Top 10 Countries with Most Effective Civil Service Performance, Canada Ranked 3rd

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Civil services are one of Indonesian people’s dream jobs. According to research Mind and Gap: Mapping Youth Skills for Future in ASEAN launched by the ASEAN Foundation in 2022, around 48 percent of Indonesian youths long to work for the government. 

However, the State Civil Service Agency (BKN) previously reported many complaints regarding the performance of Indonesian civil servants. Most people in Indonesia want fast and easy service, but most agencies are unable to provide it. 

So, where are the countries with the most effective civil service in the world?  

List of Countries with the Most Effective Civil Service Performance

The Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford released the International Civil Service Effectiveness Index (InCiSE) in 2019, measuring the performance of central civil services around the world. Researchers analyzed 116 metrics to determine the best central civil services in 38 countries. 

The main focus of the InCiSE model and indicators is core executive functions, mission support facilities, service delivery functions, and attributes or behavior of civil service in each part of the service. Core executive functions include policy-making and fiscal and financial management services; while mission support facilities include human resource management (HR) and information technology for officials. 

The service delivery functions consist of tax administration, digital services, and social security administration. Meanwhile, attributes include integrity, openness, inclusiveness, staff involvement, and innovation. 

The top 10 countries with the best civil service performance in the world are as follows: 

1. England

The UK has relatively high civil service performance for most indicators, scoring a maximum in four out of nine metrics. In terms of fiscal and financial management, the country achieved a high score for performance budgeting. However, the only indicator below average is digital services. 

2. New Zealand

New Zealand's integrity score is far superior to other countries. New Zealand also tops the rankings for procurement, especially regarding the electronic services procurement function. Good IT skills also influence workplace skills. 

3. Canada

Canada tops the HR management and inclusivity. The score suggests that it has many lessons to share with other countries concerning recruiting, attracting, and managing talent, as well as promoting gender and ethnic representation issues in the civil service. 

4. Finland

Finland's strongest scores were crisis and risk management reaching maximum values for all metrics, except openness and skills. Finland’s capabilities results are noteworthy for its high scores for the readiness to learn and degree of job-related learning metrics, suggesting a strong learning and development ethos relative to other countries.  

5. Australia

In 5th position, Australia scores above average for all indicators, making it one of the countries with the most effective civil service performance. Australia also performs well in terms of policymaking and regulation. 

6. Denmark

Denmark achieved maximum scores for metrics assessing strategic planning, the extent to which academic advice influences policy decisions, and policy monitoring issues. Denmark also shows a good digital service system because the local government is committed to investing in digitalization. 

7. Norway

The level of access to information and the provision of consultation services from the government regarding policy issues is the main reason for the high openness score in Norway. Additionally, digital service scores in Norway are mostly above average and public perception of corruption in the civil service sector is also high. 

8. Netherlands

The Netherlands scores above average for all indicators, except policymaking. The Netherlands' strong performance in terms of openness includes a public consultation service. Tax administration indicators also received very high scores. 

9. South Korea

South Korea takes the top spot in transparency of public spending and budget practices. In HR management indicators, the metrics are well above average. This shows that civil service recruitment in South Korea pays relatively more attention to ability or achievement (meritocracy).

10 Sweden

As one of the countries with the highest civil service performance, all management indicator scores in Sweden are above average. 

In terms of integrity, Sweden achieved the maximum score for the level of protection of civilian whistleblowers.

MELYNDA DWI PUSPITA

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