Archive:Public employment - Germany
- Source: Ministry of the Spanish presidency 2010, publication "Public employment in the European Union Member States" .
This article is part of a set of background articles and introduces public employment in Germany.
Regional and administrative organisation
Introduction
Germany is a federal parliamentary republic made up of sixteen states (Bundesländer). The capital and largest city is Berlin. It is a member of the United Nations, NATO, G8, G4 nations, and signatory to the Kyoto Protocol.
System of government
Executive Power is invested in the Chancellor and federal ministers. The Head of State is the President of the Republic, who essentially has powers of representation and is characterized by his/her neutrality in Government policy.
The Chancellor is elected by the Bundestag, and is normally the leader of the party that obtained the majority vote in this chamber. Although the Chancellor proposes the members of the Government to the President of the Republic, the composition of the Government is usually negotiated between the coalition parties as there is almost always a coalition government. The Government is ruled by three principles:
• Richtlinie-Prinzip: The Chancellor defines the general policy guidelines.
• Ressort-Prinzip: Within these guidelines, each Minister acts independently and is accountable to the Chancellor.
• Kollegial-Princip: The Federal Government adopts joint decisions.
Generally speaking, the Federal level is responsible for legislative and coordination tasks, and the territorial administrations have executive powers as well as monitoring and implementation. For coordination, the Chancellor and Ministers have advisory and support Cabinets, which are normally made up of civil servants.
Regional organisation
German federalism has two characteristics which differentiate it from other federal systems :
1. The Federal level is responsible for legislation, coordination, political impulse whilst state level is responsible for implementing public policies.
2. Representatives of the Federal Chamber (Bundesrag) are not elected directly by the people, but they are appointed by the executive power of the Länder.
The first territorial administration is the federal administration and the second level is state administration: the Länder. Each Land has a Constitution and the division of powers takes place in its own territory. Each Land has its own legislative, executive and judicial bodies and is self-organized. The Landtag (State Parliament) has sovereignty to pass laws within its sphere of competence: local authorities, police system, culture and education. Like the Länder, they carry out essentially executive tasks. Part of the activity of the Landtag is being assumed by the federal level through framework legislation.
Political management lies with the President and administrative tasks are carried out on three levels by peripheral delegations: At the higher level: by the Ministers of the Land; at the second level: by a state government delegate; at the third level: by the Municipalities with delegated powers of the Länder.
Local Administration consists of various models depending on the size of the Länder. In the nine large Länder, there are three levels: Regions, provinces and communes or villages; whilst there is no regional level in the four smaller Länder.
Public administration
As indicated, Germany is a Federal State (Bund) made up of Federated States (Länder). Its distribution of powers is based on the principle of subsidiarity.
Basic Legislation (Grundgesetz) determines the exclusive and concurrent legislative powers when the framework laws have been approved. The Federation is competent in most areas of legislative power (defence, foreign affairs, nationality), whilst the Länder have powers in services: education, culture and police. In concurrent areas (civil, criminal, statutory and company law), the Länder legislate if the Federation does not do so. The Federation may create framework provisions that the Länder may develop, allowing a homogenous system within the country.
Ministerial Structure: First Level: political posts, Minister and parliamentary Secretary of State (who is elected on grounds of trust, is a member of parliament and supports the Minister before the Bundestag). Second Level: political civil servants (career civil servants or employees with this temporary status), Secretaries of State and Director-Generals, that are discretionally appointed and do not have to resign when there is a change of government. Third Level: career civil servants, Deputy Director-Generals, Heads of Service and Heads of Division. The basic unit of the Ministry is the Service. The Services (maximum of 6) form a Sub-Directorate General; these are grouped under Directorate Generals which are under a Secretary of State.
The Cabinet of Ministers deals with coordination problems derived from the Kollegial- Prinzip, of the coalition governments and the dually-headed capital of the State between Bonn and Berlin, whereby ministerial tasks are distributed. Like other cases in the Union, in recent years, independent entities (agencies) have been created for the provision of services.
