Executive Yuan tells civil servants to take vacations

To encourage busy civil servants to vacations the Executive Yuan yesterday decided to abolish the system whereby employees earn a bonus for opting for work instead of taking a break.

"We'll abolish the bonus system because we'd like to see civil servants take some time off and enjoy their life," Cabinet Spokesman Chuang Suo-hang (莊碩漢) quoted Premier Yu Shyi-kun as saying during the press conference held after the weekly closed-door Cabinet-affairs meeting yesterday morning.

Chuang said that the decision came after two recent incidents in which one government official fell ill after working overtime for a long period of time and another quit for health reasons.

Taichung Mayor and former foreign minister Jason Hu (胡志強) felt dizzy and was suffering from a headache after arriving in the US on Aug. 9. He underwent a three-day checkup and was advised to postpone his return to Taiwan.

Prior to his trip, doctors in Taiwan had diagnosed Hu with "autonomous dysfunction."

Amid controversy over the hike in National Health Insurance premiums, Department of Health Director-General Lee Ming-liang (李明亮) cited health reasons in his resignation Saturday.

Lee had obtained approval for his resignation one day earlier.

Chuang cited statistics from the Cabinet's Central Personnel Administration to show that it is a common phenomenon for high-ranking Cabinet officials to work overtime.

"Twenty-six officials have not yet taken any vacation for the first half of the year," Chuang said. "We'd like civil servants to arrange at least one vacation every six months so they'll have time to rest both their body and mind."

Commenting on the government's new policy, Minister without Portfolio Kuo Yao-chi (郭瑤琪) said she supported the move.

"I should start to think that life will still go on without me when I'm on holidays," she told the Taipei Times.

Kuo, also serving as chairwoman of the Cabinet's Public Construction Commission and who was recently appointed executive-director of the Cabinet's ad-hoc 921 Reconstruction Commission, said that her three jobs have taken up a lot of her time.

"Since I work more than 10 hours a day, six days a week, I've taken only one day off since January this year although I'm entitled to 30 days of vacation this year," she said. "I know I need a vacation, but it's so hard to go on a vacation while there's so much to do in the office."

To follow the new policy, however, Kuo said that she may take one day off in September so she will be able to spend some time with her family.