And some advice for those who can.
29 Sept. 2024
By Katja Hemmerich
A common phrase used by human resources (HR) professionals across the UN system is that they ‘manage talent’. Talent management is a term that originated in the private sector that doesn’t fully translate to the UN system. Much as our HR colleagues would like to manage talent, they do not have the full authority to do so in the UN system. In fact, member states play a significant role in managing UN talent. If you’re a UN employee, member states impact your employment conditions much more than your human resources office does.
A key mechanism by which member states impact talent management across the UN system is through the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC). The standards for the conditions of service for UN staff originate with the ICSC, a body made up of 15 geographically representative Commissioners, nominated and elected by member states. This year, three out of the 15 spots are up for election on 8 November, with the deadline for nominations looming on 25 October 2024. If you’re a member state delegate who wants the HR resolution (A/RES/77/278) implemented that you just negotiated after a five year impasse, then you should take these elections seriously.
Accordingly, our spotlight this month explores the fundamental role of the ICSC in managing UN talent and how these upcoming elections can shape better human resources outcomes, if member states take them seriously.
How does the ICSC manage UN talent?
The consulting firm McKinsey and Company first coined the term talent management in the 1990s and defines it as:
“all the ways that organizations bring employees on board, keep them happy and productive, and help them continue to develop their skills over time.” - McKinsey & Co. ‘What is Talent Management?', 22 May 2023
A key way that organizations attract and bring the best talent on board is through their ‘employee value proposition’, meaning what employees get in exchange for joining your organization. This includes everything from their work environment, career development and learning opportunities as well as salaries and benefits. It is the ICSC - not human resources staff - which sets the salaries and benefits. The ICSC decides directly on the amounts for post adjustment, hardship allowances and Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) rates and makes recommendations to the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee on professional staff salary scales, dependency allowances and education grant. The Fifth Committee tends to follow the advice of the ICSC.
Unlike in the private sector, HR professionals in the UN therefore do not have any authority or flexibility to adjust any of the financial incentives or the compensation package offered to attract or retain particular talent. They are bound by the standards set by the ICSC and approved by the General Assembly.
Why is this important? Let’s consider the UN’s longstanding aim to obtain gender equality amongst its workforce. Dual career families, where both parents have their own careers are a growing phenomenon across the globe, particularly for women embarking on international careers. A recent study of women managers from Austria, Canada, Colombia and Taiwan with international careers and in dual career families highlighted the cross-cutting importance of childcare. While all the women participating in the study indicated that their partners were supportive of their career and tried to take on a growing share of domestic work, they also indicated that they had the lead responsibility for organizing childcare. Women from all four countries agreed that accessibility of quality childcare was an important priority for how they organized and balanced their families and careers. (I.C. Fischlmayr & K.M. Puchmüller, 'Married, mom and manager – how can this be combined with an international career?', 2016)
Yet, in the UN, education grant only kicks in from the age of five, in accordance with the ICSC’s recommendation. Even if an HR professional realizes that offering an additional financial incentive or benefit for childcare could attract more female talent with young children, they have no authority to offer such an option - unlike their private sector counterparts. This is why the ICSC is such an important player in the UN's management of talent. Which in turn, is why understanding who the Commissioners are and electing quality candidates is crucial for both UN staff and delegates who want more effective HR outcomes.
What should member states consider when nominating & electing Commissioners?
Considering our example, the gender balance of the ICSC one particularly interesting aspect of the ICSC’s composition. Only three of the 15 Commissioners are women - that’s a gender balance worse than the notoriously male dominated Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS). Three seats are up for election, all currently encumbered by men. That means member states have an incredible opportunity to nominate and select women for these three seats and create a gender balance of 40% for the ICSC. Would that make the ICSC more considerate of gender issues? There are no guarantees, but it does seem likely. There is a growing body of research in public administration and specifically on international organizations that shows that a more representative bureaucracy increases not only its perceived legitimacy but also the effectiveness of policy-making (F. Badache, Unpacking the Bureaucratic Representation–Legitimacy Relationship in International Organizations, 2022)
The ICSC also has a striking imbalance in its membership with respect to age. Only six of the Commissioners list their date of birth on their CVs. Their ages range from 50 to 75, with three of them over 70 years old. Of the nine remaining Commissioners, seven completed their first university degree in the 1980s, which also generally puts them at or above retirement age. As in the case of gender, there is an argument to be made that the ICSC might be more attuned to the challenges of younger staff and families if some of the Commissioners themselves were in this situation.