Public Employment Structure
Categories and Status of Public employees
Basic Regulation establishes the principle of unit of status for civil servants serving the Federation, the Länder or Local Government. Federal civil servants are governed by the Public Service Law, of 31st March 1999. The Federation is also competent to draw up framework regulations concerning all civil servants, ensuring homogeneity between the different categories. Administration staff can be divided into the following categories:
• Civil servants: They belong to the career-based system and generally hold posts in the traditional administration (management, police, education).
• Employees and Workers: They have positions under an employment contract but their status in fact gives them the same security.
A small proportion of civil servants work at federal level, but most local competences are the responsibility of the Länder. Civil servants in their strictest sense are the minority compared with the rest of public sector employees although the statutory and working conditions are practically identical and in spite of the fact that civil servants form the administrative elite.
State employees account for 47% of public employees, civil servants make up 38% and employees represent 15%. The percentage of state employees increased from 40% to 47% between 1989 and 2000 due to the growing importance of local government functions and services. However, the number of public employees has fallen significantly since the unification. In total, they have fallen from approximately 6.7 million in 1991 to less than 4.5 million by mid-2007. Human resource management and public employment are decentralised and the respective Ministries are responsible for recruitment and training.
Data of interest : 3.7 million people are employed by the central, regional and local authorities (Federation: 0.47 million, Länder: 1.9 million, local authorities and associations for special purposes: 1.3 million). The number of people indirectly employed in public services amounts to 779,000 employees.
Categories of public employees (With their interval levels)
Lower Levels (not common)
A2: Oberamtsgehilfe -A6: Oberamtsmeister
Intermediate Levels
A6: Sekretär -A9+AZ:Amtsinspektor mit Amtszulage Senior Levels
A9: Inspektor, f.e. Regierungsinspektor -A13: Oberamtsrat
Senior Police Levels (Police Officer)
A9: Kommissar, f.e. Kriminalkommissar or Polizeikommissar -A13: Erster Hauptkommissar, f.e. Erster Kriminal- or Polizeihauptkommissar
Senior Service
A13: Rat, e.g.: Studienrat, Medizinalrat, Baurat, Bibliotheksrat, Verwaltungsrat, Regierungsrat - A16: Leitender Direktor, e.g. Leitender Finanzdirektor, Leitender Medizinaldirektor, Ministerialrat, Oberstudiendirektor
B1: Direktor - B11: Staatssekretär (Secretary of State as a civil servant)
• Bundesminister: 1 1/3 x B11 (Federal Minister)
• Bundeskanzler: 1 2/3 x B11 (Federal Chancellor)
• Bundespräsident: 1 5/6 x B11 (Federal President)
These Groups are not considered to be civil servants.
• W1: Juniorprofessor -W3: Teacher (Like a headteacher in an institute)
• C1: Wissenschaftlicher/Künstlerischer Assistant-C4: Teacher (Ordinary); Lehrstuhlinhaber (not common)
• R1: Amtsrichter (not a civil servant), Staatsanwalt -R10: Präsident(en) der Bundesgerichte (not a civil servant)
Rights, obligations, principles and values
Rights and Obligations
The Basic Law requires civil servants to “respect the principles of the public service career”. This specifically involves:
• Obligation to serve (there are some cases of special dedication).
• Right to immobility.
• Respect for the Constitution.
• Hierarchical obedience, except when the order is clearly illegal, in which case the supervisor must be informed in order to avoid accountability, or except in cases in which action may be detrimental to human dignity.
• Right to exercise political activities, whilst observing the neutrality of their functions at all times.
• The employer has the obligation to help its employees and families.
• They do not have the right to strike, unlike other state employees.
Diversity Policies
The Law on the Enforcement of Equality between Men and Women of 30th November 2001 aims to achieve equality in all public service areas, with the obligation of appointing a commissioner on women’s affairs, who has the task of promoting and monitoring the implementation of the law.
