Ministry of Finance sets out to improve state's reputation as employer
The Ministry of Finance has announced a public procuremment, titled "The State as an Employer," the aim of which is to develop an action plan to improve the brand and reputation of Estonia's public sector as an employer.
The ministry's hope is that qualified workforce will consider state institutions an attractive enough alternative to the private sector.
"The demographic situation, in which the number of working-age citizens is decreasing and the population is aging, is posing new challenges for employers to find and recruit the best candidates," said Ministry of Finance Public Administration and Public Service Department director Marlen Piskunov. "According to a survey on the movement of free job positions and workforce, the working-age population will decrease by approximately 6,400 people annually in the next few years. This means that competition for recruiting the best employees will continue to increase."
According to the ministry official, the state is finding it increasingly difficult to compete with the private sector in offering competitive wages to prospective employees, as the state cannot be a leader on the wage market. "This in turn creates the need to interpret and formulate why someone should choose the state in particular as their employer," she explained. "In addition, consciously addressing the reputation of the state as an employer will make heads of state institutions consider what they can do differently as leaders in order to make their institutions attractive to potential job-seekers."
The action plan for improving the state's reputation as an employer entails identifying various target group who could be interested in state employment and of interest as potential employees to the state as an employer, Piskunov said.
One of the potential target groups for recruitment is people with limited capacity for work. "When choosing a new employee, the basis is first and foremost an individual's qualifications and their ability to fulfill the tasks of a particular position," explained the official. "There are many different jobs in state institutions, therefore the potential employees sought also vary."
Piskunov said that the government sector workforce is expected to decline steadily, while at the same time, expectations for the amount and quality of services provided by the state are increasing. "This in turn means that a smaller public workforce must be more capable, more effective and better qualified than before," she said.
The goal of the procurement tender's action plan will be to consciously develop and improve the reputation of the state as an employer and introduce the state as an attractive employer to potential employees. Each institution will be able to utilize the general guidance and suggestions of the Ministry of Finance as a central developer of the state's human resources policy in order to further manage the most suitable activities for that institution.
The procurement was announced on Aug. 10, and the deadline for offers is Aug. 28.
Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS