Survey of the civil and public services of EU Member States

Jake ByrneCivil Service HR DirectorateDepartment of Public Expenditure and Reform

Context• Request for update on previous survey during Irish Presidency

• Questions covered changes to the structure of the public service and HR policy

• Responses received from 27 EU member states, EU Commission, Croatia, Montenegro, Norway, and Switzerland

Previous surveys of the civil and public services of EU Member States

• 2004 – Irish Survey

• 2006 – Austrian Survey

• 2010 – Spanish Study

• 2013 – Irish Survey

Areas covered in the survey - Structure

• Structure of the Public Service

• Number of public servants

• Number of Ministries

• Structure within each Ministry

• Department / Ministry responsible for HR policy

Areas covered in the survey – HR Reforms

• General Terms and Conditions of Service

• Rates of Pay / Pension

• Pension Entitlements or Conditions of Qualification

• Holiday / Annual Leave Entitlements

• Sick Leave Entitlements

Areas covered in the survey – HR Reforms

• Maternity / Paternity Leave

• Family Friendly Policies

• Methods of Recruitment and Selection to the Civil Service

• Structure of the Senior Public Service

• Recruitment and Selection for the Senior Public Service

Methodology • Good quality data contained in responses

• Returns analysed by comparison to the 2006 Austrian survey

• Key findings summarised in report

• Full returns included as appendices

Strengths of the survey• Useful snapshot of the current situation across Member States

• Findings form a good base for future analysis

• Puts context on the current reform agenda

Challenges of the survey• Difficult to compare wide variety of public service structures

and policies

• Different definitions of concepts across Member States

• Large time span 2006-2012 covered both growth and recession periods

• Some elements of the responses may have been “lost in translation”

Results – Key Findings• Public Service numbers• Pay• Pension Rates• Pension Entitlements• Family Friendly Policies• Maternity / Paternity Leave• Holiday / Annual Leave Entitlements• Sick Leave Entitlements

Findings - Decrease in Public Service Numbers

Findings – Increase in Public Service Numbers

Findings - Numbers• Large time span 2006-2012 covered both growth and recession periods

• Finland, at 35%, shows the biggest reduction. The returns for 2012 reflect the effects of reforms in the university sector

• The results for Ireland show a reduction of only 2%. However, the transfer of 1,770 public servants (Community Welfare Service and National Training Authority) to the Civil Service masks the overall reductions in the period Without these transfers the Civil Service figure would have been closer to 34,600 as against 36,239 representing a reduction of 6.5%.

Findings - Pay

*Note, number of mentions is greater than 27 as some respondents made more than one change

Findings - Pay • In Ireland, the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interests

Acts 2009 reduced remuneration, at rates of between 5% and 20%.

• In France, the basic salary of civil servants has been frozen since 2010.

• The UK introduced a two-year pay freeze for public sector workers in 2010.

Findings – Pension Rates

N=13

Findings – Pension Rates • Austria reduced pensions by 4.2%

• Ireland reduced pensions over €12,000 by 4%

• In Germany, pensions will now be based on 71 % of the final pensionable salary instead of 75%

Findings – Pension Entitlements

N=27

Findings – Pension Entitlements • 15 Member States reported incremental increases in the

statutory retirement age; retirement ages now range from 60 to 70

• 4 Member States reported changes in pension contribution rates

• Ireland introduced a new “career average” pension scheme for new entrants

Findings – Family Friendly Policies

N=21

Findings – Family Friendly Policies • France has introduced more flexible working measures, such

as teleworking

• In Greece, civil servants may take unpaid leave for a period of five years

• In Malta, public employees now have the right to work reduced hours to care for a child up to 16 years

Findings – Maternity / Paternity Leave

N=22

Findings – Maternity / Paternity Leave

• The main driver of change in this area is the effect of EU policy as expressed in EU Directive 2010/18/EU on Parental Leave

• In Austria, male public employees may now take up to four weeks’ unpaid paternity leave during the period of the mother’s statutory maternity leave

• In Poland, since 2012 there are two options for maternity leave – 6

months at 100% of salary or 12 months at 80%

Findings – Holiday / Annual Leave Entitlements

N=27

Findings – Holiday / Annual Leave Entitlements

• Ireland and Portugal reported a reduction in annual leave

• Germany and Belgium reported an increased in annual leave, based on age or service

• Italy no longer pays for untaken annual leave

Findings – Sick Leave Entitlements

N=19

Findings – Sick Leave Entitlements • In Estonia, sick leave is now paid from the 4th day rather than the 2nd

day and the sick pay allowance has been reduced from 80% of salary to 70%

• In France, civil servants and military personnel are no longer paid for the first day of sick leave

• In Portugal there is no payment for the first 3 days of a temporary disability and only 90% of salary is paid for day 4 to day 30

Summary• Survey covers both growth and recession periods

• Little or no change in how public administrations are structured

• Changes have aimed to reduce long term expenditure- Reduction or freeze in pay- Reduced pension burden on Governments

• Balanced with improvements in work / life balance

- Improved family friendly policies- Increase in maternity and paternity leave

Thank You