2 structural bottlenecks
Recently, Lao Dong Newspaper has published many articles reflecting the low income of civil servants, some have to do some other jobs outside of working hours to take care of their families. On the other hand, there are also people who have decided to quit their jobs, step out of the public sector to find their own path.
Talking to PV of Lao Dong Newspaper, Dr. Doan Van Tinh - Deputy Head of the Department of Human Resources Management at the Academy of Public Administration - assessed: The current situation of Lao Dong Newspaper is a major concern for the Home Affairs sector.
"Although the efforts of the Party and State to reform salaries in recent times have been huge (especially the increase in the basic salary in July 2024), the income of the group of senior civil servants has not yet approached the market value" - he said and pointed out that the core reason lies in the two structural bottlenecks.
First, there is a phase difference in transforming the governance model. We are in the transition period from the professional model to the job position. However, the current salary payment mechanism has not yet escaped the average thinking and is being " suppressed" too tightly.
The current salary scale has not really evaluated labor based on the 3 core pillars of the market: Complexity of work; actual capacity and output efficiency (KPI).
"As a result, seniority only increases the salary coefficient according to the term but does not accurately reflect the increase in contribution value" - he commented.
Second, there is the problem of fiscal space and labor productivity. Despite efforts to streamline the payroll, the pressure on the regular expenditure fund is still very large.
Current resources prioritize solving the problem of social security and compensating for price drops (raising the salary bottom), so there is not enough room to design a breakthrough compensation policy for high-quality human resources (raising the salary peak).
When labor productivity in the public sector has not been thoroughly measured and optimized, sudden income increase is a challenging macroeconomic problem.
"3-legged neighborhood" model
To improve the income of cadres, civil servants and public employees in a practical way, the expert used a metaphor: "If we consider salary reform as upgrading a car, then the job position is the engine, while the efficiency assessment (KPI) is the steering wheel. We cannot separate them, but we need to establish a priority order according to the "three-legged block" model to solve the problem at its root.
In which, the number 1 priority is to qualitize and realize job positions. We cannot pay our salaries correctly if we cannot measure the value of the work. It is necessary to shift from general work description to detailed quantity (in terms of volume, complexity and responsibility).
The new income structure must be built on 3 independent variables: Salary according to position value; salary according to actual capacity (rather than degree) and salary according to output results. This is a prerequisite for calculating the value of labor correctly and fully.
The second solution, which experts have clearly stated, is to give substantial autonomy and an ordering mechanism. He said that it is necessary to boldly apply the mindset of corporate governance to public service units (schools, hospitals, research institutes).
"The State needs to strongly shift from the "distributing" mechanism to the "ordering" of public services. When they are financially and personnelally autonomous, the income of civil servants will no longer be limited by the basic salary, but will progress according to labor productivity and the quality of services they provide to society" - Dr. Doan Van Tinh said.
In addition, eliminating " communist regimes" through KPI tools is the third solution. Salary reform will fail if it is still divided equally. Evaluation must be completely shifted from qualitative to qualitative (through KPIs/OKRs).
The bonus fund (10% salary fund) should be used as a strategic lever, focusing on rewarding the group of 20% of elite personnel. The income gap between good and average workers must be large enough to create a "push" in motivation.
"In short, in order for civil servants to not only live well but also live well and regenerate their labor force, we must accept a more fair game: Salary must be an accurate measure of the value of contribution, not the result of seniority or equalization" - Dr. Doan Van Tinh frankly shared.