Amongst other measures, the law stipulates that women who are equally suitable, qualified and capable as men shall be given preferential treatment in areas where they are underrepresented. This applies to training, recruitment, employment and promotion. Furthermore, it sets regulations for family conciliation. Employees with family obligations are entitled to part-time employment or special leave with preferential treatment in the allocation of positions on their return to their initial situation.
Work-Life Balance
Working Hours: The normal working week consists of 41 hours (40 hours with full salary for civil servants with a child under the age of 12 or a dependent relative).
Flexible working time is available fulfilling the core hours of the day and there are up to 24 flexible days a year.
Tele-working: An agreement must be reached between the employer and trade union representatives, providing that the tasks can be fulfilled this way. Tele-working agreements usually involve alternating between working at the office and at home.
Part-time work: The Act on Part-Time Work and Limited Employment grants public employees the right to work part-time on the basis of consensus between employers and employees and providing there are no operational grounds to reject this type of work.
Paternity Leave. All employees are entitled to work part-time up to 30 hours a week until the child reaches the age of 3. At a later point in time, a period of up to 12 months parental leave can be taken.
Mobility: Mobility is granted for operational reasons or at the request of the employee:
• It may be temporary or permanent, with transfer to another post.
• It involves the temporary or permanent secondment or transfer to another authority within the same or different spheres (e.g. from the Federation to a Land or to a European or international organization).
Career-based system
Career: Career development is based on merit (according to a grading system) as well as seniority and budgetary limitations.
Recruitment and Training: Recruitment does not have a centralized competitive examination system and is organised independently by each authority. Senior Civil Servants are recruited from those that apply for a project. In the Länder, executives with seniority may be selected for a specific term prior to obtaining a permanent position.
Assessment: Although the Federal Ministries have different procedures for performance appraisal, they follow common principles stipulated in the federal regulations in relation to career. Most assessment guidelines provide for two categories of criteria: performance criteria (results in the assessment period) and capacity criteria (potential for future development).
Remuneration
All civil servants are paid in accordance with the Bundesbesoldungsgesetz (Federal Salary Regulation), regardless of where they provide services. Nowadays, the 16 Federal states may vary salaries, depending on whether they are considered to be “rich” or “poor” states (the former include Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg or Hesse, and the latter are the majority of the eastern states). However, the Federal Government continues to supervise the respective “Landesbesoldungsgesetze”, which may only vary from the Federal Salary System by 5%.The State that has carried out a more indepth modification of its pay system is Beamte.
The basic salary is the same for all civil servants (federal, federated and magistrates) and is set out in federal law. Bonuses are negotiated with the respective employees. There are two pay schemes in the area of general administration including the federal administration: Scheme A: Levels (A1-A16) covers the vast majority of civil servants, who receive incremental salaries. Scheme B: Levels (B1-B11) or fixed salaries that affect civil servants in senior positions.
The basic salary may be supplemented by the family allowance, as well as specific allowances which are also applicable to assignments abroad. To reward outstanding performance, performance-related pay, performance steps (merit increment), performance bonuses (one-off payments) and performance allowances (up to 12 months) were introduced in 1997 and enhanced in 2002.
Social dialogue and system of representation
Civil servants do not have the right to strike and initially, they do not have the right to collective bargaining either. In spite of this, the two main federal trade unions, the deutscher Gewerkschaftbund (DGB) and the deutscher Beamtendbund (DBB), exclusive to public employees, participate with the Ministry of the Interior in the drafting of legal provisions related to the rights, working conditions, training, etc. of civil servants (membership of these unions is between 40 and 55%). Public service laws set out the obligation to consult with trade unions prior to the adoption of unilateral measures. The agreements are legally binding.
Until 2003, collective bargaining was highly centralized as the Agreements affected the public sector as a whole (Federal, Länder, and local levels). Since 2005, negotiation with employees of the Länder has been carried out separately.
