KEYNOTE SPEECH OF CSC CHAIRPERSON KARLO A. B. NOGRALES 
PLENARY SESSION #6 OF THE 2023 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOLS AND INSTITUTES OF ADMINISTRATION (IASIA) CONFERENCE
3 August 2023

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF GUESTS

• Session Chair, Dr. Gary Ador Dionisio, Dean of the School of Diplomacy and Governance, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde;
• Co-Chair, His Excellency Bardhyl Dobra, IASIA Functional Vice President for Regional and International Cooperation, Republic of Kosovo;
• My fellow presenters:
o Dr. Alex B. Brillantes Jr., Secretary General of the Eastern Regional Organization for Public Administration (EROPA);
o Dr. Younés Abouyoub, Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Lebanon;
o Dr. Woothisarn Tanchai, University Council President, Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University, Thailand;
o Mayor Mohammad Ali “Bruce” Matabalao of the City of Cotabato;
• Fellow civil servants; Public Administrators, scholars, practioners, experts, and students from all over the world,
• Ladies and gentlemen;

A pleasant afternoon to everyone, or as we say in Filipino, “Magandang hapon sa inyong lahat.”

VUCA AND THE SDGs

I am honored to speak at this international conference and share developments on how the Philippine Civil Service works to meet the governance challenges and demands of the future. I stand with everyone at this conference in acknowledging that we live in a VUCA world or a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity – one marked by rapid and complex changes that can drastically disrupt organizations, with those least prepared and least equipped with the right tools for managing change bearing the direst consequences.

Building a civil service capable of navigating this VUCA world contributes to the attainment of effective, accountable, transparent, and strong public sector institutions, one of the targets under the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs. When civil servants have the strategic orientation, professional expertise, and innovation capabilities needed to respond to complex and emerging challenges, public trust in government improves and cooperation and collaboration among various sectors are strengthened, resulting in better policies and programs for the public and greater social stability. For these reasons, the Civil Service Commission (CSC), as the central human resource or HR agency of the Philippine government, takes its role seriously in ushering the Philippine bureaucracy toward the future.

THE CIVIL SERVICE IN A VUCA WORLD

In order to effectively navigate a VUCA world, what must be required of civil servants? What must the future civil service look like?

The COVID-19 pandemic is the most recent, most disruptive crisis to affect the entire globe—the perfect example showing the complexity, uncertainty, and chaos of the world we live in. But it was not the first and it certainly would not be the last. So we need to be ready. And we envision a future civil service with the agility to ride the waves of change to ensure public service continuity. In times of peace and stability, it is imperative to establish policies and systems that would help civil servants adapt quickly to new situations and environments.

The future civil service is one that recognizes the increasing diversity of citizens and the seamless nature of society. Collaborative and inclusive organizations are positioned to succeed in a VUCA world. Thus, siloes must be demolished to build a culture of collaboration and inclusivity that transcends functional, cultural, and regional boundaries. The future civil service is also one that looks for novel ways to engage citizens in governance, such as co-creating and building shared ownership of programs and services. It knows how to communicate and build a shared understanding of its objectives and needs in order to encourage greater support from its stakeholders, generate resources, and promote social innovation.

The future civil service is innovative. It makes room for innovation, creative thinking, and experimentation while managing risk and holding themselves accountable for the outcomes. It is able to leverage digital technologies in addressing common public service woes such as red tape and corruption. It is also one that is open to rethinking new ways of decision-making through the use of tools such as big data, crowdsourcing, and systems thinking.

Lastly, the future civil service capitalizes on strong leadership that is able to spur and facilitate collective action. Future public sector leaders are transformed from being administrators and traditional bureaucrats to collaborators and enablers. Amid ambiguity and uncertainty, they are capable of driving cohesion and direction by effectively communicating a shared purpose and vision among employees. 

USHERING THE CIVIL SERVICE TOWARD THE FUTURE

As the central HR institution of the Philippine government, we are faced with the mammoth task of transforming a 123-year old civil service into an agile and future-ready workforce. The CSC is a relatively small organization, with only less than 1,500 personnel out of 1.9 million government workers, who are serving the needs of over 109 million Filipinos. If you would ask us, where do we begin?

We have begun by taking the necessary steps to prepare for the future of governance.

