Countries are scoring low because of lacking practice to publish available data on the employment in central administration fully and regularly. Publicly available reporting on public service policy follows along the same lines: although there is regular reporting on specific key issues in some countries, it is still far from fully comprehensive.
WeBER researchers monitored online availability of information that governments of the WB countries produce and provide to the public. Analyses included official data and reports on public service available at the websites of relevant authorities at the time of monitoring. It covered, firstly, statistical data on number and structure of employees in the central state administration, but also relevant data on public service policy grouped within seven key issues: staff planning and recruitment, appraisals, career development, training, wages, disciplinary procedures, and public service integrity.
Overall, average score at the WB level is quite low. The functioning of Human Resource Management Information Systems (HRMIS) in every country leaves a substantial room for improvement, which is also the case with making gender-segregated and data in open format publicly available. Except for Albania and Macedonia, official data and information on public service are not actively promoted to the public.
Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia are taking the lead with the highest scores. For Macedonia, basic statistical data is regularly published at the website of Ministry of Information Society and Administration, segregating data per type of institution and gender and ethnic structure. Still, full data segregation per basic ranks and functions within public service is not achieved yet. Albania and Kosovo are leading in terms of comprehensiveness and regularity of reporting on public service policy – in both countries majority of key issues is reported on (five out of seven), for three years in a row. Also, there is at least a general assessment of quality and outcomes of the public service policy for Albania and Kosovo.
HRMIS in Montenegro is not comprehensive, and data is not made public. Personnel Plans that entail information on the existing structure and numbers of civil servants and general employees, as well as on the planned recruitments in each year are not adopted regularly. There is no specific reporting on public service policy in Montenegro. Although annual reports on the work of the Human Resources Management Agency covers to some extent key issues of the public service policy, there is no regular reporting on career development, wages, integrity issues, or disciplinary procedures.
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia have achieved the lowest scores in disclosing official data on public service. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, data on public service is not kept centrally, and just like in Serbia, it is not regularly updated. The BiH Civil Service Agency (BiH CSA) conducts periodic research on the number and structure of the institutions and the civil servants employed, and there is partial data segregation based on gender and ethnicity. In BiH, reports on public service policy are not produced. In Serbia, no data on the number and structure of civil servants was published for the monitored period. When it comes to reporting on the public service policy in Serbia, some issue-specific reports are regularly produced and published at the website of Human Resource Management Service (HRMS), covering three key issues of public service policy.
See the results here.