Major Programme 160. Personnel

Summary of 1998-99 proposals and comparison with previous biennium (including funds from other sources)

160.1. The functions of this major programme consist of the planning, formulation and administration of personnel policies and procedures for the staff of the Office and technical cooperation project personnel. Within this context, the aims of the major programme are to ensure that: the Office and technical cooperation projects are staffed in a timely manner with the most competent officials possible, taking into account the need to achieve an appropriate geographical, age and sex distribution through recruitment decisions; staff members are provided with appropriate training opportunities to help them adjust to new methods of work and the new orientations of ILO programmes; the personnel practices and policies of the Office are fair and equitable, adhere to the standards and procedures set out in the Staff Regulations and are in accordance with agreements reached within the United Nations common system; personnel entitlements and benefits are managed and processed in accordance with the regulations in force; and ILO management, staff and constituents are kept informed of developments in personnel policies and practices.

160.2. A significant feature of the work to be undertaken during this biennium is the creation of a new programme to strengthen staff training activities within an integrated approach to human resources development that links training, career development, performance management and organizational development. The work of the major programme continues to involve: the prospection, selection, recruitment and placement of staff; personnel planning in the light of budgetary and organizational changes; the administration of rules and regulations governing terms and conditions of employment; the provision of advisory services to management and staff; the coordination of personnel policy with the United Nations common system; the conduct of staff-management relations, including consultations and negotiations with staff representatives and communication with the staff at large; the processing of the job classification and appeals systems; the administration of salaries, allowances and other entitlements; the provision of staff welfare and counselling services; and the development and administration of staff social security schemes, including health, retirement and group life plans.

160.3. Continued efforts to streamline activities and improve efficiency will be pursued in the processing of entitlements, applications for employment and contracts of employment. The former Technical cooperation personnel services programme has been merged with the Personnel planning and career development programme to form the Personnel planning and staff movements programme (160.2). Certain administrative and policy functions concerning technical cooperation personnel will henceforth be carried out by the Personnel administration programme (160.3), while most of the processing of short-term employment contracts for technical cooperation will be decentralized to field offices or technical departments.

160.4. The regular budget resources for this major programme have been increased by some $114,000 in real terms in comparison with the biennium 1996-97. Additional resources, amounting, in real terms, to some $500,000, will be devoted to increasing staff training activities. This increase is partially offset by the deletion of the provision of some $147,000 for child-care facilities for children of delegates attending ILO meetings and conferences and for children of ILO staff members and by a decrease in external collaboration resources. Under other sources of financing, savings have been made from the technical cooperation personnel services subprogramme as a result of the integration of these services into the Personnel planning and staff movements programme and the reduced workload due to the trend towards the use of short-term staff and national experts.

160.1. Departmental management

160.5. Provision is made under this programme for the director of department, the staff counsellor and secretariat, clerical assistance and staff travel. An amount of $61,520 is provided to cover the ILO contribution to the United Nations Joint Housing Service in Geneva, and provision of $31,780 is made for staff welfare and social and recreational activities. Resources are also included for high-level external expertise to assist in policy development.

160.2. Personnel planning and staff movements

160.6. The objective of this programme is to ensure that staff of the highest standards of professional competence, efficiency and integrity are made available to the ILO and its constituents.

Staff prospection and recruitment

160.7. Continuing emphasis will be placed on the prospection and recruitment of staff of the highest competence and integrity, as well as on improving the distribution of staff in terms of age, sex and geographical origin. Resources are provided for prospection and interviews, and for streamlining the processing of applications and interviewing. The work of this subprogramme also includes prospection activities for technical cooperation personnel. A provision of some $83,000 is made for medical examinations of candidates selected for recruitment.

