THE government is considering a recruitment freeze in some areas to control the swelling size of the public sector, the vice-chair of the States Employment Board has said.
Constable Andy Jehan acknowledged public concern over numbers employed by the government – more than 8,000 full-time-equivalent posts, corresponding to around 9,500 employees.
The number of civil servants has grown by more than 1,000 since the launch of former chief executive Charlie Parker’s OneGov plan in 2018, which was designed to save money and slim down the size of government. But Mr Jehan defended rises in Education – where the number of teachers has risen by more than 11% since 2019 – and Health, saying these were ‘essential increases’.
Mr Jehan said: ‘I think where we’ve got to look is at the non-front-line services and, when vacancies arise, we need to consider whether we need to replace them or do things differently.’
The Constable pointed to the arrival of new interim chief executive Andrew McLaughlin as a chance to reshape some public services.
‘We’re putting a big emphasis on technology and you’ll see that the interim chief executive has a record of introducing technology in his previous life, so we are very hopeful,’ Mr Jehan said.
He also highlighted recent efforts made by the SEB to improve recruitment practices, which he said had already paid dividends in Education and Health.
He described the previous approach across the public service as ‘disjointed’, with a disconnection between the People Hub and the People and Corporate Services Department.
‘That’s all together now under one management, and the way we recruit has changed. Historically the manager and candidates may have spoken to several people in the hub.
Now if somebody is managing a vacancy, the department and the candidates will talk to the same person.
‘We are rolling this out across all our recruitment. It’s a much simpler, more efficient and much more successful process,’ he explained.
The government is now also approaching so-called ‘silver medallists’ – applicants for jobs who, though ultimately unsuccessful, were nevertheless judged ‘suitable’ – to offer them the opportunity to apply for other vacancies for which they might be qualified.
These were approaches which Mr Jehan said were ‘simple processes which, in the commercial world, you would be doing as a matter of course’.
He described recent developments – including the appointment of 64 interns, an invitation to staff to suggest improvements in service efficiency and indication of a strong response to the latest Be Heard staff survey – as ‘encouraging’.
‘There are some good things going on but there’s lots to do. You don’t change culture overnight,’ he said.
lMr Jehan speaks about dissent within the government’s ranks on page 8.
