The facts behind the Great Resignation

It is an open secret that larger than usual numbers of civil servants have been resigning in recent times with a record 1,023 civil servants voluntarily resigning from July 2021 to June 2022.

However, the popular misconception is that this has been happening only in the last 12 months or it is due to the managing out of executives, when the data shows that the voluntary resignations have been going up for several years. This shows both problems in the civil service where people resign for greener pastures, and at the same time is also part of a global trend.

Data shows a long term process

As seen in Box 1, there is a slow increase in voluntary resignations right from 2008 onward, but the rapid acceleration is from 2016 onwards with the numbers going up in large numbers every year.

This acceleration in 2016 also coincides with the start of the Australia rush around the same period, when civil servants left their jobs and went on self financed Masters Programs to study and work in Australia.

It may be interesting to note that the Australian and UK joint Visa application Centre which made it easier to apply and get visas without having to go to Delhi opened in 19 May 2016 in Thimphu, though this is just one of the many factors.  

When one looks at the Box 2 data which shows overall separation from the civil service which includes resignation, retirement, early retirement etc it is clear that civil servants were leaving their jobs even before democracy and it built up slowly over time.

The now thriving Bhutanese community in Perth is not a recent phenomenon, but the first few civil servants who left even before democracy where among the first ones there.

The separation started with 284 civil servants in 2003 and built up gradually to 442 civil servants in 2014 and from there to 782 in 2017 and then 1,504 total civil servants separating from the service in 2021.

The 1,023 civil servants who voluntarily resigned in the last 12 months make up 3.28 percent of the total 31,177 civil service strength.

The voluntary resignation number for this year is expected to go up compared to 2021 as part of the increasing trend especially as many civil servants are expected to hand in their resignations by August 2022 when college courses start in Australia.

Voluntary Resignations and Separations (which includes voluntary resignations) went up before or in election years in 2007, 2013 and 2018.

Apart from resignation, the time period of July 21 to Jun 22 saw 588 Extra Ordinary Leaves being taken which is not considered as resignation from the service, but here again most are heading to Australia.

An official said that the resignations are not a matter of concern for RCSC as the percentages of around three percent are a very good number internationally well within the attrition rate. The official said that the resignation trends are also not very different from previous years, and it is not as large as it is being made out to be.

International trends and Bhutan

Interestingly, the resignation trend of civil servants in Bhutan are similar to ‘The Great Resignation’ trend around the world.

It was initially thought that this was a pandemic phenomenon, but the data from countries like the USA show that while the pandemic accelerated the trend, it was happening from as early as 2010 in the USA after the 2007-2009 recession with the quit rate accelerating every year.

However, as writer Daniel Liden writes in online site The Inner Join that while people have quit they have mainly quit for better jobs with the majority quitting from lower paying jobs like accommodation and food services.

Professor Joseph Fuller and Professor William Kerr writing in the Harvard Business Review also agree with the above that lower paid workers are moving to higher paid ones as the hire rate in USA is higher then the quit rate.

In the Bhutanese context the quit rate of the civil service is more than made up by the hire rate in Australia which especially at this point is desperately short of manpower in several fields.

Apart from this, the pandemic forced workers in USA to evaluate what is really important in their lives, look at work-family balance and there was also a higher burnout rate.

An important trend to be noted is that the level of resignations increased with the level of internet penetration and use in Bhutan as people not only got exposed to greener pastures but also found ways to get there.

Another factor was word of mouth as when the first few who went there did well, then word soon spread and the numbers kept going up.

Salary, Leadership and Favoritism

The reporter talked to some former civil servants and even a former senior RCSC official to get an inside track on the reasons behind the great resignation of Bhutanese civil servants.

A former civil servant from the Finance Ministry said that the main reason civil servants are quitting in larger numbers is that the salary is just not adequate to look after a family.

He said even a DG level civil servant gets around USD 800 to 1000 per month and so people are worried about what will happen after retirement.

“Youths are resigning and going out to make money to secure their futures. The salary level is pathetic,” said the official.

He said the teachers are now the highest paid civil servants with their allowances, but they are still leaving in large numbers.

He said in the old days there was a lot of patriotism and it was all about the nation, but in modern times money is fast replacing patriotism.

He also said that in the Bhutanese civil service system the bosses don’t let the younger talent come to light. He said there was also a lot of Nepotism in his time as it mattered who you were related to.

He said the recent managing out of senior civil servants has also led to some insecurity among civil servants.

A former senior official of the RCSC said the two main reasons civil servants are leaving are firstly to do with money and what will happen after retirement as the savings may just be enough to buy a small flat. He said this is why young people go to Australia and the first thing they do when they come back is to buy a plot of land.

He said the second reason is the need for good bureaucratic leadership to ensure there is a certain dynamism within the organization.

Why Teachers and medical staff are leaving 

A closer look at the composition of the 1,504 civil servants who have separated from the service in 2021 tells an interesting tale of what is going on in the civil service.

The largest numbers separating are from the teaching and training services group at 460 people. This is both due to teachers composing the largest numbers of civil servants and also due to issues like workload, rural postings, lack of training opportunity and not being able to rise up.

