Employee Wellness and Empowerment Policy (SYC0008)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address? Efficient public service inspires trust in Government and promotes citizens engagement and support of Government priorities. In order to provide service of excellence to the public, the public officers need to have the necessary know-how, support, infrastructure and resources. It is felt that the wellness and wellbeing of public officers is paramount in ensuring that they deliver effective service to citizens. In the absence of policy that guides employee wellness and empowerment in the public service a lot of components of employee overall wellbeing may be left to chance, which the aftermath may impact service delivery. Contributing factors to the problem are multifactorial and not limited to the following:  Lack of resources and capacity (human, financial and infrastructure)  Unplanned activities taking precedence over strategic management and planning culminating in staff being overwhelmed with heavy workload.  Poor organisational culture and behaviour  Traditional leadership (transactional)  No flexible work arrangement policies and enabling structures and frameworks  Weak human resource practices This Commitment seeks to develop a comprehensive policy committed to creating an enabling environment that promotes physical and mental health wellbeing, professional growth and overall job satisfaction for the public officers.

What is the commitment? To develop a comprehensive policy where the Government pledges its commitment to work in partnership with the service users (both internal/external) to improve service delivery by creating an enabling environment that promotes physical and mental health wellbeing, professional growth and overall job satisfaction.

How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem? By introducing sound policies and regulations that will support and strengthen staff wellness and wellbeing, public officers have a support structure in the workplace that enables them to resolve conflicts, manage stress to prevent burn out. Public officers are happier, resilient and more engaged in their workplace. They will have the skills and resources to deliver their job effectively. A roadmap towards professionalization of the HR role supported by policies and frameworks, HRMS, capacity building and new incentive schemes will enable HR practitioners, to work in partnership with the leadership team to create the environment which is supportive of employees’ wellbeing and empowerment. These will improve public service that citizens receive.

Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? Clear policies and regulations on how the public service staff are to be supported and cared for will ensure transparency. Leaders and HR will be accountable for staff welfare and wellbeing. Empowered employees will develop personal accountability for their performance which will culminate into better service delivery for citizens. Partnership between the public service and CEPs to engage with citizens about their responsibilities towards better service delivery.

Additional information

What has been done so far to solve the problem? • Capacity building for HR practitioners to empower them with knowledge and skills in modern HR management. • Introduction to performance management system • Updating the legal framework to support HR management (PSO).

Milestone activity with a verifiable deliverable | Start date | End date

Draft work plan for development of the Employee Wellness and Empowerment Policy. | January 2024 | March 2024

Draft policy of Employee Wellness and Empowerment and validated with partners and Submission of Policy Document to Cabinet for approval. | April 2024 | December 2024

Implementation of Policy and Monitoring of Policy implementation | January 2025 | onwards

Action Plan Review

Importantly, this commitment addresses the welfare of the public officeholders, which can lead to a satisfied, healthier, and more productive workforce, and improved service delivery. However, as currently written, this commitment has no direct connection to the open governance principles of transparency, civic participation or public accountability. It raises a matter that concerns internal public service review and remuneration rather than an open governance initiative. Implementors can consider adding activities that would directly open government to the public. If reformers seek to strengthen public service delivery, then an open government reform might include strengthening channels for the government to receive and act on public feedback on government services. If reformers seek to strengthen public servants’ competencies, then a reform could be mainstreaming access-to-information training across government to strengthen public access to government-held information.