Draft Mobility and Career Development Framework

(21 June 2012)

The policy proposed in this paper, meets the three main objectives of
mobility, namely:

it should enable the Organization to better retain and deploy a

dynamic, adaptable and global workforce that can effectively meet
current and future mandates and evolving operational needs;

it should provide staff with broader opportunities for career

development and contribution to the Organization, and enable the
further acquisition of new skills, knowledge and experience within
and across departments, functions and duty stations; and

it should ensure that staff have equal opportunities for service

across the United Nations and, for relevant functions, a fair sharing
of the burden of service in difficult duty stations. These objectives
will contribute to ensuring the Organizations global relevance,
enhancing its credibility, and furthering the goal of serving as one
UN.

Mobility is defined1 as changes of position throughout a career. A position

change can involve one or a combination of the following:
a change of role;
a change of function;
a change of department;
a change of duty station; and
a move from the Secretariat to a fund, programme or an agency.2
Scope
The mobility policy applies to all UN Secretariat3 internationally recruited
professional and above and field service staff on fixed term, continuing
and permanent appointments, who have been recruited through a
competitive process and whose appointments are not limited to service
within a specific Department/Office or mission, except staff on nonrotational posts.

1 There is a need to create a glossary and define: career development,

geographic mobility, roles, responsibilities, non-rotational posts, job
family, job network, post occupancy limit, internal applicants, and
functional mobility.
2 If a Secretariat staff members goes on loan or secondment to a UN
Common System organization they are treated as internal staff members
when applying to Secretariat posts. If the Secretariat staff member goes
on a transfer to such an Organization then they are treated as an
external when applying to Secretariat posts.
3 The issue of the Tribunals and other entities is addressed in the section
on job security.

A non-rotational position is one that requires an advanced level of

expertise, knowledge and qualifications in a technical field and where
there is no comparable position at the same level in another
organizational unit or duty station in the UN Secretariat. All other posts
are considered rotational and are subject to post occupancy limits and
any relevant network-specific mobility requirements.
Staff on non-rotational posts can opt-in by applying to and being selected
for a rotational post.
When a staff member is within five years of the mandatory age of
separation they will be exempted from geographic mobility, except if the
staff member in question specifically requests to be geographically
mobile.
Job Networks
Job networks are groupings of job families. In a job family, the same or
relatively similar work is performed, a similar skill set is required and it is
possible to move within the job family with minimal training. The current
job networks (MAGNET, ECONET etc.) will have to be redefined so that the
job families they contain truly reflect shared experience, competence and
subject matter. The breadth of a redefined job network would be such as
to ensure that they contain enough job families to maximize opportunities
for mobility within and across job networks while ensuring that there are a
manageable number of job network boards (i.e. plus or minus 12 job
networks).
Job families are defined as a collection of functions. As outlined in the
section on selection/reassignment, determination of suitability for a post is
based on whether a staff members career profile (which outlines the
candidates substantive skills, competencies, experience, expertise and
performance record) meets the job requirements. Cross-functional
mobility, where staff members apply and meet the minimum job
requirements for posts in other job families, shall be encouraged and the
appropriate career development support (as outlined in the Career
Development section below) shall be provided.
Each job network has a Job Network Board made up of representatives
of staff and management in equal numbers and HR/OHRM to review
selection and assignment of staff at the FS and P3 to P5 levels.
Representatives of staff and management on the Boards must be at the
level of the posts being considered and from the relevant Network. P2
staff who were not appointed through the YPP/NCRE will also be included.
The system described below will apply to staff at the D1 and D2 levels
(i.e., posts are advertised in batches/compendia and staff apply).
However, recommendations for selection and assignment of staff at the
D1 to D2 levels will be conducted by a single Senior Review Board

