(Source: Internet)

Reforming salary policies for employees in the public administrative sector is considered one of important solutions to accelerate the building of a pool of skilled, professional and dedicated public servants.

The current status of salary policies for employees in the public administrative sector

Though many reforms have been carried out, the current salary policies in the public administration sector, including a system of different levels, rates and allowances, are quite complicated with no guarantee of fairness as they are not designed to fit a wide variety of work positions. There are limitations in the classification of public employees at different levels, such as employees, senior employees and high-ranking officials, which is mainly based on qualifications and seniority. These policies fail to encourage the employees to improve their performance, professional competence and productivity, and are not sufficient to attract capable persons. The policies have also created inequality between the employees in different professions and sectors, making them focus more on vying for higher positions rather than improving their skills and capabilities.

In addition, there are many cases when officials holding management positions such as deputy minister or chairman of provincial People’s Committee are registered on the payroll for professionals, resulting in unequal salary among officials of the same ranks.

The salary hike or promotion of a public employee is mainly determined by qualifications and the number of working years without taking into account specific tasks of their position and their work results.

The calculation of salary based on a system of coefficients was a temporary measure but it has remained in place for many years, annulling the meaning of wages which should be paid in accordance to a worker’s performance and results.

At present, the majority of the real income of a public employee comes from non-salary allowances, called “soft salary”. There are over 20 different types of allowance, causing a rapid increase in the State budget’s wage-related payment and reducing the role of salary.

The salaries of employees in the public administrative sector are low but in fact, their incomes are quite high, especially for those involving in important tasks be they hold high positions or not. It proves that there are other sources of income beside the salary, many of which come from the State Budget. If these allowances are included in official salary, the salary of employees in the public administrative sector will be higher and the payroll will be more transparent.

There is still a large gap between wages of the public and the private sector. The low salary in the state administrative sector plus a basic salary different from the minimum wage in the production and business sector has hindered healthy competition in employment and recruitment between these sectors.

Meanwhile, in the public service providers, the salary policy reforms have not produced expected results as salary costs have not been factored in service fees. The reform of the organisation and management mechanisms of those providers, particularly in finance, is behind schedule and fails to produce expected outcomes.

The large number of people who get paid by the State Budget is a challenge to the reforms. At the same time, there is a lack of salary policies exclusive designed for employees in the public administration sector as their important role in the country’s socio-economic development has not been fully recognised.

The existing salary policy does not vary among provinces across the nation, thus, localities are not encouraged to put forth administrative reforms to better off state management efficiency and labour productivity.

In the armed forces, rank promotion is associated with salary raise, resulting in the fact that salary does not commensurate the real position and tasks; the rank does not reflect the real professional levels. There is also a problem when officers holding the same position have different ranks and thus different salaries.

Sustainable, “breakthrough” solutions in need

In the past years, the Government has paid due attention to amending salary policy and has raised the basic salary for civil servants and public employees many times, helping improve their livelihoods and boost working enthusiasm. The basic salary rose from 1.15 million VND applied from July 1, 2013 to 1.3 million VND in July 1, 2017. It was then revised up by 90,000 VND in 2018 and will rise an average 7 percent every year until 2020.

The Government should focus on accelerating “breakthrough” reforms with direct impacts on civil servants and public employees’ salaries. It is time to make comprehensive reforms of salary scale, payroll, basic salary level, salary coefficient, salary multiplier and allowances to ensure that salary is a real lever to promote labour productivity and work efficiency, in the understanding that investment in salary means investment in development.

Viewpoint and solutions

Viewpoint: The Party’s viewpoint that considers correct and adequate salary calculation for labourers is investment in development should be upheld. Adequate salary calculation means that salary should comprise of three parts: one part for the labourer to restore labour power, one for improving productivity and one for taking care of the labourer’s family. Meanwhile, correct salary calculation means salary must be attached with position, work productivity, quality and efficiency.

Salary reform has to abide by principles of the socialist-oriented market economy while ensuring and improving living for the salary earners. In addition, salary reform must be carried out simultaneously with reform of the contingent of employees in the State administrative sector. These are two sides of the issue.

All policies related to salary and personnel must be transparent while salary reform must follow principles of macro-economic balance and ensure the relationship between the increase in wage fund and economic growth as well as the state budget’s payment capacity.

Solutions  

Changing the way of thinking in salary reform must be put in the first line of the solutions. Salary payment for civil servants and public employees is spending for development, assuring that salary is truly a motive for the public staff to better perform their tasks and mitigate corruption.

Salary of workers in the public administrative sector must be equal to the value of work on the labour market and the salary level of other sectors in the market. Considering the complexity and the importance of the work, salaries of employees in the public administrative sector should receive more priority than that of the business and production sectors. However, the basic salary of the sector should also be regulated based on the correlation with the levels in other sectors, with the labour market and economic growth.

Secondly, it is necessary to renovate state management of salary, and the state administrative apparatus must be streamlined towards multi-functional and non-overlapping operation in order to reduce excessive personnel in the administrative apparatus, thus creating more financial resources to pay salaries to civil servants in proportion to their contribution.

We must build a professional and modern public service system that is on a par with counterparts in the region and in the world, thus meeting requirements of the country’s international integration process, and serving as a basis for thorough salary reform of civil servants.

It is necessary to step up socialisation of public services in order to reduce the State budget’s spending on salaries of civil servants. In the process of reforming state management of salary, it is necessary to adhere to the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants; implement annual fixed payroll and administrative expenditure; and rearrange the contingent of cadres and civil servants so as to suit the practical requirements of the set tasks.

The streamlining of the state administrative apparatus must be considered as an important breakthrough. While reducing the number of personnel, it is necessary to improve the quality of public servants; and the training and upgrading of civil servants’ qualification should be considered an especially important task in the context of economic integration. At the same time, attention should also be paid to recruiting talented people who are enthusiastic about their careers; while resolutely dismissing those who are unqualified, incapable and unethical from the contingent of public servants.

Thirdly, creating financial sources to raise salary is one of breakthrough steps to put the salary policy into practice. The salary should be associated with working efficiency, labour productivity, and the increase of labour productivity must be faster than the average wage increase. Investment in human resources in general and in civil servants in particular, will bring long-term economic, social, political and humanitarian benefits.

Fourthly, setting up a strict mechanism of recruitment and dismissal of public servants based on defined personnel standards. There should be a close link among training, recruitment and dismissal. Recruitment and dismissal should be considered as normal and regular activities in personnel work.

However, the recruitment and dismissal must be conducted in a transparent manner based on criteria and objective assessment. The selection and arrangement of personnel, along with the appointment of leadership and management positions must comply with the criteria and follow an open process with fair competition among candidates; salaries and attached benefits for those positions must be publicised, and should be made in accordance with their qualification, position and dedication.

Fifthly, building and completing a set of criteria for evaluating and classifying cadres and civil servants associated with each job position. This is an important task because it directly relates to the assessment and classification of cadres, civil servants and officials. It is necessary to overcome current weaknesses and ensure the objective and transparent implementation of the work.

The salary policy reform requires synchronous reforms of many other policies that have direct impacts on salary such as public administration and public finance; social insurance and assistance policies. The salary policy reform should also be based on the current situation in Vietnam.

International Cooperation Department