Employees' perception towards job-rotation in the public service

Abstract

This research study revealed new insights on employees' perception towards the introduction of job-rotation within the Maltese public service. This study was carried out using the mixed method design whereby quantitative methods were used to seek employees' perceptions through a bottom-up approach whereas qualitative methods were used to shed light on the implementation aspect of job-rotation from a top-down perspective. In all, there were 512 public service officials who took part in the survey whereas another three officials, who formed part of the upper strata within the public service, took part in the interviews. The information obtained from the surveys revealed that overall, public officials hold positive perceptions towards the introduction of job-rotation whereas the experts claimed that for such a practice to be introduced across the public service, it requires a radical change in the business operations. These findings contribute to both the public service in general - as they form the basis for crafting a strategy towards the application of job-rotation across the public service - and to the field of human resource management - as the literature reviewed disclosed the lack of empirical research which is specifically dedicated to the practice of job-rotation. These findings, together with the literature reviewed paved the way for a number of recommendations. Amongst these recommendations was the need to further analyse in greater depth the feasible aspect of job-rotation from a financial management point-of-view together, with the setting-up of steering committee whose responsibility would be to monitor and assure the smooth implementation of job-rotation across the public service.