delivery.
One of the ways the UK civil service has decided to assess HR issues is through recruitment and selection of talent. The recruitment is focused on recruitment and selection of talent that has the capabilities and profiles to fulfil the roles. The focus is on recruiting agile talent with digital skills and capabilities. This also includes applying the job fit approach where personas recruited have to fit the job description. Due to high concerns about high turnover rates in the civil service, it is necessary to recruit employees who not only have the skills but also the inner motivation to work in the public sector and to serve the public. According to OECD (2021), most of the employees that work in public service are that are motivated by the intrinsic rewards emanating from serving the public and solving societal and governance that benefits citizens. Thus, the recruitment strategy entails ensuring that the new employees have the skill and the intention to work for the civil service for the long term.
The other HR strategy deployed by the UK civil service to address the Hr problems earlier identified such as high employee turnover is that of employee training and development. The civil service departments such as the Department of Workers’ Pensions have put in place employee training and development programs that are intended to equip the employees with capabilities that can help them advance and grow in their skills and capabilities (Workday CSW, 2020). The civil service already has CIPD, which is a career development plan for the recruits that demonstrates the career paths they can take and the type of training and development programs they can enrol in to enhance their talent and skills. This is especially important for existing employees as they need to be trained and equipped with digital skills. The employees also need to be trained in working remotely and solving customer problems remotely.
Employee motivation through enhanced rewards has been considered one of the ways in which employee turnover in the UK civil service can be reduced. There is a need to introduce pay raises for employees in the public sector (Gov UK, 2021). The mechanism for raising pay can be based on performance to ensure that there are metrics that were used to determine the employees’ payments. Data can be used to assess employee performance and determine their pay raise. Some of the changes being introduced to deal with staff turnover include career development plans by HR agencies across the UK. The career development plans are to help the employees identify career paths within the civil service that they can follow. This helps in creating career progression paths for the employees. It keeps the employee engaged and makes the employees committed to the civil service thereby reducing staff turnover rates. The career progression paths contain rewards and perks that reward experience and expertise in certain roles. The other way in which staff turnover is being reduced is by creating and identifying long-term roles and recruiting people who need long terms positions and roles. This ensures that only people who meet the profile of certain roles are recruited. The other strategy for deciding the high turnover rates has been the adoption of clear succession planning (Civil Service HR, 2021). This is meant to ensure that senior managers and leaders have some awareness regarding top jobs and responsibilities to avoid the turnover of senior staff due to a lack of clear succession plans.
The other strategy underlying the changes that have occurred in HR is the adoption of performance evaluation and management measures as well as linking rewards to performance. According to Civil Service HR (2021), there is a policy document and guide outlining the performance management parties to be embraced and adopted by the senior civil service. According to the policy, the department and the ministries were to prepare targets and then choose performance evaluation methods which in this case included a 360-degree performance evaluation metric which was deemed appropriate in evaluating performance from a multi-stakeholder perspective. This ensured that the performance was based on various metrics that were distinct to avoid bias. There were rewards set aside for performance and where every employee with high scores was to be awarded not more than 17500 annual bonuses unless the ministry approved additional rewards. This was intended to ensure that there were performance-linked rewards and that they were effective in enhancing the performance of the senior civil servants. Employee performance management ensures that there are metrics to set targets and measure the performance of employees in public service. Performance management cans utilise data and information to enhance performance management (Dib, Lodovico and Sengputa, 2020).
Evaluation of whether the strategy will be successful
Concerning whether the changes will be a success, the changes will be successful because they are related to strategic HRM that is HRM practices that are aligned with the organisational goals and objectives. In the case of the UK civil service, the reforms and changes that have been introduced in eth HR parties are aligned with the civil service goals that are to enhance service delivery, reduce costs of operation and digitalisation of the civil service (Dib, Lodovico and Sengputa, 2020). Thus, practices such as recruitment and selection are designed to ensure that the talent recruited to serve in the civil service is aligned with the goals and objectives of civil service which is service delivery. Likewise, practices such as employee training will be successful because they are also customised to ensure that the department and ministries have an employee that is trained to serve a specific role. Talent development and career progression schemes have been identified as a means of training employees in the civil service that in turn enhances employee motivation as well as employee productivity and capabilities. The removal of the pay cap and introduction of career progression plans that are linked to improved pay will also be successful. This is because one of the motivations is extrinsic rewards, especially payments. Hence, payment plans that are progressive and competitive are likely to attract and retain employees as it leads to job satisfaction and high employee engagement. This will help the civil service attain its goals of increased or enhanced service delivery due to enhanced employee productivity. Another crucial thing that will lead to the success of the company is the adaption of performance management metrics that include 360-degree feedback. The use of performance management metrics in the public service is necessary in ensuring that employees are productive and that they are meeting the set targets related to service delivery in the public service (Gov UK, 2021). The other reason for the success of the HR strategy used by the UK civil service is that leadership support is also considered part of reform in the public sector, the strategic leadership will help in creating linkages and partnerships between various departments. It will create opportunities for knowledge sharing and capacity building which will be necessary for the success of the UK civil service.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the study identified that there were changes in the HR system in the UK. These changes include the digitalisation of government services leading to changes in the type of HR and employees needed to work in the civil service. Digitalisation called for agile human resource management capable of continuously planning, learning and adapting to new demands in the public service. Other changes included the demand for lean management that included layoffs and redundancies to reduce the costs of employees in the government. The third occurrence was high rates of employee turnover in the public sector. These changes were addressed through strategic human resource management which included recruitment and selection of job and organisation-fit employees who were willing to work in the civil service and tenured position for a long duration. It also included hiring employees that had the relevant skills and especially digital skills needed in the public sector. The other strategy induced talent development through employee training and development programs. The other SHRM strategy included pay and rewards that were progressive and based on the employees’ expertise and experience. The other strategy included employee performance evaluation using the 360-degree method. These strategies were effective and could lead to the success of the UK civil service as they were aligned with the civil service objectives of digitalisation for efficient and effective service delivery in the public sector. The strategies would also succeed because they included strategic HR practices such as recruitment and selection, training and development, as well as pay and rewards/employee motivation as well as performance evaluation.
References
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Dib, H. and Lodovico, A. Sengputa, J. (2020) Better and faster: Organizational agility for the public sector. Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/better-and-faster-organizational-agility-for-the-public-sector (Accessed 12 January 2023).
Gov UK. (2021) Government Functional Standard GovS 003: Human Resources. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-functional-standard-govs-003-human-resources (Accessed 12 January 2023).
OECD. (2021) Public servants and the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic: Emerging responses and initial recommendations. Available at: https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/public-servants-and-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-emerging-responses-and-initial-recommendations-253b1277/ (Accessed 12 January 2023).
Workday CSW. (2020) Organisational agility across the UK public sector. Available at: https://forms.workday.com/en-gb/reports/csw-org-agility-pub-sector-report/form.html?step=step1_default (Accessed 12 January 2023).
