Nearly 90 percent of public sector employees overestimate and mistakenly believe they have advanced digital skills by knowing how to navigate the Internet, according to a survey of nearly 5,200 public sector employees by the Center of APSAP Training, the main provider of accredited courses in Romania. Given this self-assessment, state employees do not constantly develop their skills, attending training courses in small numbers. Moreover, those who attend courses pay for them out of their own pocket in 50% of cases, which is discouraging in the long run, especially since the law forces public institutions to constantly invest in employee training.
Misunderstanding of Digital Competences
Following the analysis of the data provided by the respondents, 1,477 people consider themselves to have an ADVANCED level of digital skills. Of these, 1,285 understand by advanced digital skills the activities of browsing and searching effectively on the Internet, while only 140 state that they have knowledge of programming and program/application development (HTML), which would really rank them at an advanced level. The finding is alarming because effective Internet browsing and searching activities do not require an advanced level of digital skills. Thus, there is a real discrepancy between the perception of having advanced digital skills and their actual level.
Regarding digital skills, state employees say they have several skills individually, at least 3-4, among which surfing the Internet, using work-specific programs and applications, but also more technical skills such as software programming, editing multimedia and data usage.
The overestimation of digital skills and knowledge leads to the underestimation of the need for their development and improvement, a worrying aspect both at the individual and collective level. According to a Eurostat report, the level of basic digital skills has gradually increased in recent years in most EU member states, but not in the case of Romania. Our country ranks second to last, ahead of Bulgaria, in terms of digital skills possessed by economically active adults. The same source makes a clear differentiation between basic and advanced skills.
Thus, given this positive perception and employees’ own overestimation of their skills, those in central administration (government, ministries) do not go to training courses because they do not consider education a priority. In addition, 50% of state employees say they had to pay for refresher courses out of their own funds, although state institutions are required by law to allocate budgets for the development and improvement of staff skills at least once every two years.
What are “basic digital skills”
There are various definitions of digital skills or competences, and several terms such as “digital literacy”, “digital competence”, “ICT skills” and “computer skills” are often used synonymously. In May 2018, the Council defined digital competence as “involving the confident, critical and responsible use of digital technologies, as well as their use for learning, at work and for participation in society. They include information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, media education, digital content creation (including programming), safety (including digital well-being and cyber security skills), intellectual property issues such as and problem solving and critical thinking’. Regarding the level of digital skills, the Court mainly refers to the European Framework of Digital Skills for Citizens, which provides, for basic levels, skills that allow the performance of simple tasks in all areas mentioned by the Council.
And according to IT specialists, advanced digital skills refer to the ability to use information and communication technologies (ICTs) effectively in a variety of contexts. These skills include, but are not limited to, advanced technical operation, the ability to write HTML code, develop software applications and work with different programming languages, the ability to collect, organize, analyze and interpret data in a relevant way, but especially advanced cyber security knowledge. Therefore, surfing the Internet or using office applications represent basic skills, which, in a modern and digitized world, must be continuously developed”, says Bogdan-Costin Fârșirotu, founder and president of the APSAP Training Center.
Moreover, Romania is in the penultimate place, just ahead of Bulgaria, in terms of basic digital skills possessed by employees aged between 25 and 64, according to Eurostat data.
Local public administration more involved in professional development than the central administration
Surprisingly, in the last two years, out of the total of 5,162 respondents, the ones most interested in the courses were not those from the Central Public Administration, but those from the Local Public Administration. Concretely, out of 5,162 respondents, 2,244 are part of the Local Public Administration (local councils, town halls and county councils) and only 1,676 of the Central Public Administration (Government, ministries, other specialized central bodies subordinate to the Government or ministries, autonomous administrative authorities).
These findings indicate that the Central Public Administration does not allocate funds for participation in professional development programs for its employees, a fact that stems from the lack of a priority for staff development.
Regarding the Local Public Administration, more than 53% of those surveyed stated that the employer bears the costs of participating in the training programs, while in the Central Public Administration, only 33% of the respondents could say the same. Thus, Aylin-Alexia David, analyst at the APSAP Training Center, affirms the fact that the Local Public Administration is more open and understands the importance of continuously updating knowledge, in order to react quickly to citizens’ needs and to provide high quality and efficient services.
Desired monthly income
The monthly income of the staff in the Local Public Administration is lower than that of the staff in the Central Public Administration. More than 63% of employees in central bodies declare that they have an income between 5,000 and 10,000 lei/month, while 57% of employees in local administrations say that their income is below the threshold of 5,000 lei per month. At the same time, most state employees (90%) claim that a motivating monthly income is at least 1,000 euros. More than a quarter of them believe that they should earn 1,000-1,500 euros monthly, and almost 40% say that their monthly income should be in the range of 1,500-2,000 euros.
The post 9 in 10 Public Sector Employees Overestimate Job Performance, Seek Higher Pay appeared first on The Romania Journal.
