Human resource management in the public sector

The public sector is very labour intensive – around 70 per cent of the budgets of most public organisations are spent on staff. The management of human resources has high priority not only because of the cost but also because human resources are the agents of all government activities. There are currently over five million people employed in the UK public sector, which represents more than 20 per cent of all official employment. There have been significant changes in the way people are managed in the public sector over the last twenty-five years around the world. Just as public administration and government have been giving way to new public management and governance, so traditional personnel management has given way to human resource management (HRM). This chapter examines the reasons for that change and its effect on how public officials are currently managed. Finally, it highlights some of the major issues confronting HRM in the public sector today, first in the UK and then internationally.