Budgetary constraints, cost cutting measures and civil service reform

This chapter looks at recent OECD research that suggests changes to human resource management (HRM) between 2008 and 2013 have been driven first and foremost by a reactive need to cut workforce costs, rather than building longer-term workforce capacity and innovation. It explores the survey results from the Survey on Managing Budgeting Constraints: Implications for HRM and Employment in Central Public Administration, which indicate that employee engagement across OECD countries may have been threatened as a result of the cost-cutting measures implemented in most OECD countries. Chapter 2 looks at these measures with a view to their potential longer-term impact on employees, organisations and the fiscal bottom line.