"Career Management" Guideline – MSF OCG

2015

Guideline
Career Path Management &
Workforce Planning in Mission

MSF OCG
March, 2015

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 "Career Management" Guideline – MSF OCG

2015

CONTENTS:

Introduction……......……………………………………………………………………………………………3

1) The Purpose of Career Management on Mission......……………………………………4

2) Scope.......................…………………………………………………………………………………….4
a. Definition of Career Management in OCG Missions
b. Who Benefits From Career Management?
c. Career Management Players

3) Career Management Tools in OCG Mission........….……………….....…………………6

a. Forecast Skills Management and Handover Management
b. Recruitment
c. Training Strategy
d. Mobility
e. Coaching
f. Expatriation
g. Career Interview

4) Appendices…………………………………………………………………………………………………17

Acronyms:
OCG: Operational Centre Geneva
HR CO: Human Resources Coordinator
GPO: Pool Manager
RHOP: Operational Human Resources Officer
ARH: Human Resources Administrator
RP/ARP: Program & Deputy Program Manager
HoM: Head of Mission
RT: Field Coordinator
CNC: Key National Staff
EVP: Employee Value Proposal
RH: Human Resources

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Introduction

This "Career Management" guideline is part of a context where the need to manage
the careers (or professional paths) of our national staff in OCG missions in a
structured way is more and more glaring. Several institutional papers on the subject
address this need for structuring, in particular the following:
- OCG Strategy 2012 / 2015 and OCG Strategy 2016 / 2019
- OCG Project for Mission Autonomy (coordination review)
- La Mancha - Final Agreement (2006)
- OCG HR Institutional Objectives

Several observations at OCG have revealed the following:

1- A lack of a career-management tool for the HRCos
2- An unsatisfactory level of national staff in mission management positions
3- A high rate of employees leaving MSF for lack of career perspectives or
advancement

Although this guideline is mainly for use by the HRCos, it is important to note that
each OCG mission team leader (including RTs and Heads of Mission) has a
considerable role to play in managing the career paths of their team members.
Career Management is therefore a shared responsibility between the team leader,
the HRs and the national staff (see below for details).

The availability of such a guideline does not mean that a career management plan
has to be systematically built for each OCG national staff member. This is neither a
sought-after goal nor an institutional goal in itself. A career management plan must
meet a medical-operational need. Moreover, giving training or endorsing an
expatriation process for a national staff on mission may generate expectations or
misunderstandings among the mission's other staff. This guideline must be used in a
circumstantial, balanced and transparent way so as to avoid creating any tension or
envy between a national staff benefiting from career management and another not
receiving such treatment. Although these may sometimes be avoidable
consequences, they must be taken into account and weighed up by the HoMs and
HRCos in offering career-management projects on mission.

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1) The purpose of career management on mission

The goals of the present guideline are therefore the following:
1) Enabling the detection of talent and future OCG managers
2) Building international and national professional paths for OCG's national
staff
3) Fostering and improving the attractiveness, motivation, retention and
employability of our national staff on mission in harmony with the mission's
goals
4) Optimizing matching between the needs for skills and the availability of
these skills
5) Contributing to the empowerment of missions
6) Promoting the sharing of knowledge within the organization

This guideline therefore aims at better preparing and mentoring HRCos and various
players by structuring the career management of OCG national staff.

Given that a OCG HR department in Geneva (through notably GPO unit) is completely
devoted to managing the professional careers of international staff, this guideline
focuses on the pool of our national staff and on assisting the HRCos.

Keep also in mind that this guideline is being drafted in the light of 2 OCG reference
HR models:
The HR pyramid and the Ulrich model (see appendix)

2) Application scope:
First let us define career management at OCG:

a. Definition of career management in OCG missions:

Career management is seen as a constant compromise between MSF's needs,
available potentialities and the wishes expressed by an employee. This compromise
is expressed in recruitment, training, mobility and other career-management activity
decisions described in this guideline. The development of an employee within the
organization’s hierarchy pyramid is translated by horizontal (similar level) or vertical
(promotion) mobility inside or outside of the mission country. Managing careers
means taking into account both MSF's needs and each staff potential and wishes.