Digital Transformation in the CSC

Firstly, the CSC has embarked on its own digital transformation journey. We immediately acknowledged that we needed to increase our own capability as an institution and learn to embrace innovation and change. So we embarked on a Digital Maturity Assessment where we scored 3 out of 5, putting us midpoint at the transition level. Our scores indicate the need to improve in the areas of Capacity and Capability and in People, Culture, and Technology. Similarly, results of a previous Organizational Needs Assessment showed gaps in being (1) people-centric; (2) analytic, creative, innovative; and, (3) technology savvy/digitally proficient. These initiatives provided us with a picture of where we are and what we need to work on, thus creating a solid basis for the programs, projects, and even policies needed to future-proof our Commission.

The results also helped us map out and create our Digital Transformation Roadmap. One of the most significant steps we had to take was moving from having an Information Technology Division to creating an Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO), an entire office that will cater to all the ongoing and upcoming information technology (IT) programs of the CSC.

Part of the strategy is to also create technology-enabled platforms that will help our employees work more efficiently by automating tedious tasks, managing workflows, and connecting systems and software applications to create a seamless workplace experience. For example, we have created a Knowledge Management Portal that serves as a single source of documents and materials, and where e-services for CSC employees are made available. We have also adopted the Customer Feedback and Satisfaction Survey, a web-based standard feedback tool across CSC offices that enables monitoring of real-time feedback and data generation.

A game-changer is the introduction of the Civil Service Eligibility Verification System or CSEVS, an electronic database that allows authorized CSC employees to check the veracity of the civil service eligibility of individuals, as part of the process of attesting appointments submitted by the agencies. Just recently, we have opened said system to HR officers and to the eligibles themselves. Just to share, before, agencies would require job applicants to submit authenticated proof of eligibility. Applicants will go to the CSC to secure one, with a fee. But now, the HR may use the system to directly verify the eligibility of the applicant while also enabling eligibles to access and screenshot their eligibility information and submit it as an official document in lieu of the authenticated copy of their Certificate of Eligibility. Undoubtedly, the CSEVS cuts the cost and time spent on eligibility verification and authentication procedures on the part of the eligible, the agency HR officer, and the CSC.

One of the feedback channels that CSC clients continue to trust is the CSC Facebook Page. Based on Facebook Insights, the Page has had 1,920 messaging conversations started, and about 1,200 new contacts generated, in the last 28 days alone. Agents from our contact center facility, the Contact Center ng Bayan or CCB, respond to these messages manually, and during the same period, they achieved a 93% response rate. And because of these numbers and to further improve our response rate, the CSC is now working on a project to use an artificial intelligence-based chatbot to respond to comments and private messages which will be made available on the CSC website and applicable social media channels of the CSC. This Digital Feedback Management System will complement our contact center facility by providing 24/7 customer service, and automating feedback management, thus allowing our agents to focus on developmental initiatives. The system can also capture data on these interactions, which the CSC will analyze as evidence for policymaking and implementation, program development, and service delivery improvement, among others.

Future-ready Policies

The CSC has also issued policies that align with efforts to ensure continuity in operations in the civil service amid the occurrence of disruptive events such as emergencies and calamities.

We have issued guidelines for the adoption of flexible work arrangements in government agencies. These work arrangements include flexiplace, compressed work week, skeleton workforce, work shifting, flexitime, and any combination of these that the agency may find appropriate or applicable to its mandate and functions.

Institutionalizing flexible work arrangements serves as a preventive measure to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of civil servants while ensuring the government’s continued operations and efficient delivery of public services. With this policy in place, the CSC aims to improve work-life balance, encourage the adoption of information and communications technology or ICT for remote work, and provide reasonable work arrangements for vulnerable employees.

The CSC also issued the General Guidelines on Digital/Online Learning in the Public Sector, effectively recognizing the reality of the increasing use of alternative learning modes apart from traditional, face-to-face classroom training. It provides four (4) digital or online learning modalities that government agencies may adopt. These are webinars and other synchronous learning approaches, eLearning, microlearning modules, and blended learning. Training hours earned from participating in digital or online courses may be credited to an employee’s credentials.

Other CSC issuances aim to digitalize certain processes, such as the policy allowing online filing and submission of the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth during exceptional circumstances, and online filing of applications for accreditation and Collective Negotiation Agreement or CNA registration for employees’ organizations.

Other CSC issuances promote the general welfare of civil servants, which remains imperative even after the global pandemic. The CSC has directed all government agencies to establish a Mental Health Program that will promote mental health in the workplace and address stigma and discrimination endured by people with mental health conditions. The program shall be integrated as a regular human resource development or HRD program specifically under Health and Wellness.

Moreover, a partnership with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Department of Health (DOH) resulted in the formulation of a Joint Memorandum Circular, which aims to institutionalize occupational safety and health in government workplaces to protect government workers from the dangers of injury, sickness, or death, and to prevent loss or damage of properties through the adoption of safe and healthy working conditions.

