Danielle Bossaert

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One major objective of public sector reforms in the European states since the 1980s has been making public sector organisations more flexible, responsive and performance-oriented by searching for inspiration in the private sector with regard to instruments, tools and methods, e.g. in the field of human resource management (HRM) and organisational restructuring. This trend, which is driven by the desire for more efficiency, productivity and competitiveness has been rather pronounced in the UK and the Scandinavian countries, where the public and private sector has traditionally been much more permeable and where the philosophy of New Public Management (NPM) has encountered a related public sector culture.

In these states, the emphasis on new public values, e.g. more business-like management or a stronger focus on result orientation leads to a more fundamental reshuffling of the principles of human resource management, which is shown in the changes relating to promotion criteria, pay and evaluation systems. All in all, these developments have been much weaker in most of the career systems, where such reforms are generally much less compatible with the existing culture, the prevalent image of the civil servant, legal and administrative tradition and, occasionally, the political context.

One aspect of the reforms touched upon the working conditions of public sector employees, with a strong focus on the flexibilisation of personnel management. As the literature1 shows, this flexibilisation trend is characterised by many different aspects, e.g. flexibility regarding pay, contracts, tasks and working hours. In the context of pay flexibility, the trends towards performance-related pay and decentralised pay bargaining were analysed, while the studies on contractual flexibility focused mainly on the trend towards non-permanent contracts and subcontracting. The aim of task flexibility is to allow employees to perform various activities, while working hours flexibility involves the trend towards part-time working, job sharing, flexihours, etc.
The following survey concentrates exclusively on contractual flexibility and more specifically on measures to reduce life-long employment in the public sector, while considering the various measures in the EU Member States and analysing the significance of other employment relationships.

This study should be seen against the background of widespread public perceptions of employment instability and job insecurity2 and the evolution of employment relations between the state employer and the employee in the public sector. Interesting questions in this context are: are we really seeing the end of jobs for life in the public sector as a consequence of a gradual process of privatisation of working relations in the public sector? Or is the statement by the influential economics editor of The Guardian, Will Hutton3, in the mid-1990s that full-time tenured employment would be on the decline by 2000, really becoming true in the public sector?

Unfortunately, most of the studies which have been carried out in this field focus on the private sector, while similar surveys for the public sector are more scarce. Furthermore, it has to be observed in this same context that some studies about employment status developments in the private sector remain quite controversial. For instance, a recent paper on job insecurity and longterm employment concludes 4 that long-term employment has increased during the nineties, but with a rising sense of insecurity. However, another study on flexibility, uncertainty and manpower management predicted that employment security would be decreasing for most employees in the future.

Major questions of interest in this study are:
.. To what extent is the specific employment status of civil servants (which differs from that of private sector employees) safeguarded in the European states? Or to what extent is the traditional image of the civil servant being characterised by "a tenured, career appointment – not dependent on the whims of transient politicians or on one's civil service superior (although dismissible, with difficulty, in case of extreme dereliction of duty or of criminal actions)?"
.. How is the principle of life tenure evolving and does working in the public sector always mean job security?
.. To what extent can poor performance lead to a termination of the employment relationship? How likely is a job loss in the public sector for economic or organisational reasons?
.. To what extent is job security converging in the public and private sector? Is there a growing trend towards contractualisation?
.. How is life tenure perceived by civil servants?

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Staff development