Government’s HR digital transformation efforts have been found wanting.
The human resource management (HRM) practices and processes in some state departments are fragmented, often characterised by a lack of digital solutions.
This is based on observations by the Public Service Commission (PSC), informed by its 2023/24 study into the progress that provincial and national departments have made in digitising HRM systems and upskilling employees in the public service.
Based on a sample of six national departments and several departments in five provincial administrations, the study was presented to the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration in Parliament this week. The Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI) also briefed the committee.
Similarly, the committee heard from the CPSI that HR systems in public service are outdated, with many still paper-based.
South Africa’s public service accounts for 1.3 million of the country’s labour force.
PSC commissioner Vusumuzi Mavuso told the portfolio committee that during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, most public service departments were caught unprepared and poorly equipped to effectively adopt or take advantage of the opportunities of the fourth industrial revolution.
Resultantly, the 2023/24 study is a follow-up to determine improvements to core operational processes and how the public service can prioritise the digitisation of HRM processes.
Amanda Kelengeshe, director for labour relations and best practices at the PSC, told committee members that the sampled departments were those that indicated they have partially or fully digitised their HR processes.
National departments were found to have varying degrees of HR automation and digitisation. Those not fully digitised or automated had limited ICT budgets.
In some instances, the PSC’s findings show that sending a CV and supporting documents by e-mail or completing an e-application, and an HR practitioner manually printing these out for pre-screening and shortlisting purposes, was regarded as automation or digitisation.
The same can be said for e-PMDS (performance management and development systems), where submitting a performance agreement and mid-term or annual reviews to a supervisor was done via e-mail, said Kelengeshe.
“Onboarding and employee relations case management systems were not yet digitised in most national departments, except for the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.”
That department has partially digitised recruitment, employee relations, onboarding and leave management, which are processes accessible via the Microsoft SharePoint cloud-based tool, she revealed.
The National School of Government’s systems for training public servants are digitised and working swiftly. The only challenge is their internal HR system, which is not digitised, noted Kelengeshe.
“They tried to digitise recruitment, and it was fully functioning, but were then requested to discontinue it by the DPSA [Department of Public Service and Administration] because the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) was going to be functional. Remember, this module of HR is part of that IFMS system.”
She also highlighted Stats SA among the departments that have partially digitised.
The reason the forestry and fisheries department is successful in its digital transformation is because of the support and collaboration from executive and senior managers, according to Kelengeshe. “This is in contrast in other departments where there are challenges.”
At provincial level, some departments in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Gauteng were determined to be “more advanced” in digitisation of HR processes, compared to many departments nationally and many other departments in their provincial counterparts.
Kelengeshe explained that challenges that persist in the provinces are due to ICT and HRM professionals not being upskilled, especially the ones that are in departments.
“All the departments that have their developers, their ICT people, they need to be developed to be operating on the same level as those that are in the office of the premiers.
“Also, not all departments in the provinces that we’ve selected have digitised certain areas. For instance, training and development has not been digitised; others have not digitised e-application management and there is still the issue of going the manual route in terms of leave forms, recruitment and selection.”
While the Eastern Cape has digitised recruitment and leave applications, for example, many departments in the Free State have reverted to manual processes, despite the engagement of ICT professionals to inform managers to embrace digital solutions, she said.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the province lacks ICT funding and commitment from management to digitise, she commented. “There are processes they have automated and partially digitised, which is the e-recruitment process. However, within that process, there are steps they will do manually.
“Because most parts of the province are so rural in nature, they are not able to fully automate and digitise, because they need to accommodate the people from the rural areas.
“They still receive leave applications via e-mail; they still have applications being hand-delivered. Where they have automated and digitised, they have not managed to have that direct connection to PERSAL – that interface between the system and the person – so that you can get the right credits of the person for leave.”
Gauteng was found to be a leader in digital transformation when compared with departments both nationally and provincially.
Following the presentation, portfolio committee chairperson Jan de Villiers expressed concern over the uneven pace of digital transformation efforts across government departments and provinces.
De Villiers stressed there is an urgent need for the public service to embrace digital transformation and modernisation, particularly in HRM, as this will help improve efficiency and accountability in the public service.
“We know digital transformation is key to stopping the ‘revolving door policy’ where members of the public service start disciplinary processes in one part of government and then just leave to go to another part of government, with no system to track them and alert other departments before re-appointing them in the public service.”
Portfolio committee members also bemoaned the lack of consequences and sanctions against departments and accounting officers resisting digitalisation efforts. The committee called for stricter compliance enforcement and details on all non-compliant departments.
To address some of the challenges, the PSC has made several recommendations, including implementing a centralised HRM system.
