Gender Imbalance in Irish Civil Service Grades at Higher Executive Officer Level (HEO) and Above.

Executive Summary

1. Study Background

This research study was undertaken for the Equality Committee of the Human Resources Management Implementation Group, as part of the Strategic Management Initiative (SMI). Its brief was to identify the reasons for the considerable under-representation of women in the civil service at the general service grades of higher executive officer (HEO) level and above (see fig.1below). The research was completed during the twelve-month period commencing October 1997. The study comprised the following key elements:

Detailed Review and Analysis of current Civil Service Equality Policy

In-depth discussions were held with nearly forty senior managers, personnel officers and national trade union officials. These discussions focused on the effectiveness of the current Equal Opportunities Policy and Guidelines for the Civil Service (1986), as well as identifying areas for improvement. In addition, detailed information was obtained from the Department of Finance, the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commission, the Top-Level Appointments Committee and the Employment Equality Agency. All relevant equality cases involving government departments since 1979 were also reviewed.

Gender Analysis of Civil Service Employment Statistics

Using primarily the Department of Finance’s CEN-SIS database of staff serving in June 1997, an in-depth statistical analysis was undertaken of gender breakdown by department, grade, age, length of service and salary band. Participation in the Job-Sharing and Career-Break Schemes was also examined in detail. In addition, a special analysis was undertaken to trace the differential career paths of women and men currently serving who had entered the service at the same grade in the selected years of 1957, 1967, 1977 and 1987.

Gender Equality Survey

To gather data first-hand on the position, experiences and attitudes of staff from across the civil service, a detailed postal questionnaire was distributed in Spring 1998 to a representative cross-section of women and men serving in the appropriate grades of executive officer (EO) and above. Over 1400 completed questionnaires were returned, representing a high overall response rate of 72 per cent. The data from the survey are analysed to provide: a detailed profile of women and men currently serving and their career paths to date; an assessment of the impact of civil service policies from an equality viewpoint; and a profile of their attitudes and views on current working conditions and a range of other gender equality related issues.

In-Depth Case Studies

To examine in more detail issues such as organisational culture, three case-study departments were identified on the basis of their current gender balance at HEO- level and above, the operational/policy content of their work, their size and geographical distribution. These Departments were Finance, Enterprise Trade and Employment, and Social, Community and Family Affairs. In each of the three departments, focus group discussions were held with staff, as well as in-depth one-to-one interviews with senior managers.

2. Study Conclusions

Drawing upon the analysis of the research findings from each of these key elements, the study concludes that despite the existence on an Equal Opportunity Policy and Guidelines for over twelve years, women and men are still likely to have very different experiences and outcomes while serving in the civil service (see fig. 2).

During their period of service, compared to men, women can expect to enter at a lower level and progress more slowly through the grading structure. As a result, they can often expect to be paid less. They are far more likely to have to balance caring responsibilities outside work with the long-hours culture within the service itself, often choosing job-sharing or ruling out promotion as a result. They are less likely than men to be placed in high profile, core activities within the service. Rather, women are often concentrated in operational areas of work, which are less visible to senior managers and ministers alike. As a result, women are less likely to benefit from such opportunities for accelerated career progression.

Although equality of opportunity exists de jure within the civil service, considerable further progress will need to be made to ensure that women and men experience equality as a de facto and routine part of their working lives. Indeed, given the slow rate of progress to date and unless new and affirmative action is taken across a wide front, then a balanced representation of women and men in the higher grades of the civil service is unlikely to be achieved within the working lives of most of those currently serving (see fig. 3). In a competitive labour market, where recruitment difficulties are already being experienced by the civil service, such under-utilisation of scarce human resources is untenable.

3. Study Recommendations

On the basis of the research evidence presented in this report, a number of key recommendations are made to assist the Equality Committee in developing and proposing specific measures to tackle effectively the reasons for the current gender imbalance in the service at the higher grades.

