The Challenges of Civil Servant Talent Development
G
ood public governance relies on outstanding talent. This study asks whether the Hong Kong civil service will continue to be an attractive career choice for talented youth and explores the capabilities needed if the civil service is to meet the challenges ahead.
According to the Hong Kong’s Civil Service Code, the SAR’s civil service is the backbone of the government, supporting it in the formulation, explanation and implementation of policies as well as in the conduct of administrative affairs and the delivery of both public services and law enforcement as part of service to the community. Personnel at Directorate and Administrative Officer Grades play an important role in the HKSAR’s governance landscape. Furthermore, quite a number of Principal Officials in the Governance Team come from the civil service. As a result, it provides an important channel for training government officials in the territory. The civil service is also one of the most popular career choices for young people who can help to ensure its continuity and sustainability. However, the city’s political and social landscape has undergone drastic changes in recent years which have jeopardized the credibility of the SAR government, and the civil service has inevitably been left feeling the heat of public opinion. Given the city's increasingly complicated social development, along with the public's high expectations of civil servants during the full implementation of the principle of "patriots administering Hong Kong”, there are concerns about the ability of the civil service to recruit, retain and nurture the talent required to face the challenges ahead.
Key points from respondents ● 92.3% take the view that nurturing talented civil servants is important for Hong Kong.
● 52.3% think that the civil service system is effective for nurturing talent for governance but 47.4% think otherwise.
● Problems being faced by the civil service were rated in terms of severity as follows;
From a list of important skills for today’s civil servants, top priority was given as follows:
7.97 Lack of public trust in the government
● 53.9% Understanding public sentiment as the top priority
6.96 Social divides
● 51.4% Ability to collaborate with different stakeholders
6.42 Failure to attract talented recruits
● 36.2% Capacity for leadership
Note Figures reflect averages on a scale of 0-10, where 10 denotes very serious and 5 denotes moderately serious.
● 62.8% say that they do not want to join the civil service. The most commonly cited reasons in order of priority are: Tedious nature of civil service jobs Political pressure Reluctance to make an oath of allegiance Unwillingness to join the current government ● 23% say they want to join the civil service, with majority citing good salary and benefits as reasons. Note 14 civil servants among the respondents were excluded from the above.
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● 35.1% Foresight ● 31.3% Ability to make sound political judgements ● 55.8% Hoped that the soon-to-be-established Civil Service College would nurture appropriate leadership and management skills. ● 54.1% Hoped it would aid the transfer of knowledge and experience accumulated by the civil service. Note A Legco paper presented in February this year states that the new college will “…help the government enhance training for civil servants in different areas such as understanding of our country’s development and the relationship between the Central Authorities and the (HKSAR), leadership development, innovation and technology applications, and international outlook.” Source legco.gov.hk/yr20-21/english/panels/ps/papers/ps20210217cb4499-4-e.pdf
