If the wages were not attractive they wouldn’t have joined in first place, says Clement Cheung
OWEN.FUNG@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Monday, 18 April, 2016, 4:33pm
A street clean-up by the Food, Health and Environmental Hygiene Department – which has one of the highest staff shortage rates. Photo: Dickson Lee
The government has rejected claims that a pay discrepancy between the public and private sector played a part in 900 civil servants ditching their “iron rice bowls” in 2014-15.
But Secretary for the Civil Service Clement Cheung Wan-ching admitted that work pressure and conditions may have contributed to the resignations.
At a Legislative Council panel meeting on public service, a number of lawmakers expressed concern that the public sector did not offer competitive salaries to attract and retain talent.
”If the pay is not attractive, they wouldn’t have applied in the first place,” Cheung said in response.
Civil service chief Clement Cheung admitted the workload had increased in recent years. Photo: Dickson Lee
Last year the resignation rate of the civil service stood at 0.55 per cent.
A recent survey by the Standing Commission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service found that new government hires with university degrees were earning on average 15 per cent more than those in the private sector, though the discrepancy would eventually be levelled out.
Official documents showed that over half of the 900 quit before their probationary period ended.
Of the 319 who responded to an exit survey, 28 per cent said they had left the civil service to take up a job in the private sector, 18 per cent cited family and marriage reasons, and 14 per cent decided to pursue further studies.
The secretary conceded that the pressure of working in the public sector was high as the public had high expectations.
“In recent years, the government has implemented many public works projects and poverty alleviation policies. As such, the workload has increased for civil servants,” he said.
Cheung added that the resignations may also be related to individual incompatibility with the working environment. “Some of the work may not be suited to their personality.”
But Cheung stressed that since many of those who resigned had not worked in the public sector for long, their resignations had neither a huge impact on operations nor created problems in filling posts.
During the meeting, lawmaker Kwok Wai-keung of the Federation of Trade Unions pointed out that the civil service was short of 7,000 staff, and questioned whether this had affected the service provided by the departments and increased pressure on existing staff.
The secretary, in response, said the government was concerned about the situation.
He highlighted that the problem was particularly severe in certain departments including the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Education Bureau, where the staff shortage rate ranged from around 8 to 10 per cent.
Cheung added that the Civil Service Bureau had set up an expert panel to find ways to increase recruitment efficiency. He said the panel would share its proposals with departments that had high staff shortage rates.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1936885/hong-kong-civil-servants-are-not-quitting-over-pay-minister-tells
