Is training the key to offsetting recruitment difficulties in the local civil service? Can it limit the increasingly frequent departures of civil servants to other local authorities or even to the private sector? This is one of the avenues explored in a recent report. Nicolas Chevalier-Roch, a specialist in local authority management, deciphers the key issues: retaining staff at every stage of their careers, supporting changes in the FPT and reclaiming public service missions.
40 % local authorities are facing major recruitment difficulties. And this applies across all geographical sectors, job categories and disciplines. This is the cruel reality of a recent report the Conseil supérieur de la fonction publique territoriale, the Inspection générale de l'administration and the association des DRH des grandes collectivités.
The public sector, for example, is not immune to the global context of talent shortage. In recent months, you will no doubt have heard talk of the "Great Resignation" or the "Silent Resignation". These two expressions appeared in the public debate in the wake of the health crisis. They reflect the employers' difficulties in retaining their employees and attracting new ones in sectors hitherto considered attractive. They illustrate a number of changes in the labour market. Firstly, a reversal in the balance of power between applicants and recruiters, with a fall in the unemployment rate. But also, and above all, a change in the priorities of the French in their personal and professional lives.
And it was perhaps in the public sector that this phenomenon was hardest to anticipate...
From the professional Grail to the labour shortage
Today, too many public sector employers are still convinced that they will always find candidates to fill public service positions. This is an illusion inherited from a traditional view of the civil service: job security, real or imagined benefits, civil servant status seen as a professional Holy Grail because it is reserved for those who have passed a competitive examination... But the image has changed.
In fact, you don't need to be a public sector player to measure the reality of labour shortages. Everywhere, there is a shortage of men and women to carry out the major missions of the public service. This can be seen in schools, courts and hospitals. In local authorities, the situation is just as glaring. The local civil service has its share of pitfalls to overcome. Firstly, it is young: it turns 40 in 2023. Secondly, the richness of its professions suffers from a lack of publicity. Finally, it suffers from a certain amount of denigration despite the technical complexity of the tasks carried out by municipalities, public establishments for inter-municipal cooperation, départements, regions and all their satellites.
In the face of this painful situation, the report suggests ways of make the FPT more attractive and retain its staff. It's about pay, management, organisation... but also training.
Training to support and retain employees at every stage of their career
First and foremost, training plays an essential role in the long-term management of civil servants' careers.
While job security has long been an essential and reassuring argument, for some it has become a source of anxiety. The anguish of being confined to the same place, the same tasks and the same status for the rest of your life. Every year, the annual interview should therefore make it possible to explore the career aspirations of civil servants. But this is rarely more than a formality.
"These wishes have little more future than New Year's resolutions, only to fade from our minds day by day, to be drowned out by the return to everyday life and the flood of tasks to be accomplished.
However, he is It is crucial that these desires for change are better heard and given due consideration..
Here are a few ideas:
- organise workshops to find out about the various jobs within the local authority
- draw up collective and individual training plans
This type of approach could reshape the image of local authorities, which are often perceived as bureaucratic entities insensitive to individual development. It would also make it possible to meet the recruitment needs of local authorities. Firstly internally, by retaining the best people who are already acculturated to the specific characteristics of the public sector.
Depending on the size of the local authority, these initiatives can be carried out either in-house by the human resources department, or externally by training and career development professionals.
Training, the primary tool for supporting changes in the local civil service
The key role of training also stems from the principle of mutability in the civil service. This is a historic principle that has been accelerated in recent years. Changes in the legal remit of local authorities, the modernisation of techniques and practices, heightened expectations on the part of citizens... These changes, which are increasingly rapid and far-reaching, are first and foremost experienced by civil servants.
So they adapt as best they can to the new tasks assigned to them, the new tools they are given, the new legal and regulatory framework imposed on them. Not to mention all the software that's constantly changing, as part of the dematerialisation of government. Each time, they show resilience to adapt and give their best in their job. But it's only natural: at some point, they get discouraged, give up and run away...
This is why any change that alters the framework, methods or tasks of a job must give rise to training. This applies in particular to the use of digital tools. Contrary to popular belief, many of our staff have a poor command of software, starting with the basics of office automation.
Training to reclaim public service missions and give meaning back to the civil service
Lastly, training is a way of restoring meaning to the civil service through the reintegration of outsourced functions.
In recent years, local authorities have inherited increasingly complex responsibilities. They have often found it simpler to 'outsource' them to the private sector.
For example:
- management of drinking water, wastewater treatment, public transport and certain facilities
- waste collection and treatment
- upkeep of green spaces and building maintenance
- an increasing number of research and strategic development assignments
Once these tasks have been outsourced, civil servants have virtually no contact with the public. They therefore lose the feeling of serving the public.
The challenge today is to training agents so that they can take over strategic tasksThis gives a new meaning to the vocation of civil servant. In practical terms, this means practical training in law, including updating knowledge in areas such as town planning, waste management and public finance. Training in technical skills, such as IT network management or territorial marketing, will also meet current needs.
In practice:
Managers and project leaders should be the first to benefit from training. This would enable all departments and employees to benefit.
Where to start?
For example, through the " Launch and monitor a project in the public sector "which addresses some of the key points raised in this article.
In particular, training will help to meet a number of challenges:
- better respond to political orientations ;
- develop in-house skills ;
- strengthen internal communication;
- managing projects from A to Z ;
- organize internal monitoring;
- take better account of the human aspect of change management.
In short, training offers a tangible route to revitalising the local civil service. It offers practical solutions to breathe new life into the vocation of staff. Against a backdrop of global labour shortages, it is a first step towards retaining talent. To attract new recruits, local authorities can also explore other avenues, such as employer branding, to assert their values, the positive impact of their missions and career prospects.
