How to attract and retain the best in government
| Author | Pan Suk Kim |
| Date | 01 December 2008 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020852308098472 |
| Published date | 01 December 2008 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
How to attract and retain the best in government1
Pan Suk Kim
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to discuss challenges and strategies of attracting and
retaining the best in government, particularly from the perspective of government
in developing countries or transitional economies. This article will first touch briefly
on the technical and practical issues of how to attract and retain the best, followed
by an elaboration of current trends in human resource management (HRM). It will
also look at a case of the Korean experience on HRM, followed by discussion of
the theoretical and policy implications on HRM. Various kinds of best practices and
new ideas are available through diverse venues around the world, but it is difficult
to determine what really works for whom and how. It is not feasible to apply the
same reform strategy to all countries. The challenge is, therefore, to find out what
is applicable to the specific country; and how things can be applied while mini-
mizing negative consequences.
Points for the practitioners
Under rapidly changing circumstances around the world with increasing pressure
on performance and innovation in government, old-fashioned personnel man-
agement must be significantly transformed, in order to attract and retain the best
in government as well as to win the war for talent. Thus HR managers should
initiate far-reaching, much needed change in talent management in terms of how
they source, attract, select, train, develop, retain, promote, and move employees
through the organization. In order to make government the model employer of
choice, HR managers need to make a new Copernican transition in finding a new
way of human resource management.
Keywords: attract, civil service reform, HRM, retain, talent, talent management
Pan Suk Kim is Director of the Institute for Regional Studies and Development, and Professor of
Public Administration in the College of Government and Business at Yonsei University in Korea.
Copyright © 2008 IIAS, SAGE Publications (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore)
Vol 74(4):637–652 [DOI:10.1177/0020852308098472]
International
Review of
Administrative
Sciences
Introduction
How governments can attract and retain the best person for the job is a very compli-
cated but urgent issue for government and business in the war for talent (Hacker,
2001; Michaels at al., 2001; Tulgan, 2002; Berger and Berger, 2003; Losey et al.,
2005; Boudreau and Ramstad, 2007; Cheese et al., 2007; Cappelli, 2008; Lawler,
2008). Job markets for talent have become more competitive than ever before so
that it is not easy attracting the right person, for the right job, at the right time. It is
important to gain and sustain a competitive advantage by finding, hiring, and retain-
ing the right talent with the right structures, systems, processes, and practices in place.
In looking at how to attract and retain the best, first of all, it is necessary to think
about the question, ‘Why do governments, generally, confront serious recruitment
challenges?’ Generally speaking, governments’ recruiting systems are somewhat
passive and very time-consuming with a lot of red tape (Nelson, 2004). The red tape,
and too much bureaucracy, needs to be cut out. Also there is generally a lack of
attraction for the younger generation. Therefore better, more attractive packages;
better compensation, better benefits, better career development programs must be
provided for public officials and prospective candidates (Ban and Riccucci, 2002; Kim,
2003; Klingner and Nalbandian, 2003; Berman et al., 2006). Talented and ambitious
people will stay with their current employer only if they are offered positive develop-
ment, motivation, and nurturing (Davis et al., 2007). Without these, there will be a loss
of prestige making it difficult to attract young people and competent professionals.
Government is often at risk for brain drain, particularly in developing and transi-
tional economies. Poorly planned government staff cutbacks, an aging work force,
and competition from the private sector contribute to the brain drain in government.
Frequently, it can be seen in the newspapers that bureaucrats are lost to private
enterprise where these kinds of packages are offered. Furthermore, when bureau-
crats are criticized by the media, or the public, for various reasons, potential candi-
dates for the public service turn away from the public sector to the private sector.
Other reasons are lack of financial incentives together with a perception of low
morale, and a lack of confidence and trust in the system. These issues must be dealt
with, otherwise it will be difficult to attract and retain the best.
With these things in mind, it is necessary to find possible answers to the question
of how it is possible to attract and retain the right people in government. This is
arguably the highest priority for employers regardless of the sector difference
between government and business (Riches, 2006). Executives everywhere acknow-
ledge that finding, retaining, and growing talent counts among their toughest busi-
ness challenges (Cappelli, 2008). The current work environment is characterized by
constant change and continuous improvement, on finding ways to enhance govern-
ment’s global competitiveness and performance. How can government’s competi-
tiveness and productivity be improved? Many related questions continue to result in
successful innovation in government. Consequently, government innovation or pub-
lic sector reform has been a major domestic issue in the past but now innovation has
become a key global issue (Kettl, 2000; Nolan, 2001; Light, 2006).
In terms of globalization and internationalization, governments are competing
against each other to have better innovation and better governance reform, so there
638 International Review of Administrative Sciences 74(4)
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