Senior civil servants
The highest levels of administration (Heads of Department, Ministers and Secretary- Generals) are occupied by senior civil servants (politische Beamte), who generally come from the Administration, but are selected based on political criteria. It is organized as a Spoil System, similar to the American system. As for their status, they enjoy special conditions that are different to the rest of the civil servants although there is no formally recognised status.
The employment system is career-based, which seeks to build a coherent public service with senior executives sharing the same culture. It means that teamwork, communication between government organizations is fluent and internal mobility is encouraged.
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Senior Civil Servants are recruited through career progression within the public service. Access to SCS positions starts at the Head of Division and requires regularly verified professional performance with excellent performance appraisals over the years. Advertising of SCS vacancies is handled differently within the different Ministries: some ministries only advertise them internally. Top SCS positions (particularly Secretaries of State) are regularly recruited on a political basis.
A career path towards a SCS position usually starts with recruitment to the first category or “Higher Service”. The law stipulates the recruitment requirements to the higher civil service, the level and conditions; but there is a great deal of discretion left to the individual Ministries to organize the selection process and evaluation systems. The average age to enter the SCS is 40-50 years old.
SCS appointments are decided on by the Federal Cabinet on the proposal of the competent Ministry and are permanent appointments in order to ensure a stable and uniform civil service body. However, employment in a SCS position may be terminated (early retirement). Top positions (Secretary of State) are appointed and terminated on a political basis. Higher SCS positions (Director-General or Deputy Director-General, President of Agencies, except the Secretary of State) have to pass a probationary period, which usually lasts two years, in order to evaluate and enhance their management and leadership skills. The appointment is brought into effect through the issue of a certificate of appointment as a civil servant.
Each Ministry manages its staff independently. The Secretary of State is the superior of the Director-General, who in turn is the superior of the Deputy Director-General, etc. This hierarchical principle applies to all administrative bodies.
Performance appraisals are carried out regularly every two to three years. For lower SCS positions (Head of Service), appraisals are carried out in accordance with general regulations. Higher SCS positions are sometimes exempt from regular appraisals.
The Federal Academy’s leadership training programmes are constantly updated and enhanced. Training is geared towards the changing profile of modern leadership, which increasingly depends on management skills.
SCS are included in the B (B1-B11) salary categories, which cover seniority positions with a fixed salary. They have the bonuses and performance-related extras that have already been mentioned as well as the possibility of working flexible hours, although this seldom occurs amongst SCS.
Recent reforms and prospects
In October 2005, a collective agreement between the Federal Government, the Länder and the trade unions came into force for the following reforms:
• Establish common legal provisions for all public employees and special employees in certain sectors (hospitals, airports, etc).
• Development of flexible working hours.
• Performance and experience-related pay.
In January 2007, a performance-related pay scheme was introduced for civil servants, with a series of measures aimed at determining pay in accordance with the position.
Statute Reform: This has enabled mobility to different positions and workplaces, even without the civil servant’s agreement, who may be transferred for a period of up to 5 years. It introduces flexibility and allows temporary recruitment as well as “short-term management positions” (“Führungsfunktionen auf Zeit”) and “management positions for a probationary period” (“Führungsfunktionen auf Probe” - normally 2 years, which may be terminated if performance is not satisfactory). It allows the creation of temporary management positions for two periods of 10 years, and at the end of this term, civil servants must be appointed for life. This regulation is valid for the Länder and is not applied to federal civil servants.
It introduces incentives modifying the principle of salaries due to seniority, as the employee’s performance affects his/her promotion to one pay level or another. The merit or performance limit is 10% of the total pay or 7% of the total salary for each category. Incentives include:
• Performance Steps. This allows payment according to a higher scale than the current one until the next level is reached. This is limited to 15% of the staff in each Department. It also rewards excellence and cannot go back over more than 3 months.
• Performance Allowances. Additional pay over a short period of time. They are determined in accordance with civil servant appraisals.
• Performance –related pay (up to 7% over salary). Linked to results over a period of time (3 months to 1 year).
• Workload-related pay. Rewards extra responsibilities over a period of time (from 7 months to 5 years).