The situation poses a major challenge to balancing commune-level human resources.

Reports show that 25 communes and wards, mostly in mountainous areas, are currently lacking over 150 civil servants in key areas such as justice–civil status, land administration, construction, environment, culture-society, finance-accounting, and office-statistics.

In contrast, 67 communes and wards, mainly in central areas, have a surplus of more than 700 civil servants compared to the allocated staffing quota. Within the next five years, the city is expected to resolve nearly 590 redundant civil servants due to administrative unit restructuring.

Personnel surplus, specialist shortage

Ho Van Phen, Party Secretary of Phuoc Chanh commune, acknowledged that the capability of personnel in mountainous areas is uneven, leading to critical vacancies that affect overall performance.

Phen pointed out that after the mergers, civil servants in mountains areas cannot meet expectations, while there are too few experienced specialists reassigned from district-level departments.

“Phuoc Chanh commune is still lacking several positions, such as the chief of the Party Committee Office, member of the inspection committee, deputy head of the economics committee, and especially IT staff. The communal public service center need four personnel, but none have been filled to date,” he said.

Notably, many localities face a surplus of general staff but a shortage of specialists. This imbalance is especially pronounced in mountainous communes.

Nguyen An, Party Secretary of Hung Son commune, said the commune has an excess of office and culture–society staff, but lacks personnel in IT, construction, finance, and environment.

According to An, redundant staff cannot be reassigned to specialized fields due to a lack of relevant expertise, but they cannot be laid off either as they still perform their original duties, creating the paradox of “having too many workers but lacking specialized staff.”

The excess-shortage paradox is also evident in Song Kon Commune. According to Party Secretary Nguyen Xuan Nghiem, the commune has a surplus of 13 public employees but lacks staff in IT and accounting.

“Redundant staff face challenges transitioning to other specialized roles due to a lack of foundational knowledge, and training requires time. For now, we need the city to deploy additional staff for support,” he said.

Commune staff provided with living support

Nguyen An, Party Secretary of Hung Son Commune, noted that attracting skilled IT professionals to work in mountainous areas is challenging. To secure qualified personnel, appropriate incentives are needed, with salaries ranging from VND20-25 million/month.

According to An, mountainous communes are eagerly awaiting the city’s policy of deploying seconded staff for support. In the long term, localities are committed to sending staff for specialized training to build a local workforce.

To address the staff imbalance, Plan 1342 outlines four groups of tasks and solutions. Initially, the city has allocated 58 additional staffing positions for 10 understaffed communes and wards while rearranging and rotating staff between localities. 

A detailed list of vacant positions has also been conducted to facilitate the deployment and secondment of specialized staff to mountainous areas.

The city is reorganizing public employees between communes and wards in the same area to reduce surpluses and address shortages. Additionally, Da Nang is seconding staff from city departments, agencies, and public service units to work long-term at the grassroots level, particularly in mountainous and remote areas, with a maximum secondment period of three years per assignment, decided by departments based on local needs.

In the long term, Plan 1342 proposes an attractive mechanism: Staff seconded for three years at the grassroots level will receive benefits as per regulations, including official housing, living, and travel support. Those with outstanding performance will be considered for salary increases, inclusion in leadership planning, and priority for appointments after completing their assignments.

Seconded staff

The Department of Home Affairs was the first to send 15 civil servants to 19 mountainous communes, most of whom are deputy department heads or specialists with master's degrees in economics, law, public policy, and bachelor's degrees in IT, computer science, and public administration.

The Department of Agriculture and Environment also reassigned 75 public employees from the land registration office to communes and wards for three months to directly handle paperwork and resolve procedural bottlenecks.

Vu Diep