Toward a High-Performance Workplace: Fixing Civil Service in Massachusetts

Author: Jonathan Walters, Governing Magazine

This paper is a call for continued improvement in a system that in its current form is overly bureaucratic, unresponsive, rule-bound, and control oriented.  The changes suggested address three troubling trends that have been gathering momentum in Massachusetts:  First, the use of “provisional” hires as a way to sidestep testing and hiring rules entirely.  Second, the inclination to exempt entire classes of employees from the civil service system altogether.  And third, continued difficulty on the part of specific agencies to compete for the best and brightest job candidates in what is today a fiercely competitive job market.

Toward a High-Performance Workplace: Fixing Civil Service in Massachusetts