Career management can be defined as a set of HR practices/steps either undertaken

by the organization or by an individual to introduce, orient and monitor a
professional path inside or outside of the organization in such a way to fully develop
employee aptitudes, dexterity and skills to everyone's benefit (MSF and employee).

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Keep in mind that the cornerstone of effective career-management is the

evaluation (appraisal) of the employee. All of the steps presented below only make
sense if they are part of a consistent and regular employee evaluation process.

b. Who benefits from career management?

In theory all national staff members should benefit from career management.
However the initial efforts should be directed at key national staff. To do this, the
definition is below:

Definition of "Key National Staff" (KNS):

A Key National Staff is an OCG employee with professional skills/competencies

and aptitudes that bring added value to the mission with high
technical/managerial potential identified by the mission management.

To facilitate the identification of KNS, it is recommended to the co-ordination team

to create a Career Committee whose task is to jointly identify national staff
members considered to have potential and thus become KNS.

This committee then draws up a list of KNSs and jointly decides the career-
management steps to take for these identified KNSs (see the suggested steps
hereinafter). This enables the sharing of decision-making concerning career
management, the resulting risk-taking (i.e. proposal of a new position or mobility)
and the possible measures for mentoring the KNS (training, coaching, etc., see
below). The committee and the KNS's line-manager determine the career-
management decisions for endorsement prior to communicating with the KNS. The
committee can meet every six months upon an initiative by the HRCo. It is composed
at least of a HoM, the HRCo and a co-ordinator per profession. The presence of a
national employee (i.e. deputy HRCo or a Staff Development Manager) is vital so as
not to lose mission memory due to expatriate turnover. (Contact your RHOP for
more details about the career committee.)

c. Career-management players
As mentioned in the introduction, career management on mission is the business of
several players who play key roles in competency development. The following is a list
of those people associated with career management:
- The Field Co & HoM: As leaders of mission teams, the Field Co and HoM see
to it that the career-management activities for the KNS are
developed/endorsed in the mission by (1) ensuring that each of the players
below are involved in the process (including themselves) & (2) ensuring that
these practices match the mission's operational needs.

- The direct supervisor (line-manager): This person is a central figure in career

management. Without the line manager it is impossible to correctly build a

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suitable professional career. He or she is linked to career management in

particular in the setting (1) objectives to his/her team, (2) in carrying out
regular performance/skills evaluations of those objectives and (3) working
with the HRCo to develop his/her team competencies.

- The Key National Staff: He/she is also a key player in the management of
his/her career. He/she should communicate its professional ambitions within
the organization and actively participate in building its professional path with
their supervisor and the HRCo.

- The HRCo (and HR teams): working with the line-manager and the HoM, HR
Co ensures that the KNS are identified in the mission and that the career-
management plans (see point 3 below) are offered accordingly. The HR Co
ensures, among other things, the medium- and long-term continuity of the
related career plan.

3) Career-management tools in OCG missions:

Several tools/steps/practices are listed below for the best possible career
management. This doesn't mean that all of them have to be used. It is more a
matter of linking or combining the steps mentioned below (workforce planning,
recruitment, training, mobility, coaching, evaluations, career interview, etc. ) that will contribute
to good career management and a professional career with OCG.

The OCG HRCos should note that the HR department teams in Geneva are available
through each cell's RHOP for mentoring/supporting them in using these
tools/steps/practices.

