Scope and Approach to the Research
Scope of the country research23. In the inception phase of the study, we confirmed the scope of the country research with the Task Force. It was agreed that the research should:
· Specifically address the five research topics identified by the Task Force, as indicated previously
· Primarily focus on providing a sound understanding of the key principles and broad features of Civil Service pay arrangements in other countries, together with informed insights into why these arrangements have developed as they have, how well they are seen to be working and the learning points with particular reference to Hong Kong
· Provide explicit coverage of the pay arrangements for the overseas equivalents of the Hong Kong Disciplined Services, where these are significantly different from the main Civil Service arrangements
· Provide high level coverage of the provision of major benefits and allowances as part of the overall compensation structure, but not go into any great detail on these items. We also exclude coverage of wider human resource management (HRM) matters, unless these are directly relevant to the high level understanding of pay arrangements and developments
· Focus mainly on the central/ federal Civil Service, in countries where Government operates at different levels. The exception to this is where the equivalent to any of the major Hong Kong Civil Service staff/ job groups are administered outside of the central Civil Service.
Research approach
24. Our approach to the research was designed to ensure that the results are as robust and relevant as possible to the work of the Task Force, recognising the practical limitations of the extremely tight timescales within which we have had to work. In particular we have:
· Developed a detailed, structured research template to ensure consistency and value in the descriptive and evaluative information drawn from each country
· Focused our research efforts in each country through a very senior, highly experienced country adviser. Most of our advisers are former top Government officials and all have deep knowledge of Civil Service pay developments in their individual countries and established high level contacts in their Governments to ensure swift access to relevant information and insights
· Conducted local research to confirm Civil Service pay arrangements in Hong Kong and the historical context and special considerations that have shaped these. While it is not part of our remit to critique the Hong Kong system, an understanding of how it works and why it has developed in the way it has is critical to assessing the relevance of overseas experience and developments within the local context
· Worked closely with the Task Force to ensure the research addresses their needs in the most useful and practical way.
