Has the Public Sector Retained its ‘Model Employer’ Status?

Abstract

The authors investigate whether public sector organizations can still be considered ‘model employers’ as they were before the late 1970s. Comparisons are made with private sector human resource management (HRM) practices to determine how closely the ‘model employer’ rhetoric approximates the public sector reality. The article focuses on recent changes in the core and traditional non-traded areas of public sector employment funded directly through either central or local taxation—the National Health Service, central and local government and higher education. Objective quantitative data on public sector HRM practices and flexible work patterns are examined from both primary and secondary sources. Central to the discussion is the question of which sector offers the greater job security to employees.