Remember that the HR Library (and very soon Graspeo) gives access to all OCG
documents connected to the tools/steps/practices mentioned in this guideline.

a. Workforce Planning Tools & Practices

Planning workforce (forecast skills management) is an excellent way to manage
careers. It is a matter in particular of analyzing the gap between the
skills/competencies available in a country/mission and the skills/competencies
desired for your mission. It translates in the following steps:

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Mapping available skills/competencies in your mission:

o On the mission country's job market
It is possible to map the HR environment of the mission's country and the skills
available in the country according to the following grid1.
Mission country
Per head GDP (PHG) Indicates the development level and the
country's real average standard of living
Human development Indicator Of a value between 0 and 1, it is a
summary indicator of economic,
educational and health indicators
Active population Number of working people in the
General country and job seekers, in theory from
context age 15 to 64
Population's average annual Gives an indication of the country's age
growth rate pyramid
Literacy rate of over-15s Gives an indication of the population's
average level of educational
development
Primary school enrolment rate – Report on human development –
the percentage of children not Source: UNDP & UNESCO
finishing primary school
Medical training available in the Identifies schools, institutes and
Education country universities in the country for later
system networking/meeting/partnerships
Para-medical training available Same
in the country
Non-medical training available in Same
the country
Available profiles for MSF OCG Skills available for the mission. Where to
go to find skills in the country or
internationally (regional, expats, etc.)
How. Who to meet ?
Market Players and profiles in the Which health players in the country?
situation country's health sector
Employment trends in the Unemployment rates in the health
country's health sector sector; where?
Migratory trends/ mobility Mobility of the active population in the
health sector

This grid is not exhaustive. It provides you with a possible analytical approach and
should help you question the information that contributes to adapt/contextualize
your HR policies in the country or region by placing them in context. All additional
information considered useful can be gathered and analyzed. To go further, refer to
the grid offered by Benoît Théry. (see appendix for more details).

1
See "Developing International HR – For HR Geopolitics" – Benoît Théry – Dunod – 2011. Scan
available at MSF OCG.

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o Among MSF employees

Regular mapping of the competencies & skills available in the mission is possible
through CV, evaluations and skill summaries (see appendix). The purpose of this
work is to identify the available competencies in the mission and to measure their
level. The MSF skills dictionary contributes to this process (ask your RHOP for it).

Mapping of the desired competencies in your mission:

This means working with the mission's various coordinators on the competencies
wished for in the medium-term (6 to 12 months) for the mission. This work can be
translated by the following:
- Adequate HR planning for the mission with the HR Matrix during the annual
exercise or when revising PoAs.
- It is also materialized by updating the “OCG mandatory information for
opening an international position” (based on the Job Description Standards,
IRFFG) in which the mission enumerates the objectives of the position and
the mission's contextual specifics (see appendix).

The gap analysis between the available and desired competencies in your mission
are the basics of workforce planning. The analysis of this gap is an excellent
prerequisite for developing several career-management tools such as a
recruitment plan, training plan, mobility or development plan for the professional
career of national staff inside or outside of the mission. This process should thus
reduce the observed gap.

It should also be noted that workforce planning in a mission also enables appropriate
Turnover Management or Succession Plan. In order to ensure future position-filling,
the mission must plan national staff departures. They may be caused by resignations,
project closures, retirement, recruiting by other employers (i.e. other NGOs) or a
return of MSF employees to MoH. Thus a good analysis of the HR environment in the
country combined with the mapping of desired and available skills/competencies in
the mission enable de facto the construction of a valid succession plan for the
mission.

b. Recruitment
It is self-evident, but an essential step in good career management is good
recruitment. Indeed, staff recruitment in our organization is a major challenge but is
rarely given its proper value. Good recruitment contributes enormously to workers'
self-fulfilment and as a consequence leads to increased medical-operational
performance and capacity. Moreover good recruitment increases the opportunities
for KNSs to gain access to management positions (which materially contributes to
the final recommendations of the La Mancha agreement of 2006).