Administration of staff movements

160.8. The function of this subprogramme is to administer staff movements and provide related advisory services. The activities of the subprogramme include: servicing the Selection Board; undertaking staff planning reviews with line managers; monitoring the mobility procedures and policy; briefing new staff members; administering and monitoring all short- and fixed-term contracts, and contracts without limit of time; determining contractual and other administrative entitlements arising from employment offers; making arrangements for staff members leaving the service of the Organization; applying the Staff Regulations and Short-Term Rules; advising on the handling of grievances and cases of conflicts or poor conduct; and administering increment schemes. A provision of some $227,000 is included to finance the partial replacement of officials who become entitled to maternity leave.

Classification and performance appraisal

160.9. The function of this subprogramme is to administer job classification procedures and the performance appraisal reports system. The work of the subprogramme includes; the grading of Professional job vacancies worldwide and General Service job vacancies at headquarters, as well as providing support for grading in smaller regional offices and branch offices; advising management at headquarters and in the field on job design; assisting in the formulation of job descriptions; servicing grading appeals committees; servicing the Reports Board; and processing performance appraisal reports for staff at headquarters and in the field. External expertise will continue to be required to handle workload peaks associated with reorganizations and the related classification work.

Technical cooperation personnel services

160.10. This subprogramme, which is totally financed from Programme Support Income, covers the personnel services relating to technical cooperation project implementation, including: contract management, briefing and placement; and the separation, debriefing and repatriation of experts and associate experts. Activities also include the provision of policy advice on the recruitment and service conditions of national experts and the monitoring and administration of the safety and security of ILO field personnel in close collaboration with the UN Security Coordinator, New York. During the biennium 1998-99, the functions of this subprogramme will continue to change because of the increasing role of governments in project execution and the emergence of new forms of technical cooperation projects with a large proportion of short-term staff and national experts, for whom the personnel administration functions will be handled increasingly by field offices.

160.3. Personnel administration

160.11. This programme is responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies relating to staff emoluments, entitlements and benefits and for ensuring that they are consistent with the rules and regulations of the ILO and the United Nations common system. The objectives of this programme are the provision of salaries, entitlements and benefits in an efficient and timely manner, including the introduction of streamlined procedures when feasible, in accordance with established rules and regulations; and the maintenance of good staff-management relations, particularly through consultations and negotiations with staff representatives, communications with management and staff, and the provision of effective internal grievance and appeals mechanisms.

Staff relations and regulations

160.12. The functions of this subprogramme are to: implement and review existing personnel policies and procedures; ensure equitable treatment of all staff; maintain good staff-management relations; and maintain communication with the staff at large. Assistance is provided to line managers at headquarters and in the field, including technical cooperation managers, and to individual staff members concerning the implementation of new policies, rules and procedures through the publication of rules, memoranda and newsletters, the revision of the relevant chapters of the External Offices Manual and the organization of briefing programmes. The work of the subprogramme includes administering internal grievance appeals procedures for regular staff and technical cooperation personnel and servicing the Administrative Committee.

Entitlements, salaries and pensions

160.13. The functions of this subprogramme are to: provide advice and assistance to personnel officers and programme managers on matters concerning entitlements, salaries and pensions; monitor the correct application of the appropriate rules and procedures; administer the salary and allowances systems for all staff; and administer a series of statutory entitlements and allowances, including family allowances, education grants, scholastic travel grants and rental subsidies. The work of the subprogramme includes the provision of information to staff in response to inquiries concerning post adjustment, allowances and salary rates and on related matters arising out of the mobility policy. The subprogramme is also responsible for representing the ILO in the International Civil Service Commission and the Consultative Committee on Administrative Questions and in meetings of the Geneva-based organizations, with a view to developing common approaches on matters of local concern relating to salaries and entitlements, as well as developing specific ILO policies in these areas, as necessary.

