The ability of a government to deliver policies and effective services for its citizens depends on the quality of its public servants. Governments are also significant employers in APO members. The World Bank’s Bureaucracy Lab (2018) reported that 39% of formal employment in East Asia and the Pacific was in the public sector. This means that human resources (HR) practices in the public sector directly affect many workers in the region.

Governments face challenges in designing HR practices to improve employee recruitment, performance, and retention. These challenges are amplified by globalization, increasing knowledge work, accelerating technological advances, and rising competition, which make it vital for government agencies to hire and manage new forms of human capital. The COVID-19 pandemic compelled governments to consider new ways of working including remote work and HR management under novel arrangements. HR strategy has therefore become central to supporting public-sector productivity and effective governance. A comprehensive HR strategy should address recruitment, performance management, and staff development.

This course will itroduce emerging HR practices in the public sector. It will lay out the principles and components of HR management for public-sector professionals and support decision-making to improve employee recruitment, performance, and retention in modern public service.

Course Objectives

The main objectives of this course are:

• Understand the key concepts and components of HR management and strategy in the public sector.
• Learn about emerging practices of using data and taking a people-centric approach to public-sector HR strategies and their potential impacts.
  
• Enhance the ability of participants to apply analytical tools, techniques, and problem-solving methods to HR-related issues and challenges.

Course Modules

This e-learning course will cover the following modules: 
Module 1: Overview of HR management and strategy in the public sector 
Implications of HR strategies to deal with changes that have occurred in the public sector as a result of new public management.
Module 2: Strategic workforce planning: Recruitment, selection, and placement 
The key role of workforce planning and recruitment as the foundation of strategic HR management.
Module 3: Approaches to managing performance and motivation in the public sector
The complex relationship among public service motivation, commitment, and performance is examined.
Module 4: Strategic HR training, development, and public-sector careers
Different approaches to training, skills, and talent management in the public sector and the role of training and development in HR strategy are reviewed.
Module 5: Organization design and reform in the public sector: Job classification, pay, and rewards 
Administrative reform, centralization and decentralization, and how they relate to basic issues and principles of job analysis, classification, and pay determination are discussed in detail.

Important Notes:

1. Participants who register to take this course and pass the final examination with a score of 70% or higher will be eligible to receive the APO certificate. Please note that the final examination can be taken only once. Therefore, the most appropriate time to take the examination should be chosen carefully. The self-assessment quizzes are for personal evaluation only and are not related to the final examination results.
2. Participants who perform well in this course and receive the APO certificate will be given preference, on a merit basis, for selection to attend follow-up face-to-face multicountry APO projects on similar topics, when nominated by their NPOs and if slots are available.
3. Notes 1 and 2 are applicable only to participants from APO member countries. Participants from nonmember countries are welcome to take the course for self-improvement, although they will not have an opportunity to attend the follow-up face-to-face multicountry APO projects.
4. Each module is in a prerecorded video format in which the expert delivers presentations by explaining each slide. Participants can access the video by clicking on the link provided under the title of each module.