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A valid recruitment strategy will be developed in greater detail in the OCG

Recruitment Guideline (refer to this guideline by late 2015 in Graspeo and the HR
Library). In sum, the steps in good recruitment practices are the following:

– OCG HR identification of needs in mission

- Refer to the Mission Strategy Paper, Country Plan Of Action,
Project Documents to understand the mission's orientations
- Meet with coordinators to hear about their recruitment needs
for the coming months/years
- Update the HR matrix for your projects in the light of your
discussions with the coordination team and the project
documents
- Have those employees involved fill out the "OCG mandatory
information for opening an international position" form so as
to write down the mission's HR needs. Get clear requested
profile (training, technical and cross-sectional skills, language,
professional background…)
- Sourcing:
- Analysis of the HR environment (or analysis of the HR context
– see point 3.a below). The more you are aware of your
environment, the more you are likely to target & recruit the
right staff.
- Study the other employers "in competition" for the same
profiles. Try to identify MSF's economic, social and value
advantages (value and belonging) so as to better compare
yourself and understand the local-market trends (see the
model "Employee Value Proposition"2).
- Check to see if competencies are available in-house (refer to
your analysis of the skills available in your mission as described
above) without, however, depriving yourself of opportunities
to recruit out-of-house.
- Announce the position via appropriate channels (Internet,
professional social networks, professional organizations,
recruitment agencies, newspapers, etc.). Although seldom
used, recruitment agencies can also be used for certain key
posts in a mission. Gather information about these
recruitment agencies that work in the health field or approach
other international social players, e.g. ICRC, UN, etc.

2
This Employee Value Proposition (EVP) enable an employer to position itself in relation to other
employers, especially on what an employer (MSF) does or doesn't offer to its employees. Ask your
RHOP for the details of this model to use it in your mission.

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- Pay particular attention to your intersection & inter-NGO

network; it can help you in your recruitment
- Identify medium-term channels for developing your presence
while targeting key profiles, e.g. schools, forums, professional
associations, etc.
- Recruitment process
- Identify and name a recruitment panel (to do the recruitment)
and brief them prior to interviews
- Give the Interview
- After checking references, select the candidate selection
together with the panel
- Work on a proper communication with the non-selected
candidates as it has an impact on MSF's reputation and will
influence future recruitment.
- Welcome: Another aspect often overlooked at OCG: the welcome given to a
national staff when they start their job is crucial. Make sure a work station is
available, the computer ready (with the necessary codes and software
installed and working), a telephone ready and working, materials available
needed for the job (car, tools, medical equipment, etc.). Signature the job
contract and other administrative documents.
- On boarding, integration or induction: A major step in recruitment,
assimilation [of the new employee] is often neglected or under-used at
MSF. In general terms, assimilation is usually done between starting the
job to six months after (studies show that a worker will decide to stay or
leave their employer based on the recruitment and within the first six
months on the job). Integration is a three-tiered process:
- Integration to the job (mentor, handover, professional briefing,
training, etc.)
- Integration into the team (socialization practices)
- Integration into MSF (for instance FIC or SANOU are MSF
induction course for new arrivals)
The following integration tools should be considered for each recruitment:
- A field Integration course (FIC) or SANOU
- Mentoring / coaching
- The implementation of realistic goals upon starting the job
- An assessment by the line-manager after 1 and 6 months on the
job
- An interview with the HRCo within the first 6 months on the job

Don't forget that a recruitment strategy reflects on the organization’s values, i.e.
non-discrimination, fostering diversity, respect, transparency, a socially
responsible employer, etc. Highlight these values!

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To go further, contact your cell RHOP and the recruitment team for support in your
mission's recruitment strategy. The HR Library (and soon, Graspeo) places OCG
recruitment documents at your disposal (see appendix to know where to find those
documents).

c. Training strategy
This is an important element to at least partially reduce the gap between desired and
available skills/competencies. The training strategy has the following two main
areas:

• Area 1: Assessment of needs

Needs are assessed in the following three steps:

Step 1: Identification of needs. This is to identify operational stakes and HR

challenges that require strengthening and developing competencies (knowledge,
qualifications and attitudes). Here we are talking about identifying the gaps in skills
that can be rectified by training.

This identification is a consequence of the demand based on the following:

• MSF's strategic orientations and objectives
• The mission's internal environment: the specifics of present HR,
financial means, culture, etc.
• The external environment: the nature of the local context
(geopolitical, economic, social, educational and other players
present)

Step 2: Analysis of needs:

• Identifying knowledge (what the employee is supposed to
know), specific qualifications (what the employee is supposed to
do: jobs, activities) and attitudes (expected behavior)
• Ensuring that training is a sufficient lever for reinforcing and
developing skills so as to support operational ambitions and fill
the gaps in performance
• Identifying possible solutions, e.g. on-site training, distance
training, in working conditions with senior staff, coaching,
mentoring, group working sessions for needs analysis in training,
a community of practices, two-person groups, etc.

