ABSTRACT

The importance of lifelong learning has been increasingly cited as a key element of the future of work. One of the main reasons is increased life expectancy, allowing for many different careers in one single life. Another one is the acceleration of changes, due to convergence of innovation and technologies, which shortens the relevance of certain professions, thus making regular professional reorientation necessary. Trends like self-management and self-isolation on social media reflect a broad societal move away from collective commitment and towards a more individual focus. The public sector operates by different rules, for different missions and within a much more regulated environment. Public administration can be a highly visible environ ment where metrics by which employees’ performance is assessed are often very different than those used in for-profit organizations, because a good number of missions of public administrations are linked with fundamental societal needs, such as health, security, or education, which are hard to quantify.