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Кайралапина Ж. Б. магистр государственного управления и международных отношений Университет Париж 1 Пантеон Сорбонна совместно с
Национальной школой управления Франция, г. Париж магистрант
Академия государственного управления при Президенте Республики
Казахстан Казахстан, г. Астана CAREER ADVANCEMENT AND MOBILITY IN THE FRENCH
CIVIL SERVICE
КАРЬЕРНЫЙ РОСТ И МОБИЛЬНОСТЬ В ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЙ
СЛУЖБЕ ФРАНЦИИ Abstract
This article presents a general outline of the French civil service and provides information about its features of career advancement and mobility, performance assessment and remuneration system. It also provides the results of survey of actual French civil servants with examples of reasons why they chose a civil service career. Based on this information the author expresses her opinion which of presented features can be implemented in Kazakhstan to increase the motivation and performance of civil servants.
Key words: French civil service, career mobility, career advancement, HR management, motivation of civil servants
Аннотация
Настоящая статья представляет общий обзор французской гражданской службы, а также информацию об особенностях ее системы карьерного роста и мобильности, оценки деятельности и вознаграждения. В статье также представлены результаты опроса действующих французских государственных служащих, с примерами причин выбора карьеры государственного служащего. Основываясь на этой информации, автор выражает свое мнение о том какие из представленных особенностей могут быть внедрены в Казахстане для того чтобы повысить мотивацию и эффективность деятельности государственных служащих.
Ключевые слова: французская государственная служба, карьерный рост, карьерная мобильность, управление персоналом, мотивация государственных служащих
French Civil Service - general outline
The French public administration is the country's largest employer with 5.37 million employees and 20% share of total employment (according to the latest available data of the French national statistics agency INSEE, 2012), so basically one in five French workers is a civil servant. There are three branches of the civil service: state, territorial and public hospitals.
Three branches of the French civil service
State civil service Territorial civil service Public hospitals civil service
civil servants of the central, regional and departmental level administration, and public enterprises civil servants of the municipalities, departments and regions civil servants of the administrative and medical staff of public hospitals
Out of those 5,37 million people 2,37 million are in the state civil service (1,922 in the ministries and 0,45 in administrative public agencies) - 44,2% of public jobs; 1,86 million in the local civil service - 34,7% of public jobs; 1,13 million in the public hospitals civil service - 21,1% of public jobs (among which 107 000 doctors) There are more than three hundred corps which are divided into 3 categories: A, B, C. Among those 5,37 million 3.8 million are tenured civil servants, and 0.90 million - contractual agents. Average age of civil servants is 42 y.o., female ratio - 61%79.
The French civil service is often criticized for its size. Because of the growing public debt French civil service has committed to downsizing itself, although not quite succeeded in that. One of the ways for this downsizing is not filling all the vacant positions that open after retirement of civil servants. According to recent policies public sector organizations tend to hire 1 person to replace 2 retirees. In addition to that, although the higher government officials have been promoting the idea of cutting the number of French regions by half to reduce the number of bureaucratic levels as another downsizing solution, it may not have a big impact on the actual number of public employees, as the positions that will be made redundant will be mainly managerial ones.80
Article 14 of the law No. 84-16 (11.01.1984)81 stipulates that each corps should have joint administrative committees (commissions administratives paritaires) comprising equal numbers of representatives of the administration and the staff. The staff representatives are elected according to the system with proportional representation under the conditions defined by the article 9 of the law No. 83-634 (13/07/1983) on the rights and obligations of the civil servants. These committees are consulted on individual decisions affecting members or the corps that they represent, e.g. promotion, mobility, etc.
Article 15 of the same law says that all state administrations and all public enterprises except for the ones of industrial or commercial character, should have technical committees (in some cases there might be one technical committee for several institutions). These technical committees deal with issues related to the organization and operation of services, staffing issues, jobs and competences,
79 www.insee.fr
80
J.Melvin, "French regions aren't the problem, it's the towns", http://www.thelocal.fr/20140414/french-regions-we-have-to -redo -everything
81 www.legifrance.gouv.fr_
drafts of particular statutes, etc. The technical committees should also be informed about implications of the main budgetary decisions about employment management. The technical committees include representatives of the administration and staff. The staff representatives of the technical committees are nominated according to the number of votes obtained in the elections or after staff consultations. Only the staff representatives take part in voting.
Performance assessment Performance assessment is used for almost all employees and takes the form of an annual meeting with the immediate superior, and written feedback from. An extensive range of criteria is used, including activities undertaken, timeliness and quality of outputs, improvement of competencies and interpersonal skills. Assessment is of high importance to career advancement and remuneration, and medium importance to contract renewal. In addition, France uses performance related pay (PRP) to a substantially greater extent than the average OECD country. PRP is used for most civil servants and takes the form of permanent pay increments. It can represent a maximum of 11-20% of base salary, and promotions are also used as a performance incentive.82
The yearly interview must address the following points: results; targets to be achieved; professional attitude; professional knowledge gained; required training; prospect for professional evolution.
