HR- Peer Review: the Belgian experience

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HR- Peer Review the Belgian experience

• GOOD GOVERNANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT (GFD) IN ARAB
  COUNTRIES INITIATIVE
• GROUP B
• Regional Meeting of the Working Group on
  Integrity and Civil Service
• 04 APRIL 2008
• Philippe VERMEULEN, Advisor general, Federal
  Public Service on Personnel Organisation

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1. Getting started a well considered process

• End 2005 proposition by the OECD estimate of
  the costs
• March 2006
• Agreement/contract between OECD CEO (Chairman
  of the Board of Directors) of the FPS P0
  representatives Belgian federated entities
• Drawing up consensus on the Terms of reference
• Taking into account some major challenges
• Complex structure of the Federal State
• Volume on documentation
• Different culture views on HR public
  management
• Reputation of the OECD (80s 90s)
• Ensuring political commitment on federal level,
  quid on regional community level?

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1. Getting started a well considered process
(cont.)

• Responding to core questions
• Goal of the Peer Review?
• Added value, now for the future?
• Consensus on definitions
• Organizing workshops between the international
  experts and the respondents interviews social
  partners other stakeholders (May September
  2006)
• Looking for using already available data and/or
  ongoing surveys to limit the burden on the
  administrations
• Draft paper (November 2006 February 2007)
• Final approval (June 2007)

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2. Dos donts

• Clear contract between OECD partner country
• (senior) Experts
• Timing
• Cost
• Outcome
• Guidelines
• Good practices instead of best practices
• No universal truth
• Client defines which areas are audited
• Goal
• Not another survey
• Define challenges
• promote structurized cross-section dialogue
  exchange views
• Permanent feedback only finished published
  when government(s) agree(s)

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3. Added value

• Methodological
• Interaction between both auditors and audited
  parties on a well defined consensual terms of
  reference
• in which the autonomy of the auditors is crucial
• the audited parties dont find themselves in a
  conceptual or spoon-fed ideologically correct
  framework,
• but are encouraged to give their points of view,
  clarifications or amendments as they see fit.
• Its then up to the experts to analyze the data
  and to give their expert opinion, always taking
  care to give sufficient feedback and being
  prepared to accept any reasonable arguments to
  rectify their opinions

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3. Added value (contd)

• A forum for dialogue
• ensuring freedom of opinion, putting hard facts
  on the table and keeping the possibility open to
  react in respect for everyones goals and reasons
• Not only between the auditors and the audited
  parties, but also between the different central
  levels within the Belgian Federation whose common
  and ultimate objective it is to serve the citizen
  in the best way they can.
• also between different viewpoints on conceptual
  or practical approaches for common challenges

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3. Added value (contd)

• enables data mining which is interesting for
  Belgium as well as for other OECD- Member
  Countries and Observers.
• Furthermore, it allows benchmarking between
  different central levels in the Belgian
  Federation, and with other countries if they
  apply the same methodology.
• strengthens cross-entity collaboration on matters
  of HR-policy
• Communication between all actors continues by
  setting up a cross-entity extranet RELEX on
  OECD-documents and activities with the goal to
  reflect the opinions of the different entities in
  the viewpoints communications of the Belgian
  delegation to the OECD on public governance
  matters

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4. Impact

• data was a topic for broad discussion between
  employers organisations unions
• Report was discussed at senior civil level in the
  different entities
• basis for negociations when forming new federal
  government
• has finally influenced policy objectives for the
  new government due to the fact that quite some
  recommendations remarks were followed or taken
  into account
• The HR-policyintegrity, training possibilities,
  motivation, result-oriented user or
  client-driven
• Customer satisfaction as well as civil servant
  satisfaction

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4. Impact (cntd)

• The regulatory simplification of the personnel
  statute within the goal to adapt HR- conditions
  to enhance modern career management development
  
• Priority is given to statutory employment, but
  possibilities to develop career possibilities
  equal working conditions for civil servants
  recruited on contract basis will be examined as
  well as the possibility to contract interim
  personnel
• Developing an effective performance management
• Creating a real management contract between the
  political level and the administration based on
  concrete goals, adaptable to the stakeholders
  needs and objectives where the Chairpersons of
  each Federal Public Service receive large, real
  autonomy to develop their HR-policy and to use
  their budget where a priori, ex ante controls are
  to be replaced by random a posterior, ex post
  controls
• New citizens participation methods are to be
  examined in order to enhance involvement in
  policy making assessment
• A electronic Single Point of Contact (SPOC) is to
  developed ensuring the equal access to public
  information for those who dont benefit from the
  internet revolution