Recruitment and Retention in Front-line Services: The case of childcare

This article highlights how problems of recruitment and retention in front-line services create a particular challenge to traditional HRM models and solutions. Private day nurseries make an interesting example of the challenges facing managers in the service sector as the combination of a feminised workforce, a price-sensitive service, public-private competition and state regulation create particular difficulties. We report on a study of 33 day nurseries involving interviews with managers and employees over an eight-month period. Our findings show that childcare providers have to cope with recruitment and retention problems associated with high-end interactive service provision compounded by gender segregation and small business characteristics. Our analysis of employer and employee perspectives examines labour market issues affecting recruitment, and categorises the reasons for staff turnover into internal 'push' factors, external 'pull' factors, outside factors and functional turnover.

Military Service Pensions for public and civil servants in independent Ireland

In 1924 the Cumann na nGaedheal government introduced the first Military Service Pensions Act to provide monetary compensation for those who fought for Irish independence between 1916 and 1923. Pensioners who were in receipt of remuneration from the state as civil and public servants had a portion of their pension deducted commensurate with their state income. This controversial provision was criticised by all political parties as representing a mean-spirited attitude towards veterans of the independence campaign and treating civil and public servants differently from those in private employment. It was eventually modified in the 1940s and abolished in the 1950s. This article provides a case study that highlights the parsimonious attitude of Irish governments towards veterans of the independence campaign and shows how the treatment of public and civil servants reflected tensions between the government and the civil service in the early years of the state.

Public Service Broadcasting, Creative Industries and Innovation Infrastructure: The Case of ABC's Pool

The proliferation of media services enabled by digital technologies poses a serious challenge to public service broadcasting rationales based on media scarcity. Looking to the past and future, we articulate an important role that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) might play in the digital age. We argue that historically the ABC has acted beyond its institutional broadcasting remit to facilitate cultural development and, drawing on the example of Pool (an online community of creative practitioners established and maintained by the ABC), point to a key role it might play in fostering network innovation in what are now conceptualised as the creative industries.

Serving Multiple Masters: Exploring HRD in the Context of Third Sector Partnerships for Public Service Delivery

Organisations in the Non-Profit and Voluntary (NPV) sector increasingly face challenging and uncertain times with an increasing shift from public grant funding towards contract funding. As a result many of these changes employees in such organisations have often found themselves working more closely under contract with colleagues in public sector organisations in order to provide public services. Using a multiple case study methodology and in-depth interviewing of a range of stakeholders form two large Northern Irish based Non Profit Organisations in the social care sector, the purpose of this research was to
investigate HRD and people management issues and how a turbulent environment can affect how organisations approach HRD strategy and implementation.

The research identifies the importance placed upon NPOs adopting HRD strategies and addressing the development of unique and specialised skills in order to claw back power within the relationships they serve with statutory funding bodies. However this research also notes that the manner in which HRD and its associated issues are considered within NPOs can have an impact on the loyalty and commitment of the workforce which serves them. What is of concern is that the context for the delivery of public services under contract is putting increasing strain on NPOs and this has been felt markedly by their respective workforces, and unless strong values-led leadership and managerial practice is in
place in NPOs, the voluntary-centred ethos of those who work in the sector may be significantly damaged.

Fit for Purpose?:Challenges for Irish Public Administration and Priorities for Public Service Reform

The depth of the current economic and fiscal crisis has raised concerns about the Irish political and administrative system, and prompted calls for fundamental reform of our structures of public governance. Both the state and its financial system are reliant on international support. This crisis requires a coherent response from our public administration. There is recognition that this change cannot simply be a repeat or extension of the public service reform programmes of the past. It will need to be more radical than this. Over the coming years, the numbers employed in the public service will continue to fall and expenditure will need to be restrained, targeted and prioritised. The Public Service Agreement 2010-2014 (the Croke Park Agreement) sets out a framework for change. But there is a need to look beyond the agreement to consider more fundamentally the future role of public administration in the context of the new economic and social dispensation in Ireland. Our public services need to adapt to this new environment if they are to continue to be fit for purpose.

In this paper we set out the main challenges facing public administration and where we see reform as vital. We note what changes have taken place to date, including experience with previous reform efforts, and outline what should happen next. Where appropriate, we draw on national and international practice to provide exemplars of change.

The Role and Effectiveness of Public – Private Partnerships (NHS LIFT) in the Development of Enhanced Primary Care Premises and Services:Report for the National Institute for Health Research Service Delivery and Organisation programme

The research project analysed the role and effectiveness of LIFT via a multi-method study which included semi-structured interviews with policy elites and users, as well as case studies and an exploratory analysis of the financial characteristics of three LIFT Companies. While the team felt that it was able to identify key aspects relating to the advantages and drawbacks surrounding LIFT, some aspects relating to the representativeness of the study was adversely affected by a reluctance of PCTs to participate in the case study analysis and commercial confidentiality restrictions. The study was nonetheless able to identify important issues in relation to the funding and procurement of primary care premises and services.