III Exchange with Participants and Concerned Parties Regarding International Cooperation and International Exchange Programs
In its FY 2007 invitation program, the National Personnel Authority invited senior personnel of personnel administration organizations from Germany and France. Ms. Bettina Auerbach, Head of the division for basic issues of the public service, the German Federal Government Interior Ministry's Civil Service Bureau, who visited Japan in June 2007, and Mr. Ralph Dassa, General Director of the Institute for Public Management and Economic Development, France, who visited Japan in October 2007 have each contributed a message.
Germany
The National Personell Authority (NPA) invitation program gave me in June 2007 the chance to visit Japan for 10 days and meet the colleagues of the NPA dealing with the public service law as I do in Germany. I am head of the division for basic issues of the public service in the Federal Ministry of the Interior in Berlin. During my visit I gave an overview on the system of civil servants in Germany and the actual discussion of improving our law and therefore the public administration on the whole.
In Germany we make a difference between civil servants exercising sovereign functions and public employees working in other functions. The status of civil servants is regulated by law while the employment of public employees is based on work contracts. Germany has faced in 2006 a constitutional amendment which as a result divided state power between the Federation and the Länder according to the civil service law in a new way. Now the Länder became stronger and have got more competence in dealing with their own law concerning their civil service while the federal level did it before for all levels. The Federation can now only make the regulations for the civil service of the federal level.
As far as the federal level is concerned we are taking the chance to reform our civil service in order to modernize the public administration in many aspects. Facing problems due to the economic growth in Germany, the effects of globalisation, the situation of public budgets or the impacts of the demographic development we need to make the civil service sustainable and attractive for young people to join the civil service in the future. Catchwords are in this context performance related pay, strengthening the performance principle as a main criterion for career decisions and the competitive ability of the public service to the private sector. This will bring more motivation and individual responsibility. In so far we share in Japan and Germany similar problems and so we did a lot of discussion during my stay. Despite having a different history and culture it is useful to exchange our views and seek for solutions.
I learned a lot about Japan, its culture of the past and today's life. I am taking home with me the spirit of temples and Zen gardens which impressed me deeply on an impressive trip to Nara and Kyoto the old Japanese capitals of ancient times. Back at home I already became a multiple and tell people about my experience.
Many thanks for an interesting time go to the Director General, Mr. Kozo Yoshida, and his staff, giving me a warm welcome and any help I needed. Special thanks go to Ms Keiko Fujisaki for her support during all the time.
The NPA appreciates Ms. Auerbach's detailed explanation on the ongoing reform of the public employee system. The NPA will use the information as a valuable reference in discussion on Japan's future public employee system. The NPA would greatly appreciate it if Ms. Auerbach could further inform us of the progress of the bill explained in the lecture, deliberations in the German Parliament, and practical operation after enforcement.
France
Most of the administrations with a career-based civil service system in the developed countries are faced with the same problem: how to manage staff whose average age is constantly rising due to the baby boom, and having to manage them for longer and longer periods of time due to the lengthening of careers resulting from the reforms of the pension systems.
This overarching problem is felt much more keenly when it comes to the administration's senior managers. I visited Japan at the invitation of the National Personnel Authority from 1 to 7 October 2007. It became clear from my meetings with the NPA managers that Japan and France share a number of concerns in this area: what prospects should senior officials be given in the last part of their career; and how can these civil servants be guaranteed posts and remuneration in keeping with their skills and experience?
Massive waves of retirement are expected in France. These waves provide a great opportunity to reduce the size of the administration and reform it. Some 60,000 people are expected to retire per year. The political choice has been made to replace only half of those who retire. However, this positive demographic effect is not without its drawbacks. It will create a relative scarcity of human resources. In certain areas of specialization, there will be a great deal of competition with the private sector.
The corollary of this development is the lengthening of careers. In a career-based civil service system, recruitment will therefore become a long-term investment. Hence the need to take account of the adaptability of recruited staff, to place the emphasis on this adaptability in initial training, to scale up lifelong learning, to introduce skills-based career management, etc.
France is now looking to move towards a position-based civil service system. This calls for a collective study of civil servants' tasks, values and occupations and public service expectations with a view to reforming the statutory framework governing the civil service. At this time of radical change, the position of senior managers if more important than ever: they are the people called on to implement the reforms and mobilize their teams. This is why they need a clear outlook as regards their duties and their future.