The promotions and bonuses are decided on the basis of professional evaluation but are not directly linked to it: joint administrative committees and managerial authority ("commissions administratives paritaires" and "chef de service") are responsible for taking such decisions (an example of an annual performance assessment questionnaire can be found at http://www.slideshare.net/ZhanarK/example-of-the-annual-professional-interview-record ).
Career advancement and mobility
Civil servants are divided into ranks, which split into grades. France has a career-based system: the rank is different from the position, a civil servant «owns» his rank, not his position. The corps is comprised of civil servants of the same professional occupation (teachers, inspectors, local government administrators, diplomats, prefects civil administrators, etc.). After entering a corps civil servant may remain in it during his entire professional life. There are special rules governing transferring from one corps to another.
Inside the corps civil servants are classified into three categories (classes): A, B, and C. Each officer is assigned a rank. Rank gives the holder the right to occupy certain position. Each corps is comprised of many ranks, which in turn are divided to grades. Career of a civil servant usually progresses by advancing in grades, ranks and position. Increase in rank does not necessarily result in increase in position (as well as in the army, where the rise in rank and position are not the
82 OECD, France - Human Resources Management Country Profiles, http://www.oecd.org/gov/pem/OECD%20HRM%20Profile%20-%20France.pdf_
same). Getting a rank is determined by the results of the competitive examination and professional qualification trainings. Promotion to the next rank depends on seniority and certification. Advancement to a higher category is possible based on a management decision or after passing a competition. Passing a competition usually is also needed for transferring to another corps.
Remuneration
Each civil servant receives a salary in accordance with the pay scale. The ratio between the lowest and highest salary is 1:5. In addition to salaries there are some allowances (e.g., for housing, supporting family members, etc.) The civil servant is entitled to an annual five-week paid vacation, sick leave, maternity and child care leave. Career of a civil servant terminates automatically by transition to retirement upon reaching the age limit (the retirement age is 60, but people are allowed to work up to 65). The civil servants may leave/resign from the civil service at their own request. In the case of serious misconduct the state has the right to dismiss a civil servant or retain the state pension. Pensions are paid partly from deductions from salary operating officer (7%), partly from the state budget. The amount of pension depends on the final salary and the amount of annual payments. The pension shall not exceed 75% of the total amount of the last salary or a maximum total salary.
Salary of a civil servant is calculated on the basis of indices multiplied by a fixed amount approved on a yearly basis. Bonuses are flexible and can vary, e.g. for 15 % for teachers and 50 % for finance civil administrators. The average yearly working hours in France is 1 573 hours - one of the lowest of all OECD countries, and well below the OECD average of 1 745 hours. This is driven by very low weekly working hours and a few extra days of annual leave. The average number of sick days taken per employee is 13 days per year.83
Surveys of civil servants The website www.fonction-publique.gouv.fr of the French central HRM agency - DGAFP, posted the following testimonials of the French civil servants talking about the reasons why they chose a career in the civil service.84
Sabine Petitit, manager of procurement for mayor of Asnieres-sur-Seine : "After public law school I decided to work in local authority and became a civil servant in order to use my skills to serve the general interest and participate in implementation of public policies. The local government service offered me the possibility to freely choose my position both in terms of occupation and location."
Justine Pignier, statistician at INSEE: "At the end of my engineering studies a student of the ENSAI presented me his school -the National School of Statistics and Information Analysis. This area really appealed to me because I could not see myself as physics or mechanical engineer and I was especially
83 OECD, France - Human Resources Management Country Profiles, http://www.oecd.org/gov/pem/OECD%20HRM%20Profile%20-%20France.pdf
84
http://www.fonction-publlque.gouv.fr/temolgnages-de-fonctlonnalres
impressed that there were civil service jobs. Being public sector statistician allows me to deal more with social issues, as statistics provides information aimed at informing the public debate."
Mickael Vandoolaeghe, head of the division of "consulting assistance and social monitoring" of the Ministry of Civil Service: "My choice to enter the public service was guided by two main reasons: first, participating in the preparation of public decisions to understand the actors and the political and regulatory framework in which these decisions are made. Then benefit from variety of positions to build a versatile career."
Marie-Pierre Chalier, organizational advisor at the Human Resources branch of the AP-HP: "I chose the public hospital system because it guaranteed access to care for all and was consistent with my personal and professional values for exercising my nursing profession. Being a civil servant for me is the feeling of belonging to a "family" that protects and supports you with the duties and rights, shared values and goals... Also according to professional goals it gives the possibility of changing jobs during the career: being a nurse in the past and organizational advisor today -this was my journey."
Sylvie Bouquet, head of the competition unit, Regional Institute of Administration (IRA), Lyon: "After obtaining a BEP certificate as an administrative civil servant, I have decided to join the Ministry of Education as an acquaintance at the university told me about her duties and career that she made. I found her career path interesting and motivating. After a spontaneous application I joined this ministry as an assistant. I do not regret the choice I made as it allowed me to perform different functions in the decentralized service, in the public school and the university... I then successively passed the competition to become an administrative assistant and executive secretary. I am now the executive secretary of the exceptional class and hope to become "A" category civil servant one day!"