3.1 A New Strategic Approach

The current Equal Opportunities Policy and Guidelines for the Civil Service, which have been in force since 1986, should be replaced by a new Equality Policy which adopts an entirely new strategic approach rooted in the programme of fundamental HR reform presently being taken forward. To be successful, that approach should be launched with the strongest political endorsement and be driven forward by the active involvement and support of management, staff and unions across the service.

3.2 A New Strategic Objectives With Targets

Such a new approach should have clearly stated as its strategic objective not just the promotion of equal opportunities within the service, as at present, but the achievement of equality over a specified time-frame. Each department should be required to specify targets, as part of its annual business plan, aimed at the achievement of a 50:50 gender balance by grade over a time frame which is both realistic and demanding, given the base from which it is progressing. Even when a 50:50 balance for each grade is achieved, however, there should be no room for complacency given that 64 per cent of civil servants are female! It must also be noted that such targets, unlike rigid quotas, would conform fully with national and EU legislative requirements and be a key element in a new programme of affirmative action.

3.3 New Guiding Principles

Achievements of this strategic objective should also be guided by a number of key principles, which go beyond an employer's duty to ensure compliance with the law. These principles should include acknowledgement that:

Inequality of opportunity is not only unjustifiable in social terms but it is wasteful of the civil service's main asset: its human resources, its people;

Equality of opportunity is a key issue directly or indirectly affecting all aspects of women's and men's working lives. It is not a minority issue; and

In consequence, should be integrated within the mainstream of departmental and service-wide HR policies.

3.4 Affirmative Action

Achievement of the new strategic objective and targets will be contingent upon the effective delivery, monitoring and review of active policies to redress the shortcomings in the current position experienced by women in the civil service. Further, there is a need for affirmative action across a broad front to remove the continuing obstacles to their career progression and to redress an historic imbalance. The following recommendations are made in relation to each main human resource policy area: recruitment; placement and mobility; training and staff development; promotion; work and family; language; harassment; and policy delivery.

Recruitment

Vigilance should be exercised to ensure that any decentralisation of responsibilities to individual department/offices does not compromise the equal opportunity recruitment procedures currently operating across the service.

The gender implications of reform of the multi-stream structure of the service should be monitored so that appropriate action can be taken if necessary, e.g. if progress on equal opportunity targets is delayed.

Specific action should be taken to achieve an effective overall gender balance, and not just mix, on recruitment (and promotion) boards.

Placement/Mobility

Because of their key implications for future career progression, further investigation is required to ensure that gender-stereotyped attitudes do not influence decision making on placement and mobility.

Placement procedures should be reviewed to ensure that gender is not a factor in influencing the placement of either new recruits or promoted staff in certain departments, areas of work or geographical locations.

To counter this problem longer-term, a systematic and objectively-based approach should be adopted to the allocation of human resources to posts in the service, on the basis of the skills and competencies of the staff concerned and the essential requirements of that post.

Attention should be given to the particular difficulties experienced with regard to blocked career progression in decentralised offices through the creation of regional vacancy pools.

Training/Staff Development

Training has a vital role to play in achieving the new strategic equality objective for the service. As an integral part of the adoption of a new policy, departmental and service-wide training and staff development resources should be reviewed to ensure that they can meet the increased demands on their services.

A comprehensive training programme should be run to support implementation and ownership of the new policy across the service.

Priority should be given to the improvement of HR management skills generally across the service, as well as specific encouragement given to the professionalisation of the HR function.

Systematic appraisal of staff training and development needs should be undertaken, to ensure that decision making with regard to training and staff development opportunities is not influenced by gender-stereotyped attitudes.

Active consideration should be given to the introduction of mentoring arrangements within and between departments/offices, initially on a pilot basis, specifically encouraging female participation.

Redressing the gender imbalance at senior levels within the service should also include action to overcome problems resulting from historically gendered patterns of recruitment, with many women entering through the clerical grades and becoming stuck there, e.g. be departmental initiative specifically geared to such groups.

Promotion

Concerns remain about the equal opportunity implications of departmental promotional systems based on "senior suitable" criteria. These concerns are exacerbated by the lack of transparency of the criteria for decision-making. Good management practice requires what is currently invisible be made visible.

