Archive:Public employment - Czech Republic

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<Introduction: simple language, not too long, kind of executive summary>

Regional and administrative organisation

Introduction

The Czech Republic is a Central European State with a parliamentary system. It joined the EU in 2004 and has a population of 10,300,000 inhabitants and a surface area of 79,000 square kilometres.

System of government

President of the Republic: The President of the Republic is elected by the two Houses of Parliament in a joint session for a 5-year term, with a maximum of two mandates. He is the Head of State and appoints and dismisses the Prime Minister; dissolves the Houses; returns bills to Parliament; represents the country in the signing, negotiation and ratification of International Treaties etc. His decisions must be approved by the Prime Minister or members of the government. He may also attend Parliament and Government meetings.

Parliament holds Legislative Power. It consists of two Houses: the Chamber of the Deputies, which has 200 members (elected for four years) and the Senate, which has 81 senators (elected for six years), a third of which is renewed every two years. Both Chambers are elected by popular vote. A Member of Parliament must be over the age of 21 and a Senator must be over the age of 40.

The Government is the highest authority of the Executive Power. It is made up of the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Ministers. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President of the Republic, who appoints the rest of the members of the Government on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The Government is subject to ordinary and extraordinary parliamentary control (votes of confidence, censure etc.) It is an authority that acts as one body and is the highest executive and administrative authority. Its most important powers include national defence, foreign relations, public order and security, the economy and Finance.

Regional organization

Regional Governments have existed in the Czech Republic since 1848, but they were eliminated in the XX century and were not restored until after 1989. The Constitution recognises the Regions and Municipalities. They have legal status and their own budget as well as regulatory power and they are accountable to the Assemblies elected by popular vote for 4 years.

Regions: There are 14 large self-governing units (13 Regions and the City of Prague). The main authority in the regions is the Assembly and its decrees are applied in the regional sphere. The President (Mayor in the case of Prague) administers the Region, and is elected by the Assembly from among its members. The Regions have budgetary, secondary education, healthcare and social welfare powers.

Municipalities: There are 6,249 Municipalities. The main authority in municipal self- government is the Municipal Assembly, elected for a 4-year term by means of a system of proportional representation. The municipality is managed by a Mayor elected by the Assembly from among its members. The Municipalities have powers in relation to agriculture, primary education, housing and public transport.

Public employment structure

Regulation: Public employees in the Czech Republic are regulated by the same regulation as the private sector, i.e. the Labour Code (Nr. 262/2006 Coll.).

Status of Civil Servants:

1. Civil servants in central administration. Their status is regulated by the 2006 Labour Code (262/2006 Coll.) until the Civil Servants Act passed in 2002 (218/2002 Coll.) comes into force or is replaced by a common legal norm for both types of officials (i.e. civil servants in central public administration as well as in territorial self-governing units).

2. Civil servants of the territorial self-governing units(municipalities and regions): Their status is regulated by Law (312/2002 Coll.) on civil servants in territorial self-governing units, which stipulates employment conditions and the qualifications required for local government employees.

Public Employment Management Body: The Ministry of the Interior is, besides other, responsible for the public administration and management of public employees. However, in practice, staff management is decentralised. Although the State is formally the only employer, there is currently no independent central management, so each ministry or other state body acts de facto as an independent employer, with the power to recruit, promote and dismiss its employees based on the Labour Code and on the internal working rules of each administrative authority.

Statistics: There are 680,000 public employees, representing 6.6 % of the total population. 17,486 employees work in the central administration bodies.

Rights, obligations, principles and values

The rights and duties of all public employees are set out in the Labour Code and there are no differences with the private sector. However, civil servants have additional obligations such as abiding by the law, striving to serve public interest, remaining impartial, and observing hierarchical obedience.

Public employees have the right to paid leave, to receive severance pay in the event of redundancy and can contest sanctions imposed by their supervisor. They have the right to strike and join a union, but exercising these rights remains difficult.