comprised of USGs and ASGs, with prior experience in the UN Common

System as a staff member, to the extent possible. Representatives of staff
will not be members of the Senior Review Board.
The staff representative bodies will determine how representatives of staff
to the job network boards are selected.
HR/OHRM will have a robust oversight and support role and will participate
in the Job Network Boards to ensure consistent decision-making across all
Boards.
Career Development
Staff should complete a career development plan, with appropriate
guidance from the HR capacity in the relevant job network, identifying
how they see their careers developing over the medium term. These plans
would look at career development in a broad sense, also identifying needs
for geographical and functional mobility in the relevant network. Each job
network could create templates for the career development plans.
Job Networks will have Network Staffing Officers who provide
guidance/support to staff in that network in developing a career
development plan.
The Network Staffing Officer has HR expertise and has knowledge of the
particular Job Network. The Network Staffing Officer is fully familiar with
the Network-specific Requirements and means by which staff members
can attain the competencies, substantive skills and expertise to fulfill
those requirements, for instance through different types of experience,
learning, and different types of mobility (change in roles, functions or duty
stations).
Bearing in mind the objective to select/reassign the most suitable
applicant for each position, the Network Staffing Officer will act as advisor
to staff members applying for job openings and will ensure that the
qualifications and career aspirations of eligible staff members are brought
to the attention of the Job Network Board.
The Organization will re-examine its learning strategy and priorities so
that career development and learning are linked. The aim of the revised
career development and learning strategy shall be to provide staff
members with a variety of opportunities to build knowledge, skills,
competencies and experience that will allow them to navigate careers
within their Job Network, move across different Job Families or Networks if
appropriate and desirable, and build core managerial skills and
competencies as they take on increasing supervisory and managerial
roles. In re-examining the learning strategy, OHRM will review the
possibility of creating a self-paced development/assessment process to
foster managerial capacities of internal staff members. In addition there

will be an assessment process to measure the managerial capabilities of

external candidates applying to positions at the P5, D1 and D2 levels.
Performance Management
The system of performance management will need to be adapted to a
mobile organization and staff. The SMC Inter-sessional Working Group on
Performance Management will develop the necessary criteria.
Post Occupancy Limits
All staff are subject to minimum and maximum post occupancy limits.
Occupancy of a post is governed by three marks:

Mark 1: minimum post occupancy of 1 year. Staff are eligible to

apply to new positions after reaching Mark 1.

Mark 2: staff who have reached Mark 2 (12 months before their
maximum post occupancy for B to E and 24 months before H and A)
will be given priority consideration (see below) when applying for
posts.

Mark 3: maximum post occupancy 7 years for H/A, 4 years for B/C
and 3 years for D/E.
Staff and their post are placed in a
reassignment pool.
o For staff who reach the maximum and cannot be reassigned
they can be extended for an additional year.

Geographic, Functional and Lateral Mobility Requirements

During the preparation phase, the job network boards, comprising
representatives of staff and management and OHRM representatives, will
define any network-specific mobility requirements, (geographic, functional
and/or lateral), over and above the post occupancy limits, for their
respective networks. OHRM will ensure consistency in the application of
the criteria for all networks. Any network-specific geographic mobility
requirement should be based on the availability and distribution of the
posts, in the various Secretariat duty stations, of each of the network's job
families.
The job network boards will make recommendations to OHRM which will
make recommendations to the SMC for agreement on the requirements
for each job network. The specific requirements of the job networks would
be periodically reviewed by the job networks, in consultation with OHRM
and forwarded to the SMC for agreement.

