9.2.4 Human Resources

At this stage, basic questions can be asked to assess the status of the human resources development in the organization, across all the basic areas touched on in Chapter 8, the Establishment Phase.

Checklist: Indicators for a human resources system

√ Has the NHRI been able to attract and hire qualified staff?

√ Do staff understand their jobs and have clear job descriptions?

√ Do staff understand and share the vision and mission of the organization?

√ Are reporting lines clear?

√ Is gender equality reflected in the staff profile across all levels?

√ Are their opportunities for training and professional development?

√ Is there a regular and systematic performance management system in place?

√ Are staff representative of the people they serve (diversity /plurality)?

√ Has basic staff training taken place?

√ Are there equitable personnel policies in place, including accommodation for staff with disabilities, parenting responsibilities, etc?

√ Has a human resources manual been prepared and is it followed, and updated as required?

√ Do staff have personal professional development plans?

√ Are there clear and fair policies to handle staff complaints and disciplinary issues?

At this stage, there will be an additional series of issues that can be assessed:

√ Staff turnover: Are staff leaving at rates higher than for the public service as a whole?

√ Is staff morale at an acceptable level?

√ Exit interviews: Is there an exit interview strategy to determine the cause of turnover?

Some of these issues are dealt with in the following sections.

9.2.4.1 Attracting and Hiring Qualified Staff

Chapters 7 and 8 address the issues of attracting and hiring qualified staff, and strategies to address known difficulties that face NHRIs at the pre-establishment and establishment phases.

If the NHRI is unable to attract staff, please review Chapters 7 and 8 for strategies to modify legislation or public service policies, as appropriate. If the problem is that there are few qualified candidates in the country, and/or few qualified candidates who are women or are from minority communities, for example, it is likely that the NHRI will have to invest heavily in training, developmental positions, and other professional learning opportunities. See the relevant sections on training in Chapter 8 and in this Chapter.

With respect to attracting staff for regional offices, especially in developing countries, the difficulties of attracting staff are even more acute. Regardless of whether the local office is a full-service office or a storefront operation, the capacity to staff regional positions is a challenge, especially where there are many and/or different languages spoken. It is critical that local staff speak local languages, but also that they are knowledgeable about NHRI procedures.

One innovative strategy developed by a NHRI was to bring selected head office staff to the regions to set up offices, and to use qualified local staff for translation and interpretation in the early phase. Eventually, the local staff will become versed in intake procedures and functions of the NHRI, and later on, qualified individuals may be selected to take over as local representatives of the NHRI responsible for intake, education and related functions.

9.2.4.2 Training

Mature NHRIs should have suitable induction and job rotation programmes so that the goal of ensuring that staff are multi-skilled is achieved, and to encourage personal and professional development.

The training proposed in the Establishment Phase is important, but must be linked to continuous training and development programmes. Otherwise, there is a risk that the training will be ad hoc and "one off" and not linked to performance management or the human resources management system.

Training should be developed based on the skills that employees need to do their jobs (see the Annex 3 on "Criteria for Job Descriptions" in Chapter 8), with sequential training moving from the general to the specific.

Training should be linked to the priorities established during strategic planning.

Training should be coordinated: It is not unusual to see several training sessions being offered by well-meaning donors, with no consultation with the human resources professional or manager, and no real plan for ensuring that a selected expert knows about the specific country situation, or the particular challenges that the NHRI is facing. Some ideas for addressing these issues at the Establishment Phase are set out in Annex 4 to Chapter 8. Advanced training ideas are found in:

Annex 5: Indicative Advanced Training Menu

Assessing training: At a minimum, evaluations should be conducted at the end of each training session to obtain staff perceptions of the training, as well as one to two months later to establish that the materials taught have been integrated into daily work. This second appraisal is often ignored, but is clearly more meaningful as an evaluation tool as to whether (1) specific learning has been understood and retained, and (2) the extent to which the learning has been integrated into organizational practices. Thus, training must include strategies to integrate the learning into the organisation's current business practices. It is not productive to offer course upon course to staff, without providing direction on how the knowledge gained is to be applied in their daily work.

Training regional staff should also be given careful consideration. Preferably, the NHRI will have developed its in-house training capacity by the time regional offices are established, and so core training can be also provided in-house. Having standard operating rules and principles on hand will help, and mentoring from HQ staff seconded in the early operating period could also be considered. In addition, however, bringing regional officers into training sessions offered at HQ should be including in training programme design and costs.

9.2.4.3 Performance Evaluation as an Assessment Tool

In more mature organisations, individual performance evaluations should include a set of individual performance indicators linked to higher organisational performance goal that are in the strategic plan and related action plans. Ideally, this level of detail should be adopted by the second to third year of operation.

At the consolidation phase, formal performance evaluations should be in their first cycle and at least one review completed for each employee. Assigned targets and measures must be relevant to the staff roles. The criteria stated in job descriptions are a good start.

Basic questions can be asked to assess whether the performance evaluation process is working: features:

• Are formal evaluations conducted at least bi-annually?
• Is there ongoing feedback to reinforce the evaluations and provide support?
• Are employees encouraged to evaluate themselves against objective performance criteria?
• Are action steps drafted after each evaluation and are achievements monitored in feedback sessions?