160.14. The subprogramme also covers the administration of the pensions and related schemes established for ILO staff, and the servicing of the administrative bodies responsible for these schemes. These include the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF), the ILO Staff Pensions Fund and the Special Payments Fund, as well as the health insurance and loss of earnings scheme for short-term officials. The non-staff costs cover travel to inter-agency meetings, including the participation of members of the UNJSPF Board representing the Governing Body, the ILO Staff Union and administration, and the costs incurred for meetings of the ILO Pensions Committee and the Administrative Board of the ILO Staff Pensions Fund. Provision is also made for external help at peak periods.

Health insurance

160.15. This subprogramme covers all operations related to the establishment of entitlements and the computation and award of benefits under the ILO/ITU Staff Health Insurance Fund (SHIF). In addition, the work of the subprogramme includes: servicing the Management Committee and the Standing Subcommittee of SHIF; dealing with special cases which require exceptions to SHIF Regulations; and, where appropriate, undertaking negotiations with commercial insurers.

160.16. Due to the rapidly increasing cost of health care, which continues to be a cause of concern to health insurers throughout the world, the ILO/ITU Staff Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) has experienced significant cost increases over recent years. Tighter control of income and expenditure will therefore be exercised and the programme of negotiations with medical care providers will be pursued, with a view to containing costs and avoiding rises in contributions. These measures will continue to be developed in cooperation with other Geneva-based organizations, with which the joint computerization project was implemented in early 1997 to provide information for cost containment and to make administration of the Fund more efficient.

Compensation

160.17. The activities of the subprogramme include: the determination of entitlements under Annex II of the Staff Regulations and related provisions governing compensation in respect of service-incurred illness, injury or death; the administration of the personal accident insurance policy for staff members; the management of a comprehensive insurance policy for national experts; and the administration of the staff life and disability insurance scheme.

160.4. Staff training and human resources development

160.18. The new challenges facing the ILO and the continuing adaptations required of the staff make it essential to strengthen staff training and retraining in the context of a more integrated approach to career development, with a view to facilitating mobility and improving the quality of the services provided to constituents. The objective of this programme is a substantive and lasting change in human resources development in the Office through the adoption of a comprehensive approach to personnel management focusing on staff training (including management training), job classification and performance management. A total of $2.1 million is made available under this programme for staff training. Representatives of the staff will be fully consulted and line managers will be actively involved in the implementation of activities. This programme has initially been established for a two-year period using resources and covering some work drawn from other programmes in order to provide the necessary impetus and concerted attention to achieve the required changes.

160.5. Personnel information management

160.19. The function of this programme is to provide personnel information to the internal and external sources that require it. The work of the programme consists largely of the development and implementation of the Personnel Information and Payroll System (PERSIS) and the administration of the Office’s manual and computerized personnel information records.

Personnel Information and Payroll System (PERSIS)

160.20. The continuing introduction of the PERSIS system will substantially improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the ILO’s personnel and payroll management and administration through the use of modern computer technology. Two modules of PERSIS were introduced in previous biennia, namely the personnel administration module and the entitlements module. The payroll module of PERSIS will become fully operational in 1998, thereby completing the introduction of PERSIS at headquarters. The payroll module will permit a high degree of payroll automation, including an on-line inquiry capability, updating and complete automatic retroactivity. The last major element of the PERSIS project is the access to PERSIS by field offices, which will be completed during the biennium. This will permit significant economies in the work of administering field personnel and will vastly improve personnel information flow and reporting to and from the field. In support of the PERSIS system, the work of the subprogramme covers the analysis of new software enhancements, their introduction and the loading and maintenance of the database. A help desk is operated to support PERSIS users and user training/documentation is provided as required. The subprogramme is also responsible for the support and development of the major programme’s local area network (LAN).

Personnel records

160.21. This subprogramme is responsible for: the maintenance of all computerized and manual records kept at headquarters on ILO staff worldwide; the entry of salary, entitlements and other reference data in PERSIS; the maintenance of the computer records of field staff until the implementation of PERSIS in the field; and the updating, distribution and security of all personnel and candidate files maintained in Geneva.

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