VietNamNet Bridge – Chief of the Ministry of Home Affairs' Administrative Reform Agency Dinh Duy Hoa shares his thoughts on the brain-drain in the public sector.

What did you feel reading the article “Why I quit” (published on VietNamNet) by a former head of a department at the State Bank of Vietnam, who holds a doctorate degree?

Dinh Duy Hoa: Frankly, I’m both glad and sad but I’m not surprised.

I’m sad because a highly qualified person left the public sector. I’m glad because he told the truth and drew the public attention to an important matter, to personnel policy-making agencies.

I’m not surprised because this is not a new matter and Vietnam has to take on the challenge.

This is not a new matter. More qualified state officers who had worked in the state sector for a long period no longer feel motivated to stay. Do state agencies try to retain them?

Hoa: If they are determined to leave we should not hold them back at any cost but should facilitate their leaving.

The problem arises if state officers who only want to work in the private sector to gain new experience and practical knowledge to then return to the public sector are not welcomed back.

It is basically true, though such people don’t account for the majority in the contingent of state officers. In the past ten years, the labor market has opened up. It is not too difficult for state officers to get out of the public sector. However, the system still does not encourage their returns once they leave nor does it make possible for people from the private sector to join the public sector.

Several decades ago, it was difficult for state officers to quit because of regulations on social insurance but now this is no longer a hindrance. The issue now is the rules on the age of joining state agencies, and this needs to be changed.

The author of our article mentioned low salary, lack of opportunities to truly contribute to the country’s development, and the working environment as major reasons that discourage state officers. What are the solutions?

Hoa: If qualified state officers quit, but their positions could be immediately filled up we wouldn’t need any solution. But this is not the case.

State administrative agencies, especially policy-making agencies need excellent employees to meet the requirement of country’s development. There is a reason behind the saying that “Talented and righteous people are life-sustaining elements of the country”. The personnel input of state agencies is deteriorating because the best university graduates want to work for the private and foreign-invested sectors. So if qualified officers quit, we won’t have a capable state apparatus.

What are the roots of the problem?

Hoa: Firstly, salary for state officers is too low. Secondly, many qualified officers are not used properly. Thirdly, their direct supervisors are unqualified. Excellent officers can’t work under such supervisors so they leave. Fourthly, the working environment is poor. State officers are not evaluated properly. Such environment can’t retain good officers.

The statistics makes this clear. But we have not surveyed the number of qualified officers who don’t quit but don’t realize their capabilities because of the above reasons.

Could you suggest solutions for each of these reasons?

Hoa: First of all, the salary for state officers must be raised so they can live on and can support their families by their salary. If we don’t reform he salary system, we can’t expect the improvement of the quality of our public sector and can’t stop the brain-drain

Secondly, civil service institution must be reformed? In terms of regulation, our civil service institution is similar to other countries. We also organize exams to recruit state officers. We also have policies on changing positions and rotation of state officers, etc. However, the implementation is different.

Some state officers are still recruited based on personal relations and money, as the media has reported, which results in poorly qualified officers.

Thirdly, when will the working environment in the public sector be as good as that of the private sector? When will each state officer try his best to deserve the salary they earn? This means that solutions are needed to deal with the redundancy in the state apparatus. The number of qualified officers is not high. What to do with the remaining officers?

Since 1986 we have conducted several programs to cut down the personnel at state agencies but it was a waste because unqualified personnel were still retained. We need to make leaders responsible for recruitment.

Does the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is in charge of administrative reforms, put any pressure on the leaders of state agencies to improve the quality of the personnel?

Hoa: According to regulations state officers who don’t perform well for two consecutive years are fired - but these regulations are not implemented. The Ministry of Home Affairs cannot deal with it. This is the responsibility of the leaders in each state agency.

Under the current system, they don’t do anything to maintain the status quo in their agencies to avoid complaints, etc.

Thuy Chung – Hien Anh