Staff Selection & Reassignment

Vacant positions will be internally advertised in batches/compendia on a
quarterly basis (Networks with higher vacancy rates/surge needs could
advertise more frequently). Vacant posts will be open to eligible UN
Secretariat staff members. Only vacancies, which have not been able to
be filled by staff members after one round of advertisement in the
relevant batch/compendium, will be open to external candidates.
Staff should apply for, and be considered for posts based on their
transferable skills and with relevance to their career development plan
and not solely on technical expertise. Staff can apply for all posts
advertised in the batch/compendium at the same level or one level above
in the same or different job family anywhere in the United Nations
Secretariat. Recommendations and selection (or reassignment at Mark 3)
of candidates will be made by the job network board. Managers will have
an opportunity to describe the needs and critical requirements of the post.
The process is set out below:
Career Development Plan
Step 1. The staff member defines his or her career development plan in
consultation with the Network Staffing Officer.
Preparation to fill Vacancies and Posts up for Reassignment
Step 1. Manager will determine the jobs critical requirements,
based on the generic job profile.
Step 2. A staffing officer will verify the job requirements and build
a job opening to be included in the compendium.
Application and Selection/Reassignment Process
Step 1. Those interested in a post apply to the compendium with
an updated career profile, which contains the following elements:
Competencies
Substantive skills - internal certificates, coursework, learning,
training
Expertise - knowledge assessment (relevance, similarity,
depth, breadth)
Language requirements
Performance record - validation of work done, competencies,
skills and knowledge
Step 2. OHRM. Pre-screens to determine eligibility of applicants.

Step 3. Network Staffing Officers. Will review the eligible

candidates and provide a short list of candidates deemed suitable to
the manager.
Step 4. - The Manager4 Shall be invited to transmit in writing to
the Network Staffing Officer any additional information or views on
how the candidates meet the criteria set out in the job
requirements. The Manager shall not indicate preferences.
Step 5. Network Staffing Officers. Makes the preliminary
selection/reassignment recommendations to the Job Network Board
based on staff career development plans, manager views, and
mobility framework priorities [1,2,3,4]. The submission will also
include those candidates deemed not suitable.
Step 6. Job Network Board. Makes the final recommendations for
selection/reassignments
to
the
Secretary-General
for
selection/reassignment, taking into consideration the needs of the
Organization.
Recommendation of Candidates for Selection/Reassignment
Job Network Boards and the Senior Review Board will review all applicants,
taking into account the critical requirements of the post, preliminary
recommendations of the Network Staffing Officer, and the organizational
needs and recommend selection of an applicant for the position. The
Boards will recommend selection (or reassignment at Mark 3) of the most
qualified candidate bearing in mind the following priorities and with a view
to a fair sharing of the burden of service in difficult duty stations:
Priority 1: Mark 2 staff applying from a non-H duty stations to
another duty station or staff on a post to be abolished who are at
any mark and are applying to a vacant post at their current grade
level;
Priority 2: Mark 2 staff applying from a H duty station to another
duty station or applying to a different function from the same or
another duty station;
Priority 3: Any other Mark 2 staff; and lastly,
Priority 4: Staff who are between Mark 1 and Mark 2 applying from
another duty station.
Staff
members
can
also
be
laterally
reassigned
within
a
Department/Mission by a Head of Department/Head of Mission without
consideration by a job network board; however, for staff members who are
4 The Manager is usually the director accountable for the delivery of the
subprogrammes where the post is located.
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reassigned under the delegation of authority of the Department/Mission

the post occupancy limits will continue to count from the time of the
previous selection/assignment. Staff members who are selected for a new
post through the job network boards start counting time towards mark 1,
2 and 3 from the start of the new assignment.
After Mark 3
Once per year, one of the quarterly batches/compendia will include staff
members who have reached Mark 3 and are placed in a reassignment
pool. Their posts, along with that quarters vacant posts, are advertised
and all staff may apply.
Job Network Boards will review all qualified applicants, taking into account
the critical requirements, preliminary recommendations of the Network
Staffing Officer, and the organizational needs and recommend selection of
an applicant for the position.
In that quarter:
Staff members who have reached Mark 3 may be reassigned by the
board (to a post they applied to or another suitable post) in
consultation with the staff member and based on the
recommendations of the Network Staffing Officer.
Staff members who have reached Mark 3 may express interest in
jobs in another job network, in which case their reassignment would
be handled by the relevant job network board(s), subject to
availability. If they are not reassigned to a job, their reassignment
would be handled by their original job network.
Other staff who apply (those who have not reached Mark 3) will not
be reassigned, but may be selected for a post to which they applied.
In that case their post may be used to reassign a Mark 3 staff
member.
In the interests of the staff member and the Organization, the relevant Job
Network/Senior Review Board will make best efforts to select/reassign staff
members serving in a D/E duty station who pass Mark 3 to a non D/E duty
station.
In general, reassignment may be to the same or a different duty station
depending on availability of posts. The staff members wish to stay in the
duty station or to change duty station should be taken into consideration.
Should there be no appropriate reassignment option, the staff member
would remain on the same post and participate in the following
reassignment exercise (i.e., the next reassignment batch/compendium),
unless selected for another post in the meantime.
Subject to the requirements of the relevant Job Network, staff members
who have undergone at least 7 geographical moves of one year or longer
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will be rewarded with the right to choose if they want to be geographically

