SECRETARY for Administration and Justice André Cheong admited that the centralized system for hiring public service staff has flaws, and that the need to follow a lot of bureaucracy can make the process long. However, he said that the system has clearly improved.
Cheong was speaking at the Legislative Assembly (AL), where he was called to reply to several questions from lawmakers.
On the topic of careers for civil servants and access to those careers, lawmakers Si Ka Lon and Song Pek Kei wanted to know how the government can improve the centralized recruitment system for new applicants to the public service, calling also for more equity within the civil service that, according to Song, is discriminatory for those working on individual contracts when compared to permanent staff.
The lawmakers called for a complete reform of the recruitment system to solve the many problems that have been reported over the past few years, but Cheong said that the centralized recruitment system is expected to stay, noting that some improvements have recently come into force and are getting good results.
“We aim to perfect the scheme to increase administrative efficiency,” Cheong said, adding that in the past the attendance rate of the initial examinations was only 20 to 30%, “with the introduction of changes, the situation has improved and currently the attendance rate is above 60%,” the Secretary noted, explaining that changes were to charge a non-refundable registration fee to the applicants.
“We have been benchmarking against other regions on this matter [the charging of a registration fee]. This happens also in other regions and it serves to ensure that citizens have a real intent and interest in being part of the process,” Cheong said, adding, “It’s very easy to apply, it can be all done via the internet, so we need to ensure that people will participate because there is a lot of work done and money spent to host the applications.”
Although acknowledging the waste of resources and expenses to manage the applications for civil service positions, the Secretary clarified that the fee is charged not to cover some of those expenses, but rather to improve the attendance rate.
“We have been improving the attendance rate but it is still not the best. This fee is not to cover expenses but to push people to think carefully [before filling the application] about whether they are keen or not,” he explained.
Regarding the duration of the process, one of the aspects highlighted by Si as the most important, Cheong said, “We are working on this matter and that is why we need to improve the law and the [complementary] administrative regulations.”
Acknowledging the lengthy period needed to recruit for the public service, the Secretary admitted that applications can run a long time, and that it is “Impossible to predict when the service can get the staff they need. [The process] takes between 1 to 1 and a half years,” he said, noting that the length of time can also be a factor influencing the dropout rate.
“People’s life [perspectives] can change as well as their motivation to join the public service [over the time of the process]. But this happens also because we need to assure people that this is a transparent process and so we need to go through several stages, publish provisional lists and final lists and also give time for the participants to appeal those decisions, etc.”
Replying to Song regarding the career differences between contracted and permanent staff members, the Secretary noted that such differences exist because people come from different recruitment systems and processes, and that with time, such differences tend to smooth out, becoming “almost invisible when they reach retirement.”
Lawmaker José Pereira Coutinho took the opportunity to bring up, once again, his proposal to merge the careers under the salary index of 195 points and 260 points in order to equate those careers. He has raised this topic with several past Secretaries for Administration and Justice, although an outcome appears not to have been reached.
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