第343回ILO理事会　議題PFA/14　「人的資源戦略2022－25」に関する達谷窟庸野（厚生労働省総括審議官）によるアジア太平洋グループ（ASPAG）を代表して行ったステートメント（2021年11月2日）

343rd Session of the ILO Governing Body Item PFA/14: Human Resources Strategy for 2022–25, Statement on behalf of Asia and the Pacific group (ASPAG) by Senior Assistant Minister TAGAYA Nobunao, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (2 November 2021)
 
 

Thank you, Chair. I’m speaking on behalf of ASPAG.
 

1. We would like to express our appreciation to the Office for preparing the documents.

2. We would like to commend the Office’s commitment and effort in strengthening and developing HR function. HR strategy is critical for the ILO to secure necessary human resources to respond to the constituents’ needs and deliver its mandate. Thus, we support all three key priorities suggested by the Office.

3. We appreciate the Office for stipulating the perspective of diversity in Priority 1. Geographical diversity especially greatly influences on both ILO’s competency and effectiveness in multi-dimensions, including smooth implementation of development cooperation projects in the Country Offices. We encourage the ILO to achieve enhanced geographical diversity beyond the target.

4. On the other hand, there are still works to be done. The proposed indicator focuses only on newly recruited regular staff but the importance of geographical diversity in decision-making positions should not be underestimated. Thus, we request the Office to further consider more appropriate indicators to monitor the geographical diversity. Adding an indicator of senior positions, P5 and above, similar to the gender equality indicators, may be an option. We also would like to request the Office to include, in the follow-up document of the strategy or in the separate document, detailed annual data of under-representation at all grades and of the progress made under the strategy, including the one in higher grades visible and comparable to global progress, .

5. To improve geographical diversity, which boosts the ILO’s capability to respond to constituents’ needs, requirements contained in the job descriptions should be limited and fit-for-purpose to those genuinely required and indispensable for a particular position. So-called “requirement inflation”, such as requirements of extensive international experience and language skills, should be removed to attract qualified applicants. We expect that the office’s effort in revising the generic job descriptions with the perspective of the minimum requirements leads to correcting it.

6. While diverse workforce refers to multiple attributions, in addition to geographical diversity, disability inclusion and gender parity should be equally focused. Strategic outreach campaign targeting under-represented groups and nationalities in close collaboration with the member states and training to mitigate unconscious bias should be proceeded to achieve it. We request the Office to intensify its efforts to enhance the sensitivity of diversity which is a core value of ILO, particularly, to ensure the awareness of diversity is upheld by managers and staff involved in the recruitment process. ASPAG supports these actions needed to accelerate the process for realizing a desirable workforce balance.

7. We also stress that the Office should not necessarily place value only on the internal career progression. The career doors must be open to talented candidates from external labour market as well.

8. The perspective of functional and geographical mobility should also be promoted respectively, as it has been done in other international organizations under the UN system. To realize this, geographical mobility should be considered as one of the factors when moving up to higher positions in Geneva. Geographical mobility should also be considered to strengthen the work in Geneva with high-performing staff recruited from the ILO regional and country offices. Experience in the field and direct interaction with local constituents would increase the capacity to take in the constituents’ needs. We request the Office to make specific plans to improve the situation and report on the progress of its efforts at the future Governing Body meetings.

9. We also would like to point out that it is crucial to increase the ratio of ILO officials in the field vis-à-vis headquarters to respond to the increased workloads due to UN country team processes and to revitalize organization through their abundant practical experiences.

10.  In the meantime, we would like the Office to have a detailed mapping of the potential vacancies in the next 3 years and ask for more transparency in recruitment process.

11.  Regarding Priority2, a work environment free from all forms of discrimination and physical as well as mental harassment is the foundation for employees to reach their full potential. We require the Office to steadily proceed with the ongoing revision of the disciplinary framework, simultaneously with awareness-raising, based on zero-tolerance to workplace discrimination and harassment.

12. In promoting flexible working arrangements, which would lead to the inclusion of diverse people, we request the Office to pay careful attention to the problems that may arise out of the new working modalities such as poor coordination of teamwork, mental health issues and lack of guidance for young staff including JPOs.

13.  We appreciate the increased frequency and granularity of the performance evaluation. Developing further recognition schemes is a good measure to build self-motivated workforce. Differentiating high-performers and other in salary or bonus may be worth considering in the future.

14. We welcome all the measures to ensure an effective and efficient HR functions, as stated in Priority 3. When leveraging technology, we would like the Office to give priority to those measures that are more conductive to achieving Priority1 and Priority2 which we believe are more urgent issues. When carrying out innovation and digitalization of the HR function, we would also like to see a good internal coordination among various strategic areas, like the HR Strategy and the IT Strategy for example.

15. On the condition that the Office takes into account the guidance we provided, consider reporting detailed annual data of under-representation and progress under the strategy, and further consider more appropriate indicators to monitor the equitable geographical diversity, we are willing to support the draft decision point.

 
Thank you, Chair.