“New” Human Resources Practices in the Employment of State Employees

Abstract

In most countries, the public sector and its constituent public administration employ a large number of employees. According to the OECD average, this is 15% of the total employment, while compensation of public employees reaches 11% of GDP. It is no coincidence that measures to improve the public and civil service continue to characterise government intentions even in the second decade of the millennium. In most Member States of the European Union, modernisation involves the improvement of human resources relations; either comprehensively or in terms of sub-areas. In the last decade, the latter has rather prevailed. The paper highlights examples of the reform ideas of EU countries in which changes can be considered significant compared to the previous systems. It provides insight into the public and civil service changes of the three major administrative model countries – the United Kingdom, France, Germany – and other Western European states over the last ten years.