Training, managerial support and skill development

As discussed in Chapter 3, occupational success – in this case, defined as access to the top positions within the civil service – is influenced by the amount of human capital that individuals possess. Moreover, human capital not only contributes to occupational success here and now, in terms of the position that individuals currently occupy within an organisation, but also shapes the chances and the opportunities of upward mobility within that organisation.

The usual indicator of human capital is taken as the highest level of education achieved in the educational system (see previous chapters for discussion of educational qualifications). Human capital accumulation, however, does not end when individuals leave the educational system, but continues throughout their working career. Individuals, indeed, may come back to the educational system during their working career in order to earn further educational credentials or, most importantly, accumulate human capital on the job.

The main channels through which individuals accumulate human capital are the investments that their organisation makes to support and train them. However, the extent to which employers invest in workers may vary according to the

workers’ position within the organisation’s hierarchy and to the task performed. In this respect, the segregation of women in certain positions/tasks may hinder their chances to accumulate human capital valuable for promotion. In Chapter 2, we saw that men and women are unevenly distributed across the civil service occupational hierarchy, which may have implications for access to supports.

In this chapter, we focus on two channels that increase human capital: training opportunities within the civil service and the support that a civil servant’s immediate manager provides. We discuss how these vary by gender and grade. Then we look at gender segregation in more depth, by analysing how tasks are allocated to men and women across grades. The task performed is strongly associated with the chance to accumulate human capital. Gender segregation with respect to task may thus intensify the disadvantaged position of women.

4.1.1 Training opportunities

Training can be considered as one of the main channels to enhance human capital. The extent to which individuals have access to training is thus crucial to understanding their promotion prospects.

In Figure 4.1, we report the average scores for a scale that measures whether civil servants have had access to training. The scale of training opportunities is based on five items:

• I can access the right learning and development opportunities when I need to;

• Learning and development activities completed in the last 12 months helped improve my performance;

• Learning and development activities completed while working for department helping me to develop my career;

• I receive training to keep me up to date with developments in my department; and

• I receive the training that I need to do my job well.

The scale ranges from zero to ten, representing the minimum and maximum values of training respectively. A value of ten represents a case in which the respondent answered ‘strongly agree’ to all the five questions.35 _{Conversely, a value of zero}

represents those who ‘strongly disagree’ with all five questions. In order to have a more direct idea of how positively or negatively civil servants feel concerning their training opportunities, Table A4.8 (in the appendix) shows that the share of respondents who agreed or strongly agreed with the five items ranges between 39 and 50 per cent. The same interpretation holds for all the scales presented below. Concerning training opportunities across gender, the overall scores for men and women are 5.40 and 5.27 respectively. While the difference is small, it is statistically significant. However, gender differences become insignificant when we

Promotion levers, barriers and perceived promotion opportunities|55

take grade into account (Figure 4.1, see Table A4.1 in Appendix 4 for the full model).

Looking at the pattern across grades, the figure clearly shows that training opportunities increase over the occupational hierarchy. Civil servants at Clerical Officer (CO) and Staff Officer (SO) level, for example, report a score of five or lower on a scale of one to ten, while those at the highest levels of the hierarchy report a value of around six.

Finally, considering gender and grade jointly, we see that the overall gender differences in perceived training opportunities are explained by the fact that women are over-represented in lower grades, where opportunities are fewer. While there is no gender gap within grades, the fact that women are over- represented in the lowest grades, with less access to training, has implications for their promotion opportunities.

FIGURE 4.1 TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES SCALE ACROSS GRADE, BY GENDER

Source: Own calculation based on the CSEES.

Note: Mean scores on a scale ranging from zero to ten.

This pattern of increasing training opportunities over grades is also confirmed by multivariate analyses that show no difference between CO and SO, and then a 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Overall CO SO EO HEO AO AP >=PO

Male Female

continuous increase over grades, which results in a gap of 1.25 points between CO and Principal Officer (PO) or above.36

This pattern suggests a form of ‘cumulative advantage’, given that those already occupying advantaged positions benefit most from training opportunities. The greater levels of training in the higher grades, where men are over-represented, may lead to the reproduction of gender inequality within the civil service.

4.1.2 Managerial career support

A second factor that enhances human capital relates to the support for skills and career development that managers provide to employees. The scale we use to measure managerial support builds on four items, outlined below.

