Reform the Civil Service in 3 EASY Steps

Thanks to Nigel Farage it seems as if everyone is talking about Reform. This is handy for me from a SEO perspective as I also want to talk about reform (albeit the less headline grabbing version).

How to reform the Civil Service in 3 easy steps.

Free tea and coffee

This may seem like a trivial point but it really does matter. From the civil servants I have spoken with, it really does negatively impact morale that the government expects its employees to bring in their own refreshments. Just think about this from your own work environment if your boss suddenly announced that they would no longer provide free tea and coffee while at work. I imagine you’d feel undervalued, demotivated, and you might even start looking around for a new job.

This is not just about the hurt feelings of moody mandarins. It also matters for productivity as we know that workers who feel valued at work are more motivated and put more effort into their jobs. What is more, from personal experience of working in government it is a real drag having to get a coffee. For example, when I was based in the FCDO I had to travel down several flights of stairs and long corridors just to get outside. I would then have to walk to Pret or Starbucks, wait to be served, then walk back. I would then have to go through security and then walk up several flights of stairs and down long corridors to get back to my desk. This was not a productive use of my time. If you multiply this across the Civil Service then we are losing so many hours.

There is a debate to be had about the size of the Civil Service but the work the majority of civil servants do is vitally important to the functioning of the State and they are, of course, paid by taxpayers. As such, we should want them to feel valued and motivated so that they can focus on providing the best possible service to the public.

We should also want to retain and attract high performers to the Civil Service, many of whom could earn much more money in the private sector. They would already be accepting a pay cut so we should at least mean they have the very basics in terms of refreshments.

Finally, it could help with encouraging civil servants to return to the office. I personally think a hybrid model works best and it is worth pointing out that there isn’t actually enough space to accommodate every civil servant in many departments, but it has been a stated aim of the government to increase in person attendance. Many private sector firms found that the way to do this was to increase perks in the office. I’m not suggesting that the Civil Service attempt to compete with the private sector on this by offering luxury products, just the basics of tea and coffee.

Simplify recruitment

Applying for Civil Service jobs is a nightmare. The actual act of applying takes far too long and requires applicants to explain how they ‘Have Seen the Big Picture’ and ‘Delivered at Pace’. In both a helpful and incredibly unhelpful way the Civil Service does explain what it means by these terms but in reality they act as a shibboleth which invariably benefits people already in the system rather than those willing to spend a long time familiarising themselves with lengthy ‘explainer’ documents.

Such a system discourages people from the private sector from applying as they are more used to simply submitting their CVs setting out their relevant skills and experience and also a covering letter. They simply do not have the time to waste on attempting to navigate this bewildering system.

It also means that the Civil Service attracts people who think and act in the same way as they have perfected their answers to the questions. The Civil Service is unfairly criticised for its emphasis on promoting diversity and inclusion when it comes to race, gender, and sexuality but it has created a system which means it only hires people who think and act in a certain way. We need much more diversity in the Civil Service and that should extend to how people think and work.

As such, the Civil Service should operate much more like the private sector by simply asking for a CV and a covering letter. If the recruiting manager sees that an applicant has spent 5 years at an investment bank and part of that has involved managing others then they should be capable of inferring that the applicant has experience of Delivering at Pace and Leading Others.

It also needs to speed up the recruitment process. It really should not take several months to recruit candidates, especially at the more junior level. Again, the current system means that high quality candidates will likely go elsewhere if they have competing offers and the Civil Service keeps dragging its heels. 

Part of this will probably involve hiring more people involved in the vetting process or simplifying the system. Of course it is important to make sure you don’t hire spies or people who are susceptible to approaches from hostile foreign powers, but the level of clearance issued for most roles is probably too stringent. For example, I got ‘Security Check’ level clearance which is pretty high and it took months to come through. The only documents that I ever saw classified as ‘SECRET’ were to do with potential tariff rate quotas on frozen meat carcasses. Kind of important, sure, but hardly the identities of MI6 officers or the nuclear codes. 

Again, insisting that certain roles can only be undertaken by individuals who are granted certain security clearance levels means that again only certain types of people will do them. Many people are not prepared to wait months – and in some cases over a year – and answer intrusive questions about their personal lives in order to do a job. This limits the pool of people who can undertake these roles and may actually drive up costs if relying on outside contractors. 

Location, Location, Location

Two years ago I inadvertently caused a bit of controversy on Twitter. I saw that a job at HM Treasury was being advertised and the successful applicant would be based in Darlington and I said that this was probably not a good thing. The tweet didn’t go down well and saw insults such as ‘sneering’, ‘idiot’, ‘Southern’, and some more unpublishable words being bandied around and the Telegraph, several regional newspapers, and the town’s MP all got involved.

While I probably should have worded my tweet more carefully, I stand by it. It was never meant as an insult to Darlington or its residents – I have since been and it is lovely – but I don’t think it was the right decision to place the government’s economic campus there (in the same way that I don’t think it should be based in my wonderful hometown of Huddersfield).

There is nothing wrong with placing government departments outside of London as there are so many fantastic cities around the country, but placing them in random towns in a misguided attempt to ‘Level Up’ the country and win votes is wrong.

In order to attract high quality candidates and to keep them working for the Civil Service then it makes more sense to place departments in major cities with options of which one they are based in. Making it a requirement for civil servants to work in a location where they have never previously been and which is potentially hundreds of miles away from their friends and families is no way to treat them and means that they are more likely to leave the Civil Service or not seek new opportunities in government.

We should split up major government departments such as the Home Office and the Treasury as they are currently too powerful and not fit for purpose. The next government should launch a review of all its government departments and split or merge where appropriate and place some of the new departments outside of London. For example, many of the functions currently undertaken by HM Treasury should be carried out by a new Department of Finance which should be based in Leeds. Such a move – coupled with improvements in public transport – would create thousands of good quality jobs accessible to people in nearby towns (including Huddersfield) which would boost the prospects of people living there while helping to bring prosperity to these towns and villages. This is how you truly ‘Level Up’ the country.

Further Reading

I am finally getting around to reading this from Reform (the think tank, not the other one). I gave it a quick read when it came out and it looks full of good ideas and insights from people currently in the Civil Service so it should be well worth your time.

Thanks as ever for reading. If you enjoy Opportunity Lost then feel free to support it here: https://buymeacoffee.com/opportunitylost