Step 3: Definition of priorities: This means agreeing on the objectives/areas where

the mission wants to focus/has to invest in.

• Area 2: The training plan

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In the light of Area 1, a mission training plan is drafted according to the "Assessment
Model and Training Plan" (see appendix) used at OCG that addresses the following
elements:
• Objectives and expected outcomes of training
• Possible solutions and training set-ups
• Target group (who)
• Training framework (personal or group)
• Priority
• Date/Period
• Training body
• Place
• Required resources
• Budget

For greater detail, refer to the "Assessment Model & Training Plan" in the appendix
and contact your RHOP and the training unit to move forward on an adequate
training plan for your mission.

d. Mobility (or secondment)

As another major strong element of career management, mobility is a strategic HR
objective for the coming years. Refer to the OCG Staff Mobility guideline for your
mission's mobility strategy (at your disposal in the HR Library on your MSF computer
or from your cell RHOP). The following is a short reminder of this mobility guideline:

Definition: Mobility is a strategic HR issue at OCG. It concerns all geographic

movements (national and international) of OCG national and international staff. It
meets the following two organisational requirements:
• Operational needs: deployment mobility
• Personal needs in career development. Career mobility
(horizontal, vertical or function mobility)
These different kinds of mobility (all voluntary) are not mutually exclusive. Indeed,
using deployment mobility and/or career "mobility" makes both a significant
contribution to improving performances hence stronger OCG medical-operational
capacity.

Mobility practices are materialized in the following way:

*For the sending mission:
• The annual identification of mobile staff (name placed on a list
– see the KNS list)
• They will be mobile for a given period of the year
• Their departure will be planned and prepared (organized
administration, replacement and identified back-up, pre-

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departure documents available (job desk, MSP, PoA, Sitrep,

etc.)), briefing organized
• Reception upon return when returning from mobility
(administration ready, leave management, archived
evaluations, debriefings, etc.)
* For the receiving mission, as for the expat:
• Identification/scheduling of needs
• Making the necessary information available (job desk, MSF,
PoA, Sitrep, etc.)
• Arranging the reception of the seconded employee (briefing,
handover)
• Evaluation at the end of the mobile mission by the mission's
line-manager and the technical reference person and a
debriefing before returning to the sending mission

For further details, refer to the "OCG Mobility Guideline" and contact your RHOP to
move forward on an adequate mobility plan for your mission.

e. Coaching
Coaching is another tool in career management and for reinforcing skills on mission.
It is defined in the following way:

Coaching is personalized professional support that makes it possible to

realize MSF employees' potential by optimizing their personal performance.
Coaching helps the individual increase their knowledge and improves their
working practices. It is less a matter of instruction than it is of supporting the
person and help them acquire skills. It facilitates a person's learning and
development, based on mutual respect and reinforcing the coached person's
ability to solve the problems they face. Coaching is not an assessment.

In OCG missions, coaching is intended mainly for managers with team-management

responsibilities.

The decision to coach an employee should respond to a structured approach, which,

like the analysis of training needs and the drafting of the training plan (see point "c.
training strategy" above), should follow the following coaching process or cycle:

- Assessment of needs: identification and validation

- Coaching plan design: meeting objectives
- Implementation: working on the key points
- Follow-up: monitor the key points and assess possible improvements

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Figure 1: The coaching cycle

It is of particular importance in the coaching cycle to communicate with the coached

person in all phases of the cycle shown above.