mobile.
Criteria for Eligibility for Senior Posts at the Managerial Level
To be eligible for managerial posts at the P5, D1 and D2 level, staff
members must demonstrate competence and the necessary managerial
skills.
OHRM
will
review
the
possibility
of
creating
a
development/assessment process to ensure the managerial capabilities of
candidates at the P5, D1 and D2 levels.
To be eligible for P5, D1 and D2 levels, staff members must have at least
one prior geographic move of one year or more in their UN common
system career.
Special Constraints Panel
Staff members may request the Special Constraints Panel, made up of
staff and management representatives in equal numbers, to remain in the
same duty station for their reassignment, based on clear criteria that
could include:

medical reasons of the staff member, subject to certification by the

UN Medical Services Division;
compelling personal circumstances that a change of duty station
would create an undue hardship (this would be weighed against the
interest of the Organization and bearing in mind a consistent
process for exceptions); and,
any additional criteria identified in the Guidelines of the Special
Constraints Panel.

Exceptions to remain in the duty station are time-bound but if the reason
for the exception remains, subsequent exceptions can be granted.
For staff members engaged in projects for which mobility would harm the
success of that project, the manager may request jointly with the staff
member that the Special Constraints Panel recommend that the staff
member remain on the same post until the fulfillment of that project.
Periodic review of the exception will be made by the Special Constraints
Panel.
Recommendations of the panel will be submitted to the ASG/OHRM for
approval.
Measures to Address Job Security Concerns
At the conclusion of the reassignment and selection exercise, when vacant
posts exist in the compendium, staff (who have been regularized through
endorsement by a Central Review Body and who have served for at least
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five years as of 1 July 2009) affected by abolishment of their positions in

the Tribunals (ICTR/ICTY/IRM), under the provisions of ST/AI/2010/3, shall
be given priority consideration by the review board before external
candidates.
Management will also complete the regularization process of former 200
series Secretariat staff.
Staff in downsizing missions/offices will be subject to the policy on
downsizing missions/offices and the terms and conditions for placement of
staff in accordance with Staff Rule 9.6(e).
Where posts are
discontinued/abolished, staff members shall be retained in the order of
preference set out in Staff Rule 9.6(e).
All staff on fixed-term appointments who move to a D/E duty station will
be awarded at least a three-year fixed-term appointment, organizational
needs permitting.
Measures to Support Staff Members and Their Families in
Geographic Mobility
The Organization is committed to assisting staff and their families. OHRM
will review various options including those put forward in the staff paper.
The outcomes of negotiations with staff on this issue will form an integral
part of the framework which will be further developed by the working
group on mobility and career development and submitted to the SMC for
agreement. To support the work of the group on this issue, OHRM will
review best practices of other international organizations and foreign
services.
Inter-Agency Mobility
The Secretary General supports inter-agency mobility and will work
towards gaining agreement with the Executive Heads of the Agencies,
Funds and Programmes on concrete measures to increase such mobility.
Locally-Recruited Staff Members
A framework on mobility/career development for locally-recruited staff
members is also being developed.
Transitional Measures
Assuming the General Assembly adopts a resolution on a new mobility
framework by 31 December 2012, the following will apply. Should the
date of adoption fall after 1 January 2013, the dates envisaged below will
be adjusted accordingly.