Delphine Antoine, editor of the work safety center of the social relations office of the department of prison administration: "Becoming a civil servant represented for me a "job security", but also all the possibilities for career development offered by the public sector and thus being able to diversify my professional skills."
These and other testimonials posted at the website show that French civil servants have a lot of opportunities for diversifying their careers. The motivations behind the choice of public sector career also vary from intrinsic (serving public interest) to extrinsic (job security) ones. Motivation to join the French civil also depends on a category of an employee. The ones who apply for lower category jobs - Category C - seek a secure and stable employment, while for such "high fliers" as graduates of ENA civil service often offers more opportunities than the private sector.
Conclusions and recommendations
Kazakhstan, at its current stage of development is undergoing a complex process of creating its statehood, developing principles and methods of
management of societal processes under the conditions of the market economy, in accordance with democratic and humanitarian values, as stated in its constitution.
The biggest advantage of the French civil service is that a civil servant has a highly secured employment with a lot of benefits and opportunities some of which were described above. Even though since 2010 the compensation rates have been frozen, and there are discussions about changing the concept of "life-long" career, employment at the civil service, given its size and many different professional areas and corps remains attractive and prestigious.
The French civil service has a system of trade-unions and technical committees with elected members of the staff that can protect their interests. It is an important prerequisite for the protection of civil servants rights. Right now in Kazakhstan trade union for civil servants are non-existent. We need to bring back these unions so the civil servants have representatives who can speak for them and express their needs.
Another advantage of the French model is that it gives more room for civil servants mobility and has a more flexible structure. A French civil servant can take a leave without a pay for 3 or more years without losing his civil servant status. The Kazakh civil servants have to resign from their current positions even when they want to get transferred to another agency.
One of the French civil service HRM practices that can be used in Kazakhstan to increase mobility, motivation and performance of civil servants is so called "secondment". Civil servants in France can leave their corps for several years and be posted, for example, to a public enterprise and then return to the same corps without losing their rank and level. During this period their work record in the respective corps will be updated and they will be getting the level upgrades according to the tenure. In Kazakhstan we need to introduce a similar system of career mobility. It would be possible without extending existing civil service framework. At the same time in case of increased mobility between public and quasi-public sectors, some measures should be taken to avoid conflict of interests.
The current objective is to shift to "career model" of civil service which means "life-long" employment and a lack of inter-departmental mobility. In a country like France with 20% of jobs being in the public sector, even with that civil service model there are plenty of opportunities for a versatile career, but for Kazakhstan where the total number of civil servants is a bit less than a hundred thousand people, such restrictions should be regarded as counter-productive. Taking that into consideration there is a strong need for more open civil service that would favor all the opportunities for broader career options within the existing framework. The public sector in Kazakhstan is not as big compared to the one in France (the number of civil servants in only 1.1% of the economically active population) that's why, if we want to increase mobility, the whole system of civil service should be regarded as a single employer and allow people to move without significant constraints within available civil service jobs.
Resources
1. Website of INSEE, France www.insee.fr (12.102015).
2.J. Melvin, French regions aren't the problem, it's the towns, http://www.thelocal.fr/20140414/french-regions-we-have-to-redo-everything (01.10.2015).
3. Website on French legislation www.legifrance.gouv.fr (15.10.2015). 4.OECD, France - Human Resources Management Country Profiles, http://www.oecd.org/gov/pem/OECD%20HRM%20Profile%20-%20France.pdf (02.10.2015).
5.Website of the Ministry of Decentralization and Civil Service of France
http://www.fonction-publique.gouv.fr/temoignages-de-fonctionnaires
(04.10.2015).
Кузнецов Я.А. студент 1 курс факультет «Международные финансы»
ВасьбиеваД.Г., к.э.н. научный руководитель, доцент кафедра «Иностранные языки-4» Финансовый университет при Правительстве РФ
Россия, г. Москва INTERNATIONAL SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA: ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS
Abstract
The article investigates Russia's economic development under conditions of international sanctions. European countries and the USA keep imposing different sanctions on Russia and our country keeps striking back. The author comes to the conlusion that the Russian Federation will get over it as we've got a lot of brilliant minds here who care about their homeland's future..
Key words: sanction, impose, GDP, Crimea's annexation. The first sanctions list was implemented by the USA on the 17th of March in 2014 as a result of the Crimea's annexation by the Russian Federation. In fact, both sides interpret this situation differently. In Russia it's said that the referendum in Crimea was absolutely legal, legitimate and sovereign. In the West it's believed that Russia has forced the annexation which resulted in some economic problems in our state.
Since then, countries keep imposing different sanctions on Russia and our country keeps striking back. Although people said we wouldn't feel the effect much, these sanctions seriously collapsed our country's economy. In addition, in the list of the Russian Federation's strike back sanctions there's an import embargo on different goods supplied by several western countries. Such an action has provided even more problems in the Russian economy.
In July 2014 Russia's GDP growth rate was +0.9% over the same quarter of