Ethics. The Code of Ethics for public administration was approved in the 2001 reform process. Its aim is to foster appropriate rules of conduct and behaviour for employees in the public administration. The Code of Ethics is not legally binding, but acts as a guideline for behaviour. Each government authority has the obligation to draw up its own Code of Ethics.

Working Hours: According to the Labour Code, the working week consists of 40 hours.

Career-based system

There are no general rules on an administrative career, but there are units that have drawn up job descriptions in order to assess employee performance.

Training is a duty and right as, on the one hand, public sector employees are required by law to continuously improve their qualification levels, and on the other hand, state or local authorities must offer guidance and help with training. The State Administration Institute and the Local Government Institute have been set up for this purpose, besides these, there are other 304 institutions accredited by the Ministry of Interior, providing for the training of the officials in the territorial self governing units.

Remuneration

The Labour code stipulates private and public sector employee pay conditions. Salaries are based on the degree of difficulty of the position occupied and seniority. Employees achieving outstanding results may benefit from seniority credit and receive an additional bonus up to a maximum of 50% of their base salary.

Social dialogue and system of representation

Public employees have the right to join a union and to strike (with restrictions for judges, prosecutors, the armed forces and security forces). Collective agreements are signed by the Ministries as the employer. At a more general level, the State is represented by the Economic and Social Council, comprising 5 Ministers and 2 State Secretaries. Civil servants are represented by the two main trade unions (CMKOS and ASO).

Negotiations deal mainly with working conditions, pay, modernisation of the social security system, equal opportunities, training, etc. Social dialogue is characterised by its informal nature, as collective agreements only take place in certain situations. There is no obligation to set up committees or other types of formal structures for the representation of public employees.

Senior civil servants

“Senior Civil Servants” (SCS) have neither differentiated status nor special working conditions. (Summary Table)

Recruitment and Appointment: As for the rest of the Czech civil service, recruitment is open to applicants from the public and private sectors. To be accepted at a managerial position in the central state administrative authority, the candidate has to be appointed by the relevant minister. This leads to greater political appointments for senior positions.

Training: Within the framework of enhancing the professional skills of the public administration employees, it has been proposed that senior civil servants demonstrate their general and professional competencies in examinations. Training is mainly provided and funded by individual ministries.

Remuneration: The base salary depends on the position occupied and additional pay supplements are awarded according to the number of officials he/she manages and his/her individual performance.

Policy on Diversity and Work-Life Balance: Senior civil servants are subject to the general system for workers, although there is a special policy (without specific targets) to improve equality between men and women.

Mobility Programmes: Mobility is not very common in the Czech civil service and is only possible with the prior consent of the employee.

Recent reforms and prospects

Citizen Service Centers

The Public Administration and Personnel Department (PAPD), Ministry of Finance, designed and established the Citizen Service Centers (CSCs), in light of its citizen- centric vision of public administration, bringing for the first time in Cyprus the idea of “one-stop-shops” for citizens. In particular, the PAPD´s objective is to improve the quality of services offered to citizens by the public sector, by fully utilising Information and Communications Technology, rendering possible the on-the-spot provision of services and information to citizens from a single point of contact. The PAPD is the competent authority for the supervision, coordination and development of all CSCs.

The main objectives for setting up CSCs are the following:

a. To provide multiple services, on the spot, from one location, using ICT

b. to offer citizens the convenience of meeting their requirements in one stop

c. to provide eGovernment benefits to all population groups

d. to provide another point of contact with the Public Administration (multiple access channels)

e. to minimise bureaucracy

f. to speed up service delivery

In 4 years from the operation of the first CSC in Nicosia, the 5 CSCs now operating on the island have offered 1.238.509 services and have given information over the phone to 776.212 citizens (end of 2009). At present, the five CSCs operating on the island act as an alternative channel for citizens to deal with the public administration.

