Regulatory aspects of public HRM: a glimpse at the German Federal

Administration Presentation to the expert meeting

organized by OECD /GOV/ GfD on May 27th 2008 in Paris by

Manfred Späth Project Coordinator, Federal Ministry of the Interior, Berlin

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The German public service at a glance(as of 30 June 2005)

Area of employment• Federation 481,400• Länder 2,076,900• Local authorities 1,337,800• Indirect public service 652,400

Employment relationship• Civil servants, judges, public prosecutors 1,643,300• Professional and fi xed-term military personnel 185,100• Public employees without civil servant status 2,719,800

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Reduction of Public Service Personnel within the Federal Administration

Year Civil servants Military personnel

Public employees

Total

1993 131.600 230.900 240.300 602.800

1994 132.500 212.700 119.800 465.000

1995 134.100 194.300 217.900 546.300

1996 135.000 190.800 207.400 533.200

1997 134.600 191.800 200.000 526.400

1998 132.600 191.400 192.000 516.000

1999 133.200 189.800 187.200 510.200

2000 132.600 186.600 182.900 502.100

2001 131.100 184.600 178.100 493.800

2002 130.000 185.200 175.100 490.300

2003 131.300 186.900 172.900 491.100

2004 132.300 187.700 172.700 492.700

2005 130.600 185.100 165.700 481.400

2006 131.100 184.100 161.800 477.000

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Framework of HRM policy

• Basic legal documents: Acts and Ordinances for civil servants & Collective

Agreements for public employees concerning: Legal status, employment, career, remuneration, allowances,

pension disciplinary measures, staff representation• Political agenda: Administrative reform programme & implementation reports• Exchange of information and experience: Meeting of Presidents or Directors-General of governmental

authorities Centrally provided training courses

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Delegation of HRM authority to ministries

Within the legal framework line ministries are competent and responsible for:

• Defining and outlining job descriptions• Selecting and hiring staff• Planning personnel development within organisational

patterns and units • Assessing individual performance within agreed limits• Distributing performance-related pay elements• Initiating and regulating promotions• Offering professional training

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„Insourcing“ of HRM tasks

Within the Ministry of Interior‘s remit the Federal Office of Administration has been tasked to manage for the ministry:

• Salaries & allowances• Travel • Preparation of personal recruitment

The Office provides also manuals and tools for:• Personnel planning• Cost calculation • Organisational development• IT-systems and components

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Framework for controlling size of personnel

Priority of budgetary law:• Recruitment is, on principle, conditional on the number and

distribution of posts established through budgetary authority of parliament

• Modified by defining staffing frameworks and more flexibility for recruiting public employees

Downsizing approaches:• 1, 5 % reduction of staff per year for each authority• Task-related reduction of staff, e.g. within the armed forces

due to political change and outsourcing

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Privatisation of state enterprises and HRM

• Privatisation of railways, air navigation, postal and telecommunication services, (since 1993)

• Within the framework of laws and regulated by national agencies

• Downsizing of personnel less important factor than goal to increase efficiency and competitiveness

• Over-all reduction of staff while recruiting diversified personnel and expanding abroad

• No recruitment but continued employment of civil servants on the basis of interim provisions, e.g. temporary transfer or leave

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