The Bhutanese Leading the way.
According to the annual report published by Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC), the attrition rate for the FY2022-23 rose exponentially at 16 percent with 10 percent voluntary resignations, particularly among senior positions and teachers.
From July 2022 to June 2023, a total number of 4,822 civil servants were separated from the civil service, among which the highest separation type was the voluntary resignation.
Out of 4,822 separated civil servants, 3,413 civil servants voluntarily resigned. 596 people were separated due to contract completion, 484 were delinked, 233 for superannuation, death for 41 people, termination for 16 people, withdrawal for 15 people, compulsory retirement for 13 people, and wrong update for 11 people.
By position categories, RCSC lost 2 contract and 36 regulars, a total of 38 workers from the executive and specialist level.
From the professional and management category, RCSC lost a total of 2,600 civil servants with 948 contract and 1,652 regular employees. The highest attrition was faced from this category.
From the supervisory and support category, RCSC lost a total of 1,826 people with 402 contract workers and 1,424 regular workers.
From the operational category, RCSC lost a total of 358 workers with 190 contract workers and 168 regular workers.
From the grand total of 4,822 civil servants, 3,280 of them were regular workers with the remaining 1,542 being contract workers.
The report stated that the causes for attrition was multi-faceted, but were largely driven by economic factors.
As experienced staff leave, it creates a gap in the agencies and affects service delivery.
In the report, it states that in order to address attrition, RCSC undertook numerous initiatives. RCSC is currently working on Manpower Management Framework (MMF), which aims to provide greater flexibility to agencies in terms of human resource management.
Additionally, the report also states the submission of proposals for better pay and incentives to the 6th Pay Commission.
In the FY 2021-22, a total of 1,462 people were separated from the civil service as of the total of 31,427 civil servants in 30 June 2022. The attrition rate stood at 4.65 percent meaning the attrition rate jumped by almost 245 percent in the FY 2022-23.
In FY2021-22, the highest separation type was voluntary resignation at 1,023 followed by special retirement scheme at 210, separation by order at 64, cancel/withdrawal of appointment at 57, termination at 44, compulsory retirement at 25, death at 21, early retirement scheme at 13, and superannuation at 5 respectively.
Comparing the voluntary resignation of FY 2021-22 and FY 2022-23, the voluntary resignation increased by 233.6 percent, jumping from 1,023 persons to 3,413 persons in a year.
In the past five years, in 2017, the number for voluntary resignation was at 471, 609 in 2018, 568 in 2019, 542 in 2020 respectively. These numbers, which were in 100s jumped significantly in the past two years, currently in the 1,000s.
As of June 2023, there are 29,241 civil servants with 17,549 male employees at 60 percent of the total employment with 40 percent female at 11,692 persons.