Notwithstanding the diversity of solutions considered and the different legal concepts used in Japan and France, underscored by the language differences, the French and the Japanese are currently looking for innovative solutions. Experiences in one country cannot always be replicated in another country, but the mere fact of studying them together is already a step in the right direction. From this point of view, this mission to Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto has provided valuable input. The conscientiousness and professionalism of the members of the NPA (and their perfect sense of hospitality) made for a constructive exchange that is worth following up.
The French public employee system is characterized by elitism. Mr. Dassa's explanation on the development of senior officials involving primarily graduates from École Nationale d'Administration (ENA) served as a useful reference. The NPA hopes to maintain close information exchange regarding public employee management, etc.
Remarks of a Participant
Ms. KOGA Natalia Massaco, Chief of Cabinet, National School of Public Administration, Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management of the Government of the Federative Republic of Brasil, participated in the "Seminar on Public Personnel Administration for Middle Level Officials 2006" conducted by the NPA.
The land of contrasts. This is how an international visitor may refer to Japan, especially when the first impression comes from a city like Tokyo. This particular feature can be notice in the contact with the extremely cordial people that serenely respect the common rules of social life and that, at the same time, live under a frenetic rhythm and high standards of work and familiar obligations. The contrast is also in the streets, where modern and bold buildings share spaces with traditional shrines, temples and houses. And it can also be recognized in the Japanese Public Administration that conjugate characteristics such as seniority requirements and the strong respect of hierarchy with innovative initiatives participation and public transparency on personnel administration.
Being part of the Seminar on Public Personnel Administration for Middle Level Officials, promoted by NPA and JICA, on February 2007, was a special experience for me. Exchanging knowledge and opinions with people from different parts of the world was a valuable opportunity not only for professional but also for cultural and personal learning. My group was composed by 11 public servants from Brazil, Ghana, Kosovo, Lebanon, Nepal, Rwanda, Salomon Island, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Trinidad and Tobago. The harmonic environment provided by NPA and JICA gave us moments of interesting debates about Japan and the participants countries systems and taught us a lot about a so important but also fragile value of the actual times: the respect of diversity and differences.
Taking into account the Japanese Public Personnel Administration system, several points called my attention concerning their applicability for the Brazilian reality or for being peculiar under my background view. The NPA distinguished role and the concerns about its neutrality, the remuneration system and the mechanisms of comparison with the private sector salaries, performance evaluation experiences in central and local government, the policy to incentive mothers to progress in their carriers and the job rotation system are some of the examples.
The extracurricular activities were also moments of intensive learning. With our multi-cultural group I shared thoughts, tears and laughs. At the Tokyo International Center dinning-hall we could not only try different dishes but also discuss our impressions about Japan and hear about the reality of other countries, including testimonies regarding recent war situation in some of our friends' homelands. We passed through adventurous moments trying to visit Tokyo by its complex public transportation, especially at the Shinjuku station, and could enjoy some more of the Japanese culture by events such as the Kimono Festival, karaoke meetings and aikido classes. Moreover, the visit to Nagasaki Prefecture and the Atomic Bomb Museum was a precious moment for all of us.
As a Japanese descendent being in Japan during this one-month intensive period had a special meaning for me. It was an unique opportunity to learn deeply about my family origins, their believes and values. In other words, this experience taught me more about myself. I would like to express my appreciation to the Brazilian Government that authorized me to participate of this seminar and the Japanese Government, JICA and NPA that provided me this unforgettable journey.
In the seminar on public administration, participants developed an action plan in three days. The NPA is interested in the implementation of the plan. It would bring great pleasure to the NPA if participants could select and utilize what they learned in the training in Japan, if applicable, to improve the public employee management in their own countries.
In Japan, regular personnel reshuffles are conducted every two or three years as a longstanding practice both in the public and private sectors. Each fiscal year begins in April and ends in March. In FY 2007, the director of the NPA International Affairs Division and approximately half of the division's personnel were replaced in April, at the beginning of the fiscal year. All personnel of the division cooperated with one another and performed duties together throughout the year.
Introducing the public administration and the public employee system in Japan is one of the major duties of the International Affairs Division. The division performs these duties through training given to foreign government officials, responses to visitors to the NPA, and PR activities on the English-language website. This year, in particular, a large number of foreign guests visited the NPA. The division has improved its methods of explanation based on the motto of "Easier to understand, easier to satisfy" and plans to further improve materials for visitors.
The International Affairs Division also plans to improve the English-language website in a step-by-step manner to elicit the interest of visitors to the website. It will make efforts to disseminate the latest information, including the trends of the ongoing reform of Japan's public employee system.
If you wish to make comments on this newsletter, please contact the International Affairs Division, NPA.