11MP: No mass sackings of civil servants, says Ali Hamsa

KUALA LUMPUR: The new exit policy for civil servants outlined in the 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP) will not result in any mass dismissals of public servants.

Rather, it is a policy to improve the civil service by letting go of the small percentage of the non-performers who fail to buck up after being given the chance to do so, said Chief Secretary to the Government tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa.

"I guarantee there will be no such thing as mass dismissals in the civil service," Ali said in a media conference after attending the National Blue Ocean Strategy Open Day here, which was officiated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The Government is the country's biggest employer, with 1.61 million people on its payroll.

Ali said some 5,000 civil servants in the country had been identified as under-performers, scoring below 60% in their evaluation.

Some keep on turning up late for work or have been absent without reason for up to 200 days in year, among other things.

These staff will be given training for six months and other opportunities to redeem themselves, as well as possible transfers to other departments.

Those who fail to improve may then be asked to leave the service although they will get some benefits, similar to a voluntary separation scheme.

"They will be asked to go in a humane manner. This is not to demean the public servants but is for the benefit of the service, and to score below 60% means you are really terrible so we don't need to defend these people," he said.

A circular on the exit strategy was issued last year and Ali said he wanted it to be implemented as soon as possible.

He said the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) had been told of the exit policy and had expressed their agreement.

On attrition, Ali said 25,000 civil servants leave the service each year due to retirement and other reasons, and they will all be replaced by new hirings.

What would be limited was hiring of staff to fill requests for additional manpower.

Ali said the Government's policy was to re-deploy existing staff to fill up these vacancies.