My immediate manager:

• takes an interest in my career development;

• makes sure I get credit for my achievements;

• gives me helpful feedback to improve my performance; and

• provides assignments that give me the opportunity to develop new skills. Again, the scale ranges from zero to ten (see Table A4.9 in Appendix 4 for details). Considering the gender dimension, men report a higher average score of 5.8, compared to 5.6 for women, a gap that is statistically significant. However, once we take into account the grade, using multivariate analysis, the difference disappears (see Table A4.2 in the appendix). The overall gender difference can be attributed to the fact that women are more concentrated in the lower grades, where access to managerial support is less likely.

Concerning grade, the pattern is similar to that observed for training opportunities: the likelihood of receiving managerial support tends to increase over the organisational ladder. The opportunities to develop human capital are thus higher for the highest grades.

36 _{Multivariate analyses are reported in the appendix. Analyses are based on regression models that control for}

education, tenure, working arrangement, job contract, task, whether based in headquarters, whether based in Dublin or outside, and department.

Promotion levers, barriers and perceived promotion opportunities|57

FIGURE 4.2 MANAGERIAL CAREER SUPPORT SCALE ACROSS GRADE, BY GENDER

Source: Own calculation, based on the CSEES.

Note: Mean scores on a scale ranging from zero to ten.

The pattern estimated via multivariate analyses confirms these grade patterns: we do not find any statistically significant difference between CO and SO, while managerial support continuously increases for the subsequent grades.37 _Moreover,

gender differences within grades are not statistically significant. Therefore, within grade, women report receiving as much support as men.

4.1.3 Work tasks

Literature has shown that career development opportunities can also depend on the specific task in which employees are involved. This is because some tasks render employees more visible to senior managers, require continuing training or are seen to have a higher value within the organisation.

In Table 4.1, we investigate whether male and female employees within the same grade perform the same tasks. The results show a high degree of association between the grades that individuals occupy and the task performed. Civil servants at Administrative Officer (AO) level or above are more likely to perform tasks focused on policy, programme implementation and corporate support. At levels below AO, civil servants are mainly involved in service delivery. Roles that are likely

37 _{Multivariate results are reported in the appendix. Control variables are the same as for models of training}

opportunities. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Overall CO SO EO HEO AO AP >=PO

Male Female

to involve high profile activities and better opportunities are thus more common within the higher grades.

TABLE 4.1 DISTRIBUTION OF TASKS ACROSS GRADES, BY GENDER (COLUMN %)

Men CO SO EO HEO AO AP PO AS and

above Policy 4.1 2.3 5.8 9.3 37.1 23.1 31.2 50.4 Programme implementation 3.3 3.98 6.1 10.9 8.2 14.8 13.6 9.9 Corporate support 14.4 10.6 21.2 22.9 11.3 16.7 15.5 10.8 Service delivery 36.3 43.9 33.4 29.3 18.0 25.0 21.0 16.2

Direct service to the

public 24.9 29.5 19.4 17.5 7.2 7.6 9.2 2.7

Other 17.0 9.8 14.1 10.0 18.0 12.9 9.5 9.9

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Women CO SO EO HEO AO AP PO AS and

above Policy 3.2 3.1 7.2 11.5 38.0 26.4 32.3 27.5 Programme implementation 2.6 3.1 5.0 7.6 6.8 12.3 10.9 7.5 Corporate support 10.4 14.3 19.2 17.0 12.5 16.5 9.8 17.5 Service delivery 37.5 45.5 31.6 30.9 15.1 23.3 24.1 22.5

Direct service to the

public 24.0 22.5 17.8 18.6 9.4 8.2 14.7 5.0

Other 22.2 11.3 19.2 14.4 18.2 13.5 8.3 20.0

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Source: Own calculation, based on the CSEES.

Note: The number ofmale and female respondents at Assistant Secretary (AS) level or above are 111 and 40 respectively.

Concerning patterns by gender, the largest differences are visible at PO level and above. At PO level, women (39 per cent) are more likely to be involved in service delivery and frontline services than men (30 per cent). This may be related to the departments in which they are located. At the level of AS and above, gender differences are striking: 50 per cent of men are involved in policy tasks, compared with 27.5 per cent of women. In contrast, tasks performed by men and women are relatively similar at the bottom of the occupational ladder (i.e. CO level).

These results confirm previous research on the Irish civil service and public sector, which found women to be more likely to be concentrated on the operational side and less likely to occupy roles that involve high profile activities. This is true irrespective of their under-representation, at the top positions of the civil service ladder.