“Civil Service Professionalisation in the European Eastern Neighborhood ”

4-5 November 2014

Short introduction to the Civil Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Law on Civil Serviceadopted on 21 July 2000

According to the Law Civil Servants are the employees of

legislative, executive and judicial bodies

The Civil Service Commission under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan was established on the 19th January 2005.

• is a central executive power body

• is directly subordinated and reports to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

3

The Commission

The CSC is responsible for:

• organization of the enforcement of standard legal acts adopted in the area of civil service;

• taking part in formulation and implementation of the policy in the field of the civil service and HR;

• recruitment on a competitive basis;

• control over observance of the ethics conduct rules by civil servants;

• professional development and attestation of civil servants;

• social protection and other issues relating to the civil service.

4%

76%

20%

The number of civil servants in Azerbaijan is 29710

Administrative positions of the 1st-3rd classificationsAdministrative positions of the 4th-7th classificationsAuxiliary positions of the 1st-4th classifications

Administrative positions

Administrative positions are positions of heads of offices and departments of state bodies, their deputies, as well as positions of consultants recruited to the civil service.

These positions are divided into 7 classifications according to the categories of state bodies (from supreme and 1-5).

Auxiliary positions

These positions are positions of civil servants carrying out the technical works in state bodies (clerk, typist, courier, archivist, lift operator, driver and other employees).

Position Type of positionType of

recruitment

categories existing in the state

bodies

S 1-st 2-nd 3-rd 4-th 5-th

Supreme

Ad

min

istr

ativ

e Promotion and

interview

X

1-st ClAdP X X

2-nd ClAdP X X X

3-rd ClAdP X X X X

4-th ClAdP X X X

5-th ClAdP

competition

X X X

6-th ClAdP X X X X

7-th ClAdP X X X X

1-st ClAuP

Au

xilia

ry No special

procedures of

recruitment

X

2-nd ClAuP X

3-rd ClAuP X X

4-th ClAuP X X

Recruitment

Recruitment for the administrative position of the 5 th-7 th classifications could be done through:

• competition

• internal interview

Competition

Competition is used for employment to the positions in:• central executive bodies and their local departments• courts

It is announced by the CSC and consists of 2 parts: • testing• interview

It is the most popular recruitment process in the Azerbaijan civil service system. More than 80% of all vacancies are held by the competitions.

Interviewing process is the same for the internal interview, general interview, interview and competition.

Interviews are held by the interviewing panel, as usual, consisting of 3 members: • a representative of the CSC• a representative of the employing body• a neutral/an outsource expert

All the members of the panel are equal and free in evaluating, and all interviewers have been trained to develop interviewing skills.

Civil Service Reforms

In Azerbaijan

Institutional reforms

In 2014 the structure of the Commission was improved and the number of staff members were increased about 50%

Specialized Training Center under the Civil Service Commission was established

Improvement of Legislation

• The draft of the “Civil Service Code” is ready

• 12 laws, 49 decrees and several other norms will lose their legal forces by adopting this Code

• Ethic conduct rules are regulated by this law

• Improvement of competition-based and transparent recruitment mechanism

According to The Civil Service Code high administrative positions (3st-4th classifications) occupied through internal and general interviewwhich these interviews are announced by the CSC.in the 3st-4th classifications are the positions of:• heads and deputy heads of departments of the central executive

bodies

• civil servants from the state bodies of the 1st and 2nd categories

Recruitment

Internal and General Interview

Advantages of such type of recruitment are:• it gives equal chance to the employees• it takes less time and resources• as a result we have the best candidate promoted by the fair, transparent

and effective methods• It gives opportunity to make transfers and rotations of civil servants, and • re-recruitment of the ex-employees who left civil service and wants to

come back.

Innovations in interview process

New regulations:

Participation of neutral experts has been provided in the part of interview group. Representatives of NGOs, mass media and international organizations can participate as an observer, also representatives of NGOs can participate as a member of interview group at interviews.

Interview programs are given to candidates at the same time with announcement of interview.

Interview process is recorded with camera and archived, results of interview are placed in the website of the Commission on the day of interview.

The institute of ethics commissioner is being established

Oversight of ethical conduct rules is carried out by the head of the state bodyand the Civil Service Commission

Elaborated an effective mechanism for investigation of complaints onviolation of the ethical behavior conduct

Civil Service Commission appoints his employee as an ethic commissioner toeach state body

Audition on Ethical violation is carried out by special commissions in collegialmanner. This commission is formulated by the Civil Service Commission

CSC prepares an annual report on the functioning of ethical issues and it ispresented to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Ethical Conduct of Civil Servants

Performance appraisal of the civil servants

“Rules on performance appraisal of civil servants” were approved on the 21 st of February 2014 and started being realized in the state bodies

Aim of the service performance appraisal of civil servant is:• to assess performance of his/her duties during the year;• fulfillment of requirement on holding position;• to define future development of the employee.

In the result of appraisal civil servant can be:– to take actions stipulated by the legislation for

his/her promotion, – to be included to a reserve staff list for holding

managerial position. – motivational cash awards– involving to trainers for improvement of service

performance and skills of civil servant; – appointment to lower positions.

• Training Center under the Civil Service Commission was established

• Training Center conduct trainings in the fields of application of the civil service legislation, ethical conduct, prevention of conflict of interest, combating corruption, etc

• The mechanism of defining out the training needs is creating • Main attention is focused on the organization of short term trainings• Young recruits to the civil service and civil servants commend

annual courses on ethical behavior • All civil servants who hold manager positons are involved to special

manager trainings

Training of Civil Servants

Legislation control

• The mechanism of controlling of legislative implementation in state bodies is creating

• CSC prepares an annual report on the activity of controlling

• The report is published in the official state newspaper.

Reserve staff

The mechanism of effective management of reserve staff is creating

Disciplinary procedures

The bases of implementation of disciplinary procedures inaccordance with the committed offence is being created currently

RotationMain principles of rotation is creating

Thank you for your attention!

Vuqar AskarovCivil Service Commission under the President of the Republic of

Azerbaijan, Head of Legal Department.v.askerov@csc.gov.az