Government to address underperforming civil servants

The Secretary for Administration and Justice, André Cheong, believes the issue of underperforming civil servants can be addressed via performance appraisal.

At a recent parliamentary session, lawmaker Becky Song raised concerns about the approach of some civil servants, including a tendency to avoid making mistakes by doing minimal work or exhibiting laziness. She said allowing underperformance to go uncorrected would cause a handful of diligent workers in each department to become overloaded, while others were disengaged.

Acknowledging this situation, Cheong said most civil servants were hardworking and law-abiding, as the last three years of disease control and prevention measures proved. However, others tended to fulfil only basic responsibilities.

“These civil servants meet their basic responsibilities and do not oppose management. However, they tend not to contribute above and beyond to their work,” Cheong said. “In this case, they can’t be dismissed [because they have not made mistakes].”

However, the senior official believes civil service workplace attitudes can and must change from top to bottom, meaning supervisors must discourage this attitude. Cheong believes the appraisal system can help modify this culture.

Several lawmakers asked about the implementation of an accountability system for civil servants. Cheong affirmed the importance of investigations into serious flaws and issues (a requirement at law) but noted the need for flexibility.

He cautioned against an overly punitive approach, such as demotions for minor errors or transgressions, because that could deter civil servants from taking risks at the expense of building a diligent and responsible team.

In the coming year, the government will review laws and regulations governing civil servants’ obligations and work ethic to provide greater clarity. During the review, proposals will also be made to improve appointment criteria by adding the requirement of specific accreditation through specialized training.

Training will also be provided to civil servants, targeting misconduct and corruption. Laws and regulations will be reviewed to close loopholes as well, the secretary added.

Laws will also be updated to meet UN anti-corruption provisions, and civil servants may be subject to criminal prosecution based on the severity of their transgressions.

Lawmaker Pang Chuan asked about the appraisal system for public entities. Ng Wai Han, director of Public Administration and Civil Services Bureau (SAFP), said a dedicated committee had appraised 49 public entities. Suggested enhancements have been distributed to the entities, which must use the feedback to plan improvements.

The director said 25 of 114 people had been promoted to superintendent positions, after completing leadership training. The training program has been co-organized by the SAFP and the University of Macau since 2020.

The fifth iteration of the training program, currently on offer, has been restructured. This year’s program was initiated in response to problems identified, which were discussed during the course. The proposed solutions are to be implemented in training attendees’ workplaces.

This year’s training has 25 participants and is set to end on Jan. 15, 2024.

The number of civil servants was also discussed at the parliament session. During the early phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Chief Executive restricted the number of civil servants to 38,000.

Currently, the city has 34,286 civil servants, a decrease from 35,101 in April 2020 according to Cheong.

Despite the cap, Cheong said the head of the government has discretion to increase the workforce following requests from the relevant departments.

The purpose of this discretion is to avoid overloading departments that have more responsibilities. However, public entities are encouraged to utilize the ‘horizontal relocation mechanism,’ which facilitates the reappointment of civil servants to same-level positions in other departments or bureaus, to ease workforce shortages.

The review of special careers in the civil service needs to be conducted with sensitivity, considering the need for balance and fairness. The government’s aim is to decrease the number of special careers to improve internal mobility among civil servants.

To date, the government has reformed 26 bureaus or entities. It is confident in capping the number of bureaus or entities at 75, currently standing at 73 across the government. Five task forces, such as the Financial Intelligence Office and the Cotai hospital preparatory office, have already or are due to undergo changes.

The Personal Data Protection Office and Public Assets Supervision Planning Office have been transformed into permanent entities, without undergoing name changes.