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Our goal is to choose the best, the first ranked, which will be offered to the manager of the institution which will be obliged to choose, unlike now when we three persons were suggested, and Minister or the Director had the discretion right to choose any of these three candidates. Now only the best are employed. Quality becomes the sole criterion for employment. All political, party, personal, financial and other kinds of influences would thus be eliminated, said in an interview with Kurir, Marta Arsovska -Tomovska, Deputy Minister of Information Society and Administration.
Kurir: What is the essential purpose for the new legislation for administrative officials and employees in the public sector?
Marta Arsovska – Tomovska: The last twenty years from Macedonia’s independence until today, the Macedonian public administration only adapted to the changes that were conditioned by the transition, and only some minor adjustments were made in order to help it function better. But given that this government has set some standards of reforms and pace of work which is very fast, the time has come for a bit serious reform for public administration, which will have the capacity to monitor government activities, to realize and to propose measures and projects.
In this respect we have engaged in a very serious reform that will change the face of public administration, which will become much more efficient from now, more effective, professional and service- oriented, it will get closer to the private sector and the services provided by companies.
We expect the final effect of this reform to be services that citizens will get very much like the private sector, which will be very accessible, efficient, with no waiting in lines. Citizens will be more satisfied with public administration, and public administration will help the state to implement its policies and thus become more competitive.
Kurir: How will the selection or testing of applicants be performed and whether and these new legislation will bring improvement and strengthening of the administration?
Marta Arsovska – Tomovska: The law on administrative officials has provided full employment procedures and more demanding conditions are. Employees will be required to possess appropriate education, experience, and general and specific competencies. General skills are the skills that every employee should have depending on the type of job – good level of communication, working with computers, foreign language skills, capacity for teamwork, strategic thinking etc. and specific competencies – expertise in the fields of law, economics, IT etc. All terms in the selection procedure will be tested.
The process of selection will be conducted in several phases. The first selection will be administrative in which the documents will be reviewed in detail and their reliability will be verified. Then the second stage with more tests – a professional exam, checking the intellectual capacity, psychological testing, integrity test and then the interview, and finally a final ranking to be made. The first ranked on the list, will be proposed to the institution.
The whole process of selection is carried out by the Agency of Administration, which will be equipped with special test center to perform tests. The testing will be done on computer, it will be recorded and will air live on the website of the Agency. The test results come out immediately and they will be broadcasted live. Any possibility of intervention in the selection procedure points will be removed.
Our goal is to choose the best, the first ranked, which will be offered to the manager of the institution which will be obliged to choose, unlike now when we three persons were suggested, and Minister or the Director had the discretion right to choose any of these three candidates. Now only the best are employed. Quality becomes the sole criterion for employment. All political, party, personal, financial and other kinds of influences would thus be eliminated.
Kurir: What will bring the new solution for evaluating the performance of the administration? How will the quality, effectiveness and efficiency be assessed?
Marta Arsovska – Tomovska: The new solution, as a matter of fact all solutions in these two laws, are a result of serious analysis, the study of best practices and usages of modern European countries and beyond. We observed the public administrations of Canada, New Zealand and Australia, which are the most effective public administration in the world and the procedure of assessment is a modified version of their versions of assessment.
The assessment is the last stage of the process of performance monitoring. Every employee in the course of the year will be subjected to serious monitoring of his work by his supervisor. A half year interview is performed on six months, where the employee via conversation is assessed whether he/she is performing his/hers tasks effectively and timely and if it is not the case, he/she is given the opportunity to correct. This is a procedure called weak performance procedure and additional mentoring training are assigned in order to assist the employee. After this is done, at the end of the year assessment is done by a 360 degrees method, which means that the employee work is evaluatd from all four sides – by the supervisor by the employee who is in the hierarchy below, by colleagues who are at the same level, by the clients, or colleagues from other institutions who cooperate closely. The idea is to get a full picture of the employee.
The best will be rewarded, and those who showed unsatisfactory results will be sanctioned. There are many kinds of awards and more types of penalties.
Kurir: Will the Register of public sector employees provide a precise record for the number of employees in administration?
Marta Arsovska – Tomovska: Not only the Register, but the catalog with all those elements that are in the Law on employees in the public sector, will make predictability in the administration, in the jobs and the conditions of employment.
In terms of numbers, a registry of public administration will be made and literary all administration employees will enter in that register. Finally we will have the exact number of employees in public administration.
