At the 49th session of the National Assembly Standing Committee recently held, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Truong Hai Long said that the Draft Law on Civil Servants (amended) focuses on three major orientations: Innovation in recruitment and assessment mechanisms; expanding civil servant rights; classifying job positions according to management, professional expertise and support.
A notable new point is that civil servants are allowed to sign professional contracts, contribute capital or participate in the management and operation of enterprises within the permitted law, especially in the fields of science and technology, education - training.
Associate Professor, Dr. Do Phu Tran Tinh - Director of the Institute of Policy Development, Ho Chi Minh City National University - assessed this as an important innovation to maximize social resources for national development. This regulation breaks down traditional barriers that separate the public-private sector, creating conditions for knowledge exchange and transfer.
"If applied properly, the public sector in Vietnam will become a place for knowledge and creativity, while the private sector is a place for testing and spreading, turning knowledge into specific socio-economic values" - he said.
However, to prevent this mechanism from being taken advantage of, experts say that a transparent legal framework is needed to prevent conflicts of interest, taking advantage of public power for private gain.
In particular, the system of asset declaration, income, code of conduct and power control mechanism must be improved, associated with building a culture of integrity in the public sector.
The draft Law also emphasizes the mechanism for human resource connectivity between the public and private sectors. This is a strategic reform step, helping to break the closed mechanism in recruiting civil servants and public employees. When there is rotation, civil servants will access the spirit of efficiency, management skills, and innovation from the private sector; on the contrary, the private sector can learn the values of social responsibility, fairness and sustainable development from the public sector.
This also contributes to limiting "gray bleeding". Instead of leaving the public sector, talent can rotate according to the career cycle.
Thanks to that, the public sector has not only retained a team of experienced experts but also been under pressure to improve treatment and working environment. However, the big challenge is that if the public sector does not reform quickly enough, the risk of becoming a "temporary transit station" for high-quality human resources will exist.
Another breakthrough content in the draft Law is to innovate the mechanism for evaluating civil servants based on results, service quality and people's satisfaction.
"This is a step from form to reality, but also poses many challenges. The most difficult point is to build a measurement system that is both objective and feasible" - Associate Professor, Dr. Do Phu Tran Tinh shared.
He analyzed that many units are still heavy on "eveningalism", following formal targets, making it difficult to clearly define individual and collective contributions. Measuring people's satisfaction is necessary but also contains subjective factors, easily influenced by external circumstances.
To prevent the evaluation mechanism from falling into form, Associate Professor, Dr. Do Phu Tran Tinh stated that it is necessary to synchronize many solutions: Completing the framework of qualitative criteria associated with public service standards; strongly applying digital technology, big data, artificial intelligence to conduct transparent surveys and supervision; improving the governance capacity of leaders. The most important thing is to build a culture of responsibility for explaining, encouraging daring to think, daring to do, daring to take responsibility.