Learning and Development

Moving on to our next strategy and program -- learning and development. A future-ready civil service requires a workforce that is adaptable and well-equipped to handle the complexities of the modern world. Emphasizing training and capacity building is vital to ensuring that our civil servants are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to tackle emerging challenges with confidence and competence.

The CSC, through the Civil Service Institute or CSI, has begun to offer courses on HR analytics, managing a multigenerational workforce, emotional intelligence, facilitating and administering online learning, digital leadership, well-being centric leadership and workplace wellness, and designing and developing microlearning—courses which were not available in the CSC five or ten years ago.

These courses are delivered via a videoconferencing platform since 2020. While we were forced to do it then during the height of the pandemic, offering an alternative mode of learning continued to be useful, practical, and in-demand even as restrictions on mobility and social gathering have eased.

In fact, we have hosted the Public Sector HR Symposium, the biggest gathering of government HR practitioners, purely online in 2021 and 2022. We were able to attract around 3,000 participants each year, which exceeds the usual turnout we had yearly since 2013. This year, we will be hosting it again on the 26th and 27th of September, in hybrid mode, as we target 5,000 onsite participants and 4,000 online participants. (Possible ad lib: The event is also open to non-government employees, so we encourage everyone here who are interested to register.) Topics to be discussed by local and international speakers will revolve around understanding and fostering dynamism in the workplace at various levels – personal, organizational, and societal.

The CSI is also developing a Learning Management System that aims to be a one-stop platform that can facilitate the creation, delivery, and management of learning and development programs for the entire bureaucracy. This will enable us to reach out to a critical mass of government employees by designing and conducting e-learning courses on the platform. It will also allow the CSI to manage and monitor the participants’ profile, information, and learning progress; oversee the delivery of synchronous, asynchronous, and blended L&D programs; and share resources and materials such as training modules, participant manuals, e-books, micro-learning videos, e-certificates, and many others.

Client Feedback Management

Under the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, the Contact Center ng Bayan or CCB is now part of the monitoring and resolution of citizens’ reports as a strategy for enhanced public feedback loops at the national level. Thus, there is a need to ensure that the CCB will continue to provide uninterrupted services, to produce accurate data on receipt and action taken on customer feedback, and to support CSC’s service standards and targets under public assistance.

The CCB is currently in the process of upgrading and future-proofing its contact center infrastructure and we finished the series of benchmarking and consultation activities to explore the best options for contact center systems and practices in the digital age. Aside from proposing improvements in its physical set-up, the CCB also plans to upgrade its customer relationship management or CRM System and corresponding hardware, with the following objectives:

1. Enhanced Public Assistance and Feedback Handling Ecosystem;
2. Modernized CCB Facility;
3. Optimized Capacity in Handling Transactions and Data Analysis Generation;
4. Seamless Feedback Operations;
5. Bolstered Targets and Improved Service Standards; and
6. Continued Compliance with Statutory and Regulatory Requirements.

The interoperability of the CCB’s improved CRM System, and the Digital Feedback Management System that I mentioned earlier, will comprise a customer feedback ecosystem that shall enable the CSC to provide effective public assistance to more customers. These initiatives show how the CSC is prioritizing automation and maximizing technology to improve internal processes and service delivery.

CONCLUSION

These are just some of the initiatives that the CSC has pursued in line with our objective to build an agile and future-ready civil service. We recognize that we still have a long way to go, but at this stage of the journey, we are sincerely committed to learning from the lessons of past experiences and moving forward toward our goals.

As we embrace changes and advancements, the civil service must also be on guard and equipped to address threats to the government workforce, especially those posed by technology. Some of these include issues on cybersecurity and data privacy, job losses and skills mismatch due to automation, challenges in performance management amid the hybrid work setup, and continuing prevalence of fake news—all of which add to the plethora of perennial problems in the public sector. What the civil service needs to do to address these complex challenges is a whole-of-society approach that allows opportunities for knowledge and resource sharing, and promotes collaboration and shared responsibility across different sectors: the government, private sector, academe, civil society, and the public, together with our partners and stakeholders in the international community.

To my fellow civil servants, I urge all of us to remain committed to the principles and values that have guided us throughout history. Let us embrace change with optimism and determination, knowing that the future of governance is ours to shape. Together, we can pave the way for a civil service that is dynamic, inclusive, and dedicated to the well-being of every Filipino.

Thank you for your attention, and may this conference inspire us all to usher in a brighter future for governance in the Philippines. Thank you very much, daghang salamat!