Moreover, the need to be a competitive employer for young talent is a growing concern for the Fifth Committee. Talent managers across the globe are grappling with new ways to attract and retain GenZ and Millennials to their organizations. This requires more progressive and flexible employment conditions and policies that support a 21st century employee value proposition. While other HR professionals outside the UN can, and do, increasingly innovate in their employee value propositions, currently UN human resources units are left with trying to create more learning and career development opportunities - which is nearly impossible with the recent budget cuts and late payments of member states. If the UN is really to be a competitive employer, and if the Fifth Committee really wants a rejuvenation of the Secretariat as set out in A/RES/77/278, the ICSC will need to be more creative and innovative in employment conditions, especially those areas important to young talent. Member states therefore have a vested interest in nominating at least some candidates who understand GenZ and Millennials and are closer to them in age.
An additional point that Fifth Committee delegates should consider when nominating and electing Commissioners is adherence to Article 6 of the ICSC’s Statute which states that:
“members shall perform their functions in full independence and with impartiality; they shall not seek or receive instructions from any Government, or from any secretariat or staff association of an organization in the United Nations common system.” - Art. 6 of the ICSC Statute and Rules of Procedure.
Two of the incumbents of the three sets up for election this year continued to hold positions in their governments while serving on the ICSC for the last 20 odd years. This seemingly contradicts article 6. Moreover, it also leads to increased perceptions, and opportunities, for politicization of the ICSC, which is not helpful in the currently fractured multilateral system. While most of the Commissioners are former diplomats, there are also those who are respected academics in public administration and personnel management, former UN system staff members and former judges and lawyers with experience in employment law. Nomination of candidates with such diverse backgrounds who are not employed by governments is also likely to improve the quality of the ICSC while also preempting potential disagreements about how to interpret and enforce art. 6.
Best practices in UN committee elections
Unfortunately, the nominees for the ICSC are only made public after the deadline for nominations on 25 October, making it difficult for member states and other stakeholders to consider whether the Fifth Committee really has a balanced list of qualified candidates from which to choose. Within the UN there is no standard approach to elections, and processes often evolve from tradition and circumstance, as do the nomination procedures within each member state. To avoid falling back on the status quo, we take this opportunity to highlight some experiences from other technical committees in the UN which could strengthen the ICSC and help the Fifth Committee in its efforts to make the UN more effective and efficient.
One such example is the process for nomination and election of human rights treaty body members, who like the ICSC Commissioners are serve as independent experts on geographically balanced committees. States parties, treaty body members and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights have been in longstanding and open discussions about how to strengthen the membership of treaty bodies and come up with several processes that can easily be replicated elsewhere (see for instance A/66/680).
There is a standard template for the CVs that nominees must submit, allowing for a better understanding of where their expertise and experience lies. Civil society also engages in the process for different Committees, for instance, with NGOs inviting nominees to explain what they can bring to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, or in the case of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disability, participating in vetting potential nominees within their respective country as part of the nomination process. While there is no obvious NGO counterpart focused on the ICSC, this is an opportunity for member states to leverage their UN Associations, or academic networks on management and public administration, for instance, and involve them in identifying and vetting qualified candidates.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights has set out suggestions for how member states should identify nominees for treaty bodies, which are equally relevant and applicable to the current process of ICSC nominations:
Rely on an open and transparent selection process;
Consider candidates with a proven record of expertise in the relevant area (for example, through relevant work experience, publications and other achievements);
Consider candidates who are willing to take on the full range of responsibilities of a treaty body member;
Avoid nominations of experts holding any position that might expose them to pressures, conflict of interests or generate a real or perceived impression of a lack of independence;
Limit the terms of service of members to a reasonable number for any given committee, bearing in mind that the most recent treaties allow a maximum of two successive terms.
(A/66/680 and the Handbook for Treaty Body Members)
While the 25 October deadline for nominations is looming, there is still time for member states to implement these suggestions or engage with UN Associations or other bodies to help find high quality and representative candidates for the upcoming ICSC elections. It is a concrete action that member states can take to fulfill their commitment agreed in the Pact for the Future:
"We must renew trust in global institutions by making them more representative of and responsive to today’s world and more effective at delivering on the commitments that we have made to one another and our people." - para. 65
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