Came across a useful research paper on
href="http://accenture.com/Global/Research_and_Insights/By_Subject/Enterprise_Performance_Mgmt/RitesSector.htm" target="_blank">Shared Services in Public Sector
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Relations with government workers are clearly constrained by a framework of
laws and regulations. Just as important, if less explicit, is the central premise of public-sector employment, which is job
security or even, in some organizations, job entitlement.
Because voters and politicians usually assume the existence
of this second, implicit factor, public-sector officials are pulled between private-sector standards on the one hand and
often unarticulated social policy needs on the other—with certain predictable results. In this public-sector "worker
compact" environment, two languages are often spoken. Voters and senior officials refer to "cost savings," "increased service
effectiveness" and "improved processes." For rank-and-file workers, those terms are code for "job elimination" or "messing
with benefits."
Governments contemplating shared services solutions have to address workforce issues on both fronts.
They must act cautiously within the strict regulatory framework, while at the same time attending to such "soft" factors as
the loss of morale among workers who fear they are moving to a less-prestigious organization, or worries about parity of pay,
working conditions or job descriptions. There are endless anecdotes about the kind of underground "guerrilla behavior"
results that can erupt when workforce sensitivities are ignored—the use of black market software applications or
processes that are inconsistent with a new technology platform, the circumventing of procedures and so on.
With this
in mind, it is critical that any government shared services initiative begin with a kind of workforce due diligence, which
can be framed by the following questions. Answers to these questions will help define an effective workforce transition
strategy.
* What are the constraining legal or regulatory frameworks regarding continuity of employment for
government workers?
* What sorts of institutional, cultural or political factors mitigate against relocating
either staff or facilities to centralized service centers?
* What is the weighted distribution in terms of
staff tenure, and what implication does this have for retraining or redeployment?
* What industry-standard
benchmarks can be borrowed to map job and skill requirements for new positions?
* What new skill sets need to
be recruited to facilitate a shared services solution?
* What market-tested precedents can be used for new
processes?