The CSCs bring together more than 70 public services, which are normally provided by various Ministries, Departments and Services (Civil Registry and Migration Department, District Administrations, Grants and Benefits Service of the Ministry of Finance, Road Transport Department, Social Insurance Services, Lands and Surveys Department, Ministry of Health), under one roof, thus offering citizens the convenience of meeting their requirements in one stop.

Some of the services that are issued on the spot at the CSCs are: Birth and Death Certificates, Civil Identity Card, Medical Card and European Health Insurance Card, Driving Licence, International Driving Licence, Circulation Licence, copies of Cadastral Plan, and Certifications to Insured Persons under the Social Insurance Scheme, Certifications to Self-Employed Persons, Pensioners and Employers.

The PAPD is committed to continue the improvement of the relationship between public administration and citizens, by establishing new CSCs in all areas of Cyprus and by constantly upgrading the already established CSCs. The PAPD has, so far, won three awards/ best practise certificates for establishing and developing the successful institution of the Citizen Service Centres.

Further to the continuous expansion of the CSC network, the PAPD, following a Council of Ministers´ decision, is now in the process of establishing a Contact/ Call Center which will respond to citizen information inquiries regarding public administration, over the pone.

Strengthening the administrative capacity of the civil service

Recently, a project proposal has been approved for the “Re-organisation and improvement of the administrative capacity of the Public Administration and Personnel Department (PAPD) (Ministry of Finance) and the Labour Department (Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance)”. The project falls under the priority axis “Development of Human Capital and Adaptability” (specific objective “Upgrading the administrative capacity of the public sector and its provided services”). The project is part of the Operational Programme “Employment, Human Capital and Social Cohesion 2007-2013”, and is co-financed by the European Social Fund. Its overall objective is the improvement of the provided services and the internal operation of the two aforementioned Departments, as well as the development of a series of methodological tools that will be horizontally implemented, so as to enhance the operation, efficiency and effectiveness of the Organisations (Ministries / Departments) of the Civil Service in Cyprus. The project includes actions relating to:

• The improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness of the Public Administration

• The decentralisation of competences and the enhancement of the strategic role of the PAPD

• The modernisation, simplification and codification of the legal framework

• The simplification of procedures

• The adoption of modern practices, and the use of ICTs

• The introduction of strategic planning methods

The project is already underway and a number of competitions for obtaining the services of Consultants have been procured.

Employee performance appraisal system in the Cyprus public service

A new performance appraisal system has been developed in close cooperation with a private consultancy firm. The basic principles of the system, its objectives and the assessment criteria per level of staff were discussed with the civil servants’ trade union and altered. Based on the agreed assessment criteria, the competency frameworks have been developed for each level of staff, so as to reflect their level of responsibility. In addition, a project plan has been prepared for the finalization of the new appraisal system which includes, amongst others, the finalization of appraisal forms, the preparation of Guidance Notes and the drafting of provisions in the form of regulations/ directives which will be submitted to the Council of Ministers and the House of Representatives for approval. The new appraisal system will be presented to and discussed with the civil servants’ trade union (PASYDY), prior to its submission to the Council of Ministers and the House of Representatives, aiming at reaching a common consensus with regards to the new system.

Common Assessment Framework (CAF)

The Cyprus’ Civil Service has proceeded with the implementation of the CAF in its organizations, on a pilot basis, since 2004. In an effort to further promote the dissemination of CAF in the Cyprus’ Civil Service, discussions have been made concerning the possibility of making CAF implementation compulsory to all public service organizations as part of a project called “Training on Strategy, Leadership and Management Development in the Cyprus’ Civil Service”, which will be co-financed by the EU.

Code of Conduct

A Code of Conduct for Civil Servants is being prepared in cooperation with the Cyprus Ombudswoman. The Code will codify the responsibilities and obligations as well as the expected behaviour of civil servants when dealing with the public. It is expected that the Code will improve the accountability, credibility and transparency of the Civil Service and put pressure on public officers to act more responsibly and, thus, be more trustworthy.

Data sources and availability

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