Lessons for Latin America and the Caribbean in
Lessons for Latin America and the Caribbean in Managing Public Sector Restructuring: Public Sector Downsizing and Redeployment Programs in Central and Eastern Europe WOLFGANG DRECHSLER University of Tartu and PRAXIS - Center for Policy Studies wjmd@praxis. ee
CE E
ESTONIA
HUNGAR Y
COSWIG EAST ERN GERMANY
DOWNSIZING THE CIVIL SERVICE IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE ? public sector downsizing has practically not happened in CEE (except rhetoric) contrary to intuition, the public service did not retrench in CEE either and so, there have been hardly any retraining and redeployment programs either
Civil Servants per 1000 inhabitants in CEE Countries, 1993 -2001 80, 0 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 70, 0 60, 0 50, 0 40, 0 30, 0 20, 0 10, 0 Hungary Estonia East Ger. Bulgaria Czech Rep. Latvia Romania Slovakia Slovenia
What makes CEE special in PA? TRANSITION EXPERIENCE (people, state) EU TRAJECTORY CLASSICAL ‘WEBERIAN’ PA AND CS IN CEE
Why not more New Public Management (apart from rhetoric)? some EU REASONS: SIGMA / OECD aid for PA development preference of the EU for classical PA some TRANSITION REASONS: focus on building, not reforming, PA and CS accountability and reliability over ‘efficiency’ economic capacity as key
Public Sector Downsizing Retraining and Redeployment GENERAL MODELS BY THE WORLD BANK ARE THOSE OF CHOICE (no CEE-specific models)
IF CEE attention in PA and CS reform is geared towards the creation of a ‘Weberian’ CS THEN PUBLIC SECTOR DOWNSIZING OBVIOUSLY COULD NOT HAVE BEEN, AND INDEED WAS NOT, THE TOOL OF CHOICE… … but there are still interesting lessons from CEE for LAC to be learned!
HUNGARY - gradual change - running start - quite classic ‘Weberian’ career system (decentralized) - special ‘senior civil service’ introduced - life career system introduced - aim: to create an enabled, competent CS - between 2001 -2003, changes in the classification of ‘CS’
TARTINFO • central information system for civil servant data • dismissed civil servants placed in standby during the dismissal period (6 months) to help them find a vacant position at another institution where their qualification and classification fulfill requirements • any potential public employer can search the database for employees • but employers not obliged to use it • advertisement of vacancies also optional
TARTINFO • since start in 2001 and until July 2003, 236 job opportunities registered • 253 civil servants placed in standbystatus • 217 persons already deleted from the system • currently 36 active job seekers and 51 job vacancies announced • being deleted from the system means that one either has found employment or that the standby period has come to an end • not possible to ascertain how many of the 217 deleted fell into which of these
ESTONIA • particularly severe lack of State identification • Soviet Estonia was a classical cadre administration • job system with few elements from career system • one of the CEE countries closest to NPM models, especially in rhetoric • development of PA has been neither rational • emergence of small stateproblem theory in its nor consistent; capacity according context (Tiina Randma-Liiv) to SIGMA • importance for less-wealthy small LAC states (Caribbean) • small state specifics vs.
POLICE REFORM • 1999 plan by the Minister of Internal Affairs to radically downsize the Police force • country with a serious crime problem • to save money and increase efficiency • 456 officers out of 4, 234 (10%) dismissed • 152 voluntarily accepted status of civil servant inside Police structures • 184 CS positions outside (e. g. prisons) • 120 left: • 41 working for Police again after 3 months • 79 (2%) of actual Police force left CS: • 40 found job in the private sector • 39 retired
POLICE REFORM • The Ministry created an Information and Counseling Center together with the personnel counseling firm MPS Mainor • it was not possible to ascertain the success of the Center • predictably, after the reform, an increase in the crime rate (in Tartu County, an estimated 43. 7%) • so, active rehiring has been going on (there is a very similar case regarding the Estonian Ministry of Education; not presented)
EAST(ERN) GERMANY
EAST(ERN) GERMANY • in Germany, classical ‘Weberian’ system (cliché) • but rather, CS-driven reforms; adaptable, solid system • regarding the GDR, competent PA had been assumed • but rather, largely incompetent socialist cadres • dismissal of the old CS imperative for two reasons: 1. personal: incompetence or political problems (special case study, not presented) 2. institutional: redundancy and obsoleteness
The Coswig Model • invented 1994 by the Deputy Mayor of Coswig near Dresden, Bernhard Kroemer, a genuine ‘bureaucratic entrepreneur’ • based on the assumption that long-term unemployment is the most undesirable phenomenon • case of kindergarten teachers • mandatory unemployment for every third year with guaranteed rehiring at the end of it • while retaining all benefits, insurance, etc. • gives employees the possibility to go through longer health treatments, take care of family
The Coswig Model • job search can be done from a socially secure position • for the employer, advantages are that the reservoir of qualified personnel and age balance are maintained • Pareto-optimal under the threat of long-term unemployment: – more money for employees – savings for city and society (state directly and indirectly) – for the unemployment agency, savings from statistically wasted money on mandatory retraining measures that have no effect • the model never became a reality, because it
Specific CEE Lessons for Downsizing 1. The Hungarian TARTINFO is in general a good idea, and it technically works: To avoid superfluous training and the waste of human resources, profiles of dismissed yet qualified civil servants are kept in a database together with open CS positions, which allows matching. A lesson of the Hungarian case is that such a system will not work well if it is not mandatory. However, in a decentralized system, to make this mandatory would defy the principle.
Specific CEE Lessons for Downsizing 2. Although the Estonian Police case was an unmitigated disaster regarding downsizing, an adequate-seeming, shortterm model of outplacement-like redeployment programs was used. A private firm was contracted that provided both group and individual sessions. (Same with the Ministry of Education. ) Partially, these programs also provided job-search infrastructure; partially, qualified members of the agency involved staffed them.
Specific CEE Lessons for Downsizing 3. In the end, however, the Hungarian and Estonian cases – as the lack of any follow-up to check the success indicates – show a lack of interest in the actual redeployment, indeed fate, of those who finally are ‘falling through the system’. The reason for establishing the program seems to be wishing to appear to care, both to the public and to the people dismissed. This seems to have worked, too.
WARNING from CEE: No redeployment program should ever be implemented with out the requirement to substantial ly follow up by trac ing the actual success of the program , which is the actual fate of those who went through it!
Specific CEE Lessons for Downsizing 4. The Coswig Model is highly applicable to LAC - if reduction of people in specific area is required, but where all employees are basically qualified; - where there is still the same, but less, of a job; - where there is high unemployment in the respective sector. - requires working, trusted social safety system - redistributes work at no additional cost to society, employer side, or individuals - human resources are maintained - potentially Pareto-optimal, but must be
General CEE Lessons for Downsizing • important to beg the question: why – or when – would public sector downsizing make sense to begin with? what assumptions stand behind it? • downsizing as such makes no sense as an automatism, especially if the work stays the same and if there is no genuine overstaffing • if the question is how much money is spent on State-directed activity, then contractingout, or outsourcing, is often just windowdressing, because this may just shift public expenditure from personnel costs to other expenses
General CEE Lessons for Downsizing In a transition / development context, ‘democracy’ and effectiveness are more important than ‘efficiency’
Lessons for Latin America and the Caribbean in Managing Public Sector Restructuring: Public Sector Downsizing and Redeployment Programs in Central and Eastern Europe WOLFGANG DRECHSLER University of Tartu and PRAXIS - Center for Policy Studies wjmd@praxis. ee
- Slides: 29