To go further and to implement a coaching process according to mission needs, refer

to the "Coaching Guideline" in this guideline's appendix and contact your RHOP
along with the Training Unit to define the coaching process that matches your
mission.

f. Expatriation
One possible additional action for appropriate career management at OCG is to
consider expatriation for national staff as a step forward in their professional
careers. Expatriation is addressed to all national staff (if they meet the below-
mentioned selection criteria) and, like secondment, it gives these employees a
chance to assume new responsibilities and experience new cultures and ways of life.
In this sense enables the acquisition of new skills/competencies that are useful for
both the person's professional fulfilment and OCG as an institution (indeed, the
more skilled the staff, the better the organisation performs).

On the other hand expatriation is not an end in itself. In this regard OCG does not
proactively promote expatriation since it must remain a personal initiative. It is an
initiative that corresponds to a thought-out, desired choice and corresponds to a
desire to become an OCG representative on the international level while committing
to being available and flexible to meet operational needs. Although the HRCos have
to proactively communicate on this procedure within a mission, it is up to the co-
workers themselves to initiate their candidacy.

To apply, a candidate should send an email to the GPO and Recruitment

departments containing the following information:
• Application Form
• Detailed resume (in English or French)
• Cover letter stating expectations, career perspectives, motivation,
commitment, etc.
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• Degrees, work certificate

• Latest assessment (the most recent)
• For physicians, proof of registration in their country's Medical
Association (if there is one)

Candidates should meet the following minimum criteria:

• Professional background and/or suitable academic records
• Professional experience: quality is more important than quantity, but
two years of professional experience in an equivalent post is required
and at least 12 months of experience with OCG
• MSF studies/training, an advantage
• Languages: fluency in English OR French is mandatory. Arabic,
Spanish, Portuguese and/or Russian are an advantage
• Assessment (references will be received from line-managers and co-
ordination teams. Cell reference persons may also be asked their
opinions
• Additional references may also be requested from previous employers
if past professional experience is relevant

The OCG expatriation procedure in this guideline's appendix gives a lot more
information on the steps and implications of an expatriation! And contact your RHOP
or the GPO/Recruitment departments if there is need of further clarification.

g. Career interview
All elements addressed in this guideline (workforce planning, recruitment, training,
mobility, coaching, career interview – this list is not exhaustive) enable you to build a
professional career for key national co-workers (KNSs) in your mission. As mentioned
in the definition of career management at the start of this document, "Managing
careers means taking into account both MSF's needs and each employee
potential/wishes". It is therefore obviously preferable to build a career plan together
with the staff concerned.

As such, a formal interview between the KNS and the HRCo should take place
regularly (every 6 months, for example). This interview is based on the assessments
of the KNS and should address their development goals (training, new functions,
etc.) and should be transparently put into perspective with the career possibilities in
the mission or at OCG and the operational needs of the mission and OCG.

*****

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NB: Please note that all the steps in this guideline de facto involve means and
costs. It is therefore up to the HRCo (with support from the HoM, the FinCo and the
cell) to schedule and provide expenses according to the career development plans
decided on in the light of this guideline. Career-management budget activities
implemented in the mission will be budgeted at mission level.

End
*****
Alexandre Roux – OCG Field HR Department – March, 2015

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APPENDICES
Please, check the HR Library on your computer (and soon Graspeo) or ask your Cell
RHOP to get the following career management related tools:

- The OCG Guideline on Mobility - (see on mobility)

- The OCG Expatriation Procedure - (see on mobility)
- The OCG Mobility excel List and Identification of Skills - (see on mobility)

- The form "mandatory information before opening an international position" at

OCG (to be included with the Job Desk IRFFG/IRPPII) - (see on Recruitment)

- The OCG Coaching Guideline (see on training)

- Validation of a KNS's Training - (see on Training)
- The Learning Plan Guide – (see on training)

- The grille d’analyse de contexte RH (par Benoit Théry only in French ) – (See
strategy)
- The Inter-section Dictionary of Competencies – (see on strategy)
- The International HR Vision – (see on strategy)
- The MSF Social Responsible Employer Chart – (see on strategy)
- The Final La Mancha Agreement (2006) – (see on strategy)
- The Employee Value Proposition (EVP) – (see on strategy)

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- The HR pyramid

The Ulrich model

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