While systems for promotion based upon "senior suitable" criteria continue to operate, the departments/offices concerned should develop and apply agreed criteria for suitability based upon the essential requirements of the post.

Moves away from such "consistory methods" should be accompanied by training and support candidates, including mentoring for those unfamiliar with formal promotion procedures and practices.

Affirmative action should to taken if women are not to continue to be discouraged in their promotional prospects by the double burden of work/caring, the gender-stereotyped attitudes of management, as well as gender differences in attitudes amongst staff themselves.

Work/Family Issues

Systems and offices should be structured in such a way that allows for adequate cover for maternity leave. This should include an option to increase temporarily the numbers of posts, where necessary, particularly in smaller offices.

Action should be taken to overcome current negative management and staff attitudes to job sharing, particularly at the higher grades within the service, for instance by using the best practice examples from other administrations for demonstrative purposes.

Job sharing procedures should be reviewed in order to ascertain reasons for the current negative perceptions of job shares, particularly in relation to promotion opportunities, and action where possible to change such perceptions. This review should focus particularly on overcoming perceived and actual job sharing difficulties at higher grade levels.

On a wider front, the service should respond positively to the needs of male and female staff seeking to combine more effectively the demands of work with responsibilities in the home. From an equality viewpoint, it is untenable that the service is seen as being less rather than more family friendly.

Working arrangements within the civil service should be reviewed to ensure that the extent to which they act as a discouragement to women with children seeking promotion is minimised. This should include examining mechanism for supporting parents, particularly mothers, to overcome their childcare difficulties.

Language and Sexual Harassment

Both these issues should continue to be covered separately by the new policy but updated to reflect more effectively the working situation in the late 1990's.

Specifically, active consideration should be given to a wider definition of harassment to incorporate other abuses of power relationships, such as bullying.

As part of promotion of the new policy, and given the particular sensitivity of the issue concerned, renewed publicity should be given to the civil service's policy on sexual harassment (including the complaints procedures).

Policy Delivery

The limited resourcing and dual legal/promotional roles of the Department of Finance's Equality Unit should be reviewed.

In addition, in order to support the implementation and development of policy, a thorough review should be undertaken of the utility, timeliness and coverage of statistical and other monitoring information gathered and reported on a service-wide and departmental basis.

Regular gender equality surveys should also be conducted to monitor progress made, and to inform further action, against the benchmarks established by this research.

In the light of the decentralisation of HRM responsibilities currently in-hand, the lines of responsibility and accountability for the delivery of equality, across the service and within departments/offices, must be clarified as a priority.

As part of this decentralisation process, each department should appoint qualified staff with specific responsibility for promoting and advising on equal opportunities issues and best practice. These staff should report directly to a member of the senior management team, who would be responsible for benchmarked progress against explicit equality targets (not quotas) within their department over a specified time-frame. Attainment of such targets should also be an explicit objective in that department's strategic and business planning processes, under the SMI, and firmly rooted in the performance management systems currently being introduced.

Good practice equality models built on Irish and international experience should be developed, to inform further the implementation of best practice approaches to the achievement of equality of opportunity within departments.

3.5 A New Equality Agenda

The development of measures in line the recommendations made above, will require little short of an entirely new equality agenda for the Irish Civil Service. In delivering on this agenda, one major challenge facing the civil service is to create not just another policy which reflects the existing views of senior managers but a policy which is owned by staff and managers alike-a policy which addresses the needs of the service through utilising and realising the skills and potentialities of all its staff, regardless of their gender. Achieving equality will have short-term costs but should bring many long-term benefits for both the individuals involved and the service as a whole.

Peter Humphreys Head of Research: Institute of Public Administration

Eileen Drew Senior Lecturer: Statistics Department, Trinity College

Candy Murphy Principal Consultant: Goodbody Economic Consultants Limited

Published by the Institute of Public Administration on behalf of the SMI Human Resource Management Working Group.

For further information, please contact George Burke (SMI Team: Department of the Taoiseach)

Telephone: (+353 1) 619 4008, 619 4031 and 619 4060

ISBN 1 902448 20 0