The World Customs Organization (WCO) is pleased to announce the publication of its state-of-the-art and practical “Guide to Managing Customs’ Human Capital through Crises and Beyond” in English and French versions.
This guide has been developed by the World Customs Organization (WCO) as a result of the outcomes of the WCO Human Resource Management (HRM) in times of Crises and beyond conferences organized during 2021 (WCO HRM Global Conference, WCO Regional HRM Conferences for the Americas and Caribbean region and West and Central Africa region) and at the request of the WCO Members.
This guide has been developed through research, extensive literature review, structured interviews, expert focus groups and survey data analytics. While the research focused on Customs administrations, recognized leaders in HR and emergency management from international organizations, the private sector and academia were also interviewed and consulted. This captured a broad range of perspectives and innovative solutions that can be replicated in a Customs environment.
Overall, the guide aims to equip WCO Members with meaningful practice in terms of managing human capital through crisis and beyond while providing a blueprint for Customs administrations to enhance their organizational resilience in a post-crisis environment. The guide presents 19 guiding principles across 7 key HR focus areas (leading and communicating, business continuity, work design, learning and development, staff wellbeing and resilience…) that are illustrated through 22 case stories from both the public and private sectors from across the world.
This Guide serves as supplement to the existing suite of WCO tools and instruments in the area of emergency management (Annex J5 of the WCO Revised Kyoto Convention, WCO guide for a successful transition to live virtual training…) by focusing on arguably the most critical asset of any Customs administration, its human resources.
The WCO would particularly like to acknowledge the insights and valuable inputs from its Members and technical and development partners. The guide has been developed with the financial support of the United Kingdom through the Trade Facilitation in Middle Income Countries Programme.
For more information about the WCO People Development programme, please, contact: capacity.building@wcoomd.org