One workplace and strong leaders
Yesterday, the City Executive Council approved a new human resources policy and Reykjavík City's first leadership policy. The policy emphasizes Reykjavík City's role as a single, unified workplace with capable staff and strong leaders.
Reykjavík City's human resources are essential for providing good services, and the City wants to create a good work environment for staff while ensuring clear leadership accountability.
Capable staff given opportunities to flourish
Reykjavík City's human resources policy was last established in 2018 and was set to expire at the end of 2025. Early in the year, the City decided to develop a new human resources policy for 2026 to 2035.
The new policy outlines the City's key priorities in human resources. Reykjavík City is a diverse workplace, and the new policy is designed to reflect the City as a single employer where various departments provide different services.
The purpose of the human resources policy is to enhance Reykjavík City's reputation as a desirable workplace, where capable staff ensure exemplary operations and services for residents, visitors, and legal entities.
The future vision of the human resources policy is for Reykjavík City to provide capable staff with a good work environment and opportunities to flourish in collaboration with strong leaders. The policy's four guiding principles, developed through extensive consultation with leaders and staff to shape and guide human resources activities for the next ten years, focus on targeted and positive improvements that will realize the policy's future vision.
Strong leaders one of four guiding principles
Workplaces today and in the future demand capable leaders who can support staff and provide focused leadership while ensuring good services and efficient operations. Reykjavík City wants to clarify both leadership responsibilities and the competency requirements for these roles. Moreover, a key goal is to make leadership positions within the City more desirable, and the leadership policy aims to create a productive environment for capable managers.
During policy development, City leaders were consulted and asked what factors would be most important to consider regarding their role and responsibilities. Further development work then took place at the City's leadership day in 2025.
"The purpose of Reykjavík City's leadership policy is to develop strong leaders who have a clear vision of their role and the ability to lead successful operations and services in collaboration with the City's capable staff," says Lóa Birna Birgisdóttir, Director of Human Resources & Work Environments. "The leadership policy emphasizes clear leadership accountability regarding professional operations, human resources and finances."
The leadership policy is a component of Reykjavík City's human resources policy, and strong leaders are one of the four guiding principles of the new human resources policy.