Top officials expressed reservations yesterday over a proposal by Examination Yuan President John Kuan (關中) to reform the civil servants’ evaluation system amid concerns from public workers.
Kuan, who has set passage of the amendment to the Civil Servants Evaluation Act (公務人員考績法) in the legislature as the Examination Yuan’s top priority this year, has faced mounting pressure from both the executive and the legislative branches over the proposed changes.
The performance of civil servants is evaluated on a four-scale system that goes from A to D.
Those who receive a “C” rating do not get a pay increase or bonus, while those who receive a “D” will be dismissed from employment.
The proposed amendment requires that at least 3 percent of the staff at government agencies be given a “C” grade in the year-end evaluation, and that employees who receive a “C” rating three times during their career would be laid off or forced into early retirement.
The new system would result in about 10,000 civil servants receiving a “C” rating.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said yesterday he supported a reform of the evaluation system, but opposed the Examination Yuan’s proposal.
The premier said the proposal would not “boost the morale” of public servants nor “enhance efficiency” — which are the goals of the reform.
“The new system was put into trial operation in eight government agencies last year ... and there were cases where supervisors couldn’t bring themselves to give their staff members [who had performed well] a ‘C’ in order to meet the 3 percent requirement,” the premier said.
Wu said the new system could become a tool for supervisors to “eliminate dissidents” that they don’t get along with.
The Examination Yuan should conduct a thorough review of whether its proposal worked well in the eight agencies that carried out the system on a trial basis and solicit their opinions via a questionnaire, Wu said.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) agreed with the premier.
“Reforming the civil service system is imperative as Taiwan’s efficiency in the public sector has lagged behind the private sector in various international ratings,” Wang told reporters.
“However, the Examination Yuan needs to seek more public opinions in light of the complaints over the proposal,” Wang said.
Despite the opposition, Minister of Civil Service Chang Che-chen (張哲琛) said the ministry had no intention of revising the proposal.
“The proposal is highly supported by the public,” Chang said, citing polls recently conducted by three different polling institutions.
“We plan to hold 20 hearings to communicate with civil servants in the first half of April,” he said.
Kuan told reporters yesterday that people opposing the new system mostly came from the “targets of reform.”
“I believe that a majority of the public and civil servants support the plan,” he said.
The new evaluation system would be implemented with supplementary measures that could ward off whatever misgivings public servants might have, Kuan said.
“For example,” he said, “unlike what some public servants fear, it would not be possible that only low-level civil servants would receive a ‘C’ rating because the proposed amendment clearly stipulates that a certain percentage of the civil servants given a ‘C’ grade shall be high-level officials.”
At a separate setting yesterday, Presidential Office Spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) quoted President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) as supporting the initiative to revamp the evaluation system for civil servants, but added that the Examination Yuan needed to explain the plan to the public and assess its feasibility before implementing the policy.
“Reforming the evaluation system is necessary to raise government efficiency and competitiveness. It is our goal, and we believe the public will support the reform,” Lo said at the Presidential Office.
Asked about the opposition to the proposed amendment, Lo said Ma had already advised the Examination Yuan to hold public hearings to explain the proposal to draw more support from public servants.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Yong-ping (李永萍) said the Examination Yuan should come up with other plans, rather than the quota-based evaluation system to streamline the civil service system and treat the nation’s civil servants better.
“There should be outside-the-box thinking to force high-ranking officials that perform poorly to be demoted, while allowing lower-ranking public servants to be promoted for exceptional performance,” Lee said.
Lee said the Taipei City Government supports performance-based evaluation reforms, but opposes the proposed system because it would be unfair to smaller government departments with outstanding administrative records.
While saying that Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) also agreed that the proposed amendment would be unfair to most public servants, Lee dismissed allegations that Hau opposed the proposal to gain the support of public servants ahead of the December mayoral election.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG AND CNA
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