The 21st-century public servant: working at three boundaries of public and private

Abstract

In a project on the roles and skills of the 21st-century public servant, interviews with public service workers highlighted three boundaries of public and private: relating to ethics, careers and identities. Two contingent factors shape the capacity of staff to be able to reconcile the public and private aspects of their work: the degree of fiscal austerity and the scope for reflective practice. Strategic workforce planning needs to support staff to manage the different versions of public and private.