Employer of Choice? Workplace Innovation in Government - A Synthesis Report - Graham S. Lowe

When he left CPRN in July 1998, Kathryn McMullen took over the management of the project, and, working with her, Graham Lowe, the new Director of the Network, has given leadership to the closing stages of the work and he is the author of this final report. [...] Drawing insights from the Canadian Policy Research Networks’ Human Resources in Government (HRG) Project, the report examines the impact of extensive downsizing and restructuring in the public service during the 1990s in the five jurisdictions that sponsored the research: the federal government and the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia. [...] • Section 3 documents the internal and external pressures for change in the work of government, including the lingering effects of downsizing and restructuring, the extensive use of information technology and the shift toward more knowledge and skill-based work. [...] • Section 6 relies on the Survey of Workplace Issues in Government and the Survey of Union Representatives to investigate the nature and extent of innovative workplace practices in government, showing that a signifi- cant minority of work units have introduced elements of the “flexible” workplace model. [...] The forces driving this shift from the bureaucratic to the flexible government organiza- tion are the demographic crunch and resulting recruitment and retention pressures, the rising skill requirements of government work, and a new political environment that places premiums on the quality and efficiency of public service.