The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The government has not implemented performance-based financial incentives for civil servants due to resource constraints, while employees rated Partially Meeting Expectations (PME) are to receive feedback, training and guidance to address their performance gaps.
The Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) Commissioner Dr Tshering Cigay said the Performance-Based Variable Incentive (PBVI), approved in principle under the Pay Revision Act 2023, could not be implemented because of a lack of resources.
“In the civil service, the performance management system is not introduced because civil servants are failing to perform their duties, but because changing times require additional efforts to improve performance,” he said.
He said the objective was to establish a performance culture in which civil servants put in their best efforts to improve public service delivery.
Unlike the corporate sector, where performance is linked to profits, the Commissioner said civil service performance needed to be assessed in the context of public service responsibilities.
For civil servants rated PME, the Commissioner said supervisors were expected to provide regular feedback and identify areas where employees needed improvement. Training plans and support are intended to address these gaps.
The Prime Minister Dasho Tshering Tobgay said improving the performance of the civil service is necessary to strengthen public service delivery, but acknowledged that implementing reforms across a workforce of around 30,000 civil servants would present challenges.
He said the purpose of the reforms was to help civil servants serve the nation better, rather than undermine the civil service.
“It is not easy to manage and improve an organization with 30,000 civil servants when people find it challenging to even manage a small private sector agency,” the Prime Minister said.
On employees rated PME, the Prime Minister said the RCSC examined individual cases and discussed them with the employees’ parent ministries.
He also called for support for the RCSC’s efforts to improve the civil service, noting that changes to existing systems could bring difficulties and friction.
