Contextualising human resource management in Kazakhstan's public sector reforms

This chapter provides an overview of Kazakhstan’s human resource management policies as a central pillar of the country’s public sector reforms since the 1990s. Kazakhstan’s civil service reforms have been characterised by a strong emphasis on professionalisation and productivity to provide better services for citizens. Today, like OECD countries, Kazakhstan faces challenges that require the civil service to remain responsive, productive and trustworthy. Kazakhstan’s current ambitions for the civil service include the preparation of a new competency and performance management system, and the introduction of a point-factor scale grading system for civil service positions. To support Kazakhstan’s endeavours, the OECD has benchmarked Kazakhstan’s human resource management practices against those of OECD countries, taking into account the characteristics of civil servants, the systems that manage them and the leaders who lead them from the perspectives of a professional, strategic and innovative civil service.