MANAGING SENIOR MANAGEMENT : SENIOR CIVIL SERVICE IN FRANCE

11.13.2003

DIRECTION GENERALE DE L’ADMINISTRATION ET DE LA FONCTION PUBLIQUE

SENIOR CIVIL SERVICE IN FRANCE : the principles • Career-based system (900 professional bodies, and 300 statutarian positions) • Philippe « Le Bel », Colbert, Bonaparte, Debré inheritances • Politically neutral • « Republican elitism » : recruited through high competitive examinations and training at the beginning of the career in special institutes (ENA first !) • Political choices for the extreme « top management » (« soft « spoil system ») 11.13.2003

DIRECTION GENERALE DE L’ADMINISTRATION ET DE LA FONCTION PUBLIQUE

SENIOR CIVIL SERVICE IN FRANCE : the specificities

• Civil service : 4.5 billions servants, three parts (State (2.4), Local (1.4), Health (0.9)), • 900 professional bodies • Career-based systems with some nuances : – 19 specific professionnal bodies (« corps ») (12 out of ENA (National School of Administration, 7 out of Polytechnics Institute) = 13 000 senior civil servants – 800 top positions, pulled off from our « corps » system. Special status, special appointments, special wages (but simply organised in a pyramid…) • Centralised recruitment 11.13.2003

DIRECTION GENERALE DE L’ADMINISTRATION ET DE LA FONCTION PUBLIQUE

11.13.2003

Number and median age in french senior civil service Professional bodies Number (01.01.02) Median age Professional bodies ENA

Administrative civil executives 2861 47.5 Administrative judges 971 46.6 Diplomats Local administration Regional financial court Financial Court Council of State Financial Inspection Foreign trade Paris municipal administration Social affairs inspection Administrative inspection

Total ENA Professional bodies X

Agriculture and Forest Transport infrastructures Weapons Telecommunication Statistics Mines Insurance control

Total X Total ENA + X

Source : commission for reforming ENA 757 522 427 364 300 196 187 179 144 62

6759

2244 1281 1277 742 627 426 71

6668 13427

45.9 48 50 50 49.3 46.6 46 46.8 47.5 45 46.4 47.3 39.6 41.9 43 39.1 41 DIRECTION GENERALE DE L’ADMINISTRATION ET DE LA FONCTION PUBLIQUE

SENIOR CIVIL SERVICE IN FRANCE : the achievements

• Loyalty (low level of corruption) • Excellent academic level in the first jobs • Unions support • Real capacities of adaptation (ex: developpement of position-based statutes, special statutes) 11.13.2003

DIRECTION GENERALE DE L’ADMINISTRATION ET DE LA FONCTION PUBLIQUE

SENIOR CIVIL SERVICE IN FRANCE : the drawbacks

• Global complexity • Implicit hierarchy of professional bodies • Lack of mobility (only one in the statutes of the professional bodies and always at the beginning ot the career, historical traditions of in-departments career) • Priority to academic competences rather than professional • Weakness of whole-of-government policies • Low development of managerial competences because of weakness of longlife training in this kind of matters • One-way bridge to private sector 11.13.2003

DIRECTION GENERALE DE L’ADMINISTRATION ET DE LA FONCTION PUBLIQUE

SENIOR CIVIL SERVICE IN FRANCE : the challenges

• Demographic gap/new law on pensions : difficulties of recruitment over the next 10 years or opportunities for reshaping our organisation • More recruitment of specialists rather than global experts ? (present trend for median civil executives) • Recruitment of European Union civil executives (legal adaptations) • merit-based appointments (social peace versus necessity of promoving performance) • Bridges between the three parts of our civil service and between private and public sectors (ethical problems, appointments, wages, bonus etc.) 11.13.2003

DIRECTION GENERALE DE L’ADMINISTRATION ET DE LA FONCTION PUBLIQUE

SENIOR CIVIL SERVICE IN France : the future I long term trends

• Transition to a « position-based system » for high top management • End of stability in position (new act in 2002 : only twice 3 years in a same position) • Opening up of recruitment (end of « corporatism») = end of monopoly of ENA and X ?

• More emphasis on mobilities • Performance-related pay • Pools of future leaders ?

11.13.2003

DIRECTION GENERALE DE L’ADMINISTRATION ET DE LA FONCTION PUBLIQUE

SENIOR CIVIL SERVICE IN France : the future II present concern of our government

• New reform announced on 10.22.2003

11.13.2003

DIRECTION GENERALE DE L’ADMINISTRATION ET DE LA FONCTION PUBLIQUE

• Opening up of recruitment : – Extension of internal promotion – Emphasis on mobilities (between our three parts of civil service, to private sector, to european administrations) – Executives from the private sector recruited – New system of gestion ( dgafp : towards a company compared departement of human ressources, creation of a special departement in Prime minister administration concerning this subject, one top executive in charge in each minister) – New relationships between political and administrative worlds • New objectives and evaluations – distinction top and high management : reform step by step – Multi choices on a list for each position of top management – Autonomy of management for top managers – Performance-related pay : 15 to 20% • Reform of ENA 11.13.2003

DIRECTION GENERALE DE L’ADMINISTRATION ET DE LA FONCTION PUBLIQUE

Conclusion

• Transition days, troubled days !

11.13.2003

DIRECTION GENERALE DE L’ADMINISTRATION ET DE LA FONCTION PUBLIQUE