New staff members: New staff members joining the Organization on or

after 1 January 2013 on a fixed-term appointment will be subject to the
mobility policy as of their joining the Organization.
Preparation period: There will be a two-year preparation period starting
from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2014 to allow for the
implementation of the mobility policy. During this period, the current
staff selection system (currently ST/AI/2010/3 as amended)5 will remain
in force for all staff members. As a transitional measure, within the
current staff selection system staff members applying from another
duty station will be given priority at all levels, particularly those staff
applying from D/E duty stations.
Phased implementation: The implementation of the mobility system
will be phased by Job Networks beginning from 1 January 2015.
Staff become subject to the mobility system when the Job Network they
belong to becomes operational.6 Until their Job Network is operational,
staff may continue to apply for job openings under the current staff
selection system (ST/AI/2010/3 as amended). Staff who have reached
or are approaching their maximum post occupancy should apply to job
openings even if their Job Network is not yet operational. Should they
not be selected for a job opening, they will be subject to reassignment
during the second year after their Job Network is operationalized in the
mobility system (i.e. they will not be subject to reassignment in the
first year that their Job Network is operationalized.).
Eligibility for promotion from P4 to P5: Currently serving staff at the P4
level who have met the lateral move or waiver requirements for eligibility
to apply for posts at the P5 level by 31 December 2012 will continue to be
eligible to apply to job openings at the P5 level in accordance with section
6.3 of ST/AI/2010/3 for four years from the implementation date (1 January
2015) until 31 December 2018.
As a transitional measure, staff on board as of 31 December 2012 at the
P5 level will be exempt from the requirement for at least one geographic
move when applying to job openings at the D1 level for four years from
the implementation date (1 January 2015) until 31 December 2018.
Financial issues
5 The current staff selection system will be amended to reflect the
changes discussed during SMC1, including post occupancy limits, priority
for staff applying from other duty stations, and the requirement of one
geographic move for eligibility to P5 and above.
6 A Job Network is operationalized once all the mechanisms are in place
for the Job Network Board to begin the selection and reassignment
process.
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The Organization is expected to incur expenditure for staff mobility in the

current biennium 2012-13 based on current patterns of mobility among
staff. This trend is expected to continue in 2014, during the preparation
phase of global staff mobility. As implementation of the mobility policy
will be phased-in, any additional resources required above current
expenditure levels will be presented to Member States at the appropriate
time.
The Secretary-General will not use introduction and/or
implementation of the mobility policy as a means of separating staff,
cutting posts, or reducing entitlements and benefits. The entitlements
that accrue to staff from mobility are managed by the ICSC within the
framework of the UN Common System.
The Way Forward
Up to, and following adoption of the General Assembly of the mobility
framework presented by the Secretary-General, the implementation
modalities and details of the mobility framework will be developed. SMC
members will have the opportunity to identify, examine and resolve policy
issues as provided for in staff regulation 8.1(a) and ST/SGB/2011/6. The
following will be referred to SMC:
1. Management will provide information to the SMC Secretariat on
implementation phases by 30 September 2012.
2. The SMC Inter-sessional Working Group on Performance
Management will review the performance management system to
adapt it to a mobile organization.
3. SMC will constitute an inter-sessional working group on mobility and
career development framework. OHRM will bring proposals to the
working group on the following:
The SMC will agree on the criteria to be used by the job
networks in determining any additional geographic, functional
and/or lateral mobility requirements.
The specific requirements of the job networks would be
periodically reviewed by the job networks, in consultation with
OHRM and with the agreement of SMC.
The terms of reference and rules of procedure for the Job
Network Boards will be submitted to the SMC for agreement.
The terms of reference and guidelines of the Special
Constraints Panel will be submitted to the SMC for agreement.
OHRM will review various options for support to staff and
families including those put forward in the staff paper to be
submitted to SMC for agreement.

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