The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The combination of a higher pay hike, and tougher immigration rules in Australia, seems to have worked its magic on the civil service, as the attrition rate has gone down significantly in the first three months of 2024 compared to 2023.
A total of 524 civil servants have separated from the civil service in these three months, with 424 being due to voluntary resignation, 75 contract completions, 10 deaths, 3 terminations, 3 compulsory retirement, 8 cancellations or withdrawal and 1 wrong employment ID (ID given twice).
This is compared to 1,870 civil servants who separated from the service in January, February and March 2023 with 1,182 being voluntary resignations.
In January 2024, a total of 264 separated from the service of which 194 were voluntary resignations.
In January 2023, it was 582 that separated from the service with 446 voluntary resignations.
In February 2024, a total of 143 separated from the service of which 124 were voluntary resignations.
In February 2023, it was 937 that separated from the service with 429 voluntary resignations.
In March 2024, a total of 117 separated from the service of which 106 were voluntary resignations.
In March 2023, it was 350 that separated from the service with 307 voluntary resignations.
If one looks at the 424 that voluntarily left in January, February and March 2024 the biggest professional group leaving is in the teaching category with 150 teachers, 8 ECCD facilitators, 2 Vice Principals, 4 child caregivers, 4 matrons, 6 wardens, and in the tertiary sector, it is 1 cluster lead teacher, 4 instructors, 2 assistant lecturers and 1 associate lecturer.
The next biggest group voluntarily resigning is in the medical field, with 31 nurses, 1 doctor, 3 people from the dental section, 2 ophthalmic technicians, 2 OT technicians, 1 ortho technician, 1 pharmacist, 2 pharmacy technicians, 2 laboratory technicians, 8 laboratory assistants, 1 laboratory officer, 1 medical officer, and 7 health assistants.
The third biggest group leaving is 22 engineers followed by 16 administration assistants, 11 foresters, 9 from revenue services, 9 accounts assistants, 9 gewog adm officers, 7 program officers, 7 from agriculture and livestock services, 6 audit officers, 6 drivers, 5 immigration officers, 5 from legal services, etc.
However, while the 2024 drop is a positive development, the large numbers of civil servants leaving is still an issue.
While 524 civil servants separated from the service in the first three months of 2024, however, there were 476 civil servants separated in the first three months in 2022, 468 in 2021 and 393 in 2020.
This is concerning as the 524 numbers, while much lower than the peak of 2023 still means that key people, like nurses, technicians, engineers, teachers etc., are being lost.
Bhutan lost 5,202 civil servants in 2023 of which 3,728 were voluntary resignations.
This is compared to 2,646 separations in 2022 with 1,686 voluntary resignations, 1,504 separations in 2021 with 939 voluntary resignations and 1,084 separations in 2020 with 570 voluntary resignations, 1,614 separations in 2019 with 579 voluntary resignations, 925 separations in 2018, 782 separations in 2017, 656 separations in 2016, 472 separations in 2015 and 442 separations in 2014.
The data clearly shows that resignations shot up from 2016 onwards, which was also the start of the Australia rush of sorts, that went up strongly in the post pandemic phase and reached a peak in 2023.