The former RCSC official said that the teachers feel they are looked down upon and entering the teaching job is almost like the ‘caste system’ as they are not able to get out. He said the first Commission allowed senior teachers to take up administrative jobs and as a result many senior teachers became Dungpas, Dzongrabs etc which the second commission put a stop to as they were losing good teachers.

In fact, a large number of Bhutanese in Perth are from the teaching community.

Another major group is from the medical and health services group with 154 people separated in 2021. Here the problem is more complicated as apart from a heavy workload, trained and experienced health staff, especially nurses, are in demand in Australia and other countries. The former RCSC official said they had tough time trying to retain the Intensive Care Unit nurses.

In fact, the trend now is that nurses work with JDWNRH on contract and once they get enough experience they head out.

A big group separating is the administration and support services group coming to 367 of them. 

Why mid and junior level officers are moving out

When one looks at the grades the largest number of people who have separated from the civil service in 2021 are at the P 5 or entry level grade coming to 292 people.

Here the former RCSC official said that the question to ask is if these young civil servants are getting a good orientation which happens in other countries along with mentor coaching.

He said they may be lacking some coaching, guidance, are getting lost and also not having a passion for the job.

Then 162 people at the P 4 level, 154 people at the P 3 level, 65 people at the P2 level and 82 people at the P 1 level have also separated from the service in 2021.

The former official said that it is a concern that such large numbers of P 4 and P 3 people are being lost because they have experience, are the implementers and take a large amount of the work load. He said the P 5, P 4 and P 3 people are generally very productive people given their younger age too.

He said if too many people are lost here then a good pool for the future executives would also be lost.

He said a major problem in the P 5 to P 1 category is limited mobility upwards. “The officers here look to get promoted because this is the only way they can get a major pay increase, but the leadership slots at the top are limited,” he said.

He said a solution here would be to not only have a vertical pay band moving up, but also a horizontal pay band moving side wards where a person may stay at the same grade, but get paid higher at his or her level and does not have to take a leadership positon to get better pay. He said this would also help to retain professionals.

Another large group separating from the service is again the entry level of the Supervisory and Support (S&S) category at S 5 which are civil servants who did not enter the civil service through the Bhutan Civil Service Exams. Here 163 have been separated. 125 have been separated at the S 1 level. These officials are important for service delivery too.

Strangely even at the O4 level which is for drivers, plumbers etc 110 have separated from the service.

Managing out fears

The former RCSC official said that the managing out of the executives and the plan to merge ministries and agencies led to an anxiety and fear among civil servants that they would also be removed or lose their positions or seniority.

He said civil servants also did not trust their executive bosses thinking decisions will be taken arbitrarily or based on who is close to them.

However, he said those fears should now calm down as an article by this paper in the last issue had said there is no plans for mass retrenchment. The Prime Minister a few days later also confirmed the same and said rumors that around 11,000 civil servants would be managed out is not true.

Organizational climate and Executives

The official said that one major factor for civil servants leaving apart from money is the leadership of the executives and the organization climate.

He said as part of the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Organizational Development exercise the RCSC had proposed to do a regular and anonymous survey among the employees about their executive bosses, but this met with stiff resistance from the executives.

Similarly, he said the executives did not support another proposal to do a client feedback survey to improve services. He said civil servants should not be judged by budget utilization or the number of meetings, but on the impact of their work and client feedback.

The second Commission did not push the matter as it was felt performance was the purview of the government.

The official said the executives fell in an area of no accountability as the RCSC was seen more as personnel agency and did not want to get into performance issues, and the political government on the other hand had no say over the executives to ensure performance.

The official said that often a P 1 officer while applying for an Ex position would be meek and humble during the interview, but there would a noticeable change once they got in.

He said the feeling among them was they were invincible of sorts with assured Ex tenure till retirement and so were not really accountable to the RCSC or the government and could just wait both of them out for their five-year terms to finish.

He said in that sense His Majesty’s Kasho on the reform of the Civil Service has come as an important measure and ensures accountability.

Fairness

The official said it is important to strengthen and use the Individual Work Plan report to individually assess civil servants and reward performers.

The official said one factor that played some role was that after 2008 when political governments came in they all came in with a lot of pledges and activities and so the civil servants came under more pressure to deliver them. 

Another issue he highlighted that upset civil servants was when they felt that their seniors or the executives and committees were not being transparent or fair for recruitments.

He said there would also be a lot of unhappiness when instead of allowing open competition for a post, a lateral transfer would be done. Sometimes a strong executive could drive the whole HR meeting and influence selections.

Recruitment

The former senior RCSC official said that apart from making a change at the executive level a lot more time and effort needs to be put in recruitment to select the right people.

He said when young applicants were asked on why they want to join the civil service they would often reply saying it is for job security, pay, perks and privileges, training, rewards and recognition and an ability to market themselves.

 He said there should be a bigger and deeper purpose and a sense of service.

He said even the HR committees in the ministries and agencies should specialize in recruitments and it cannot consist of some basic questions, but people should be trained to ask questions and conduct tests to really know the applicant and see if they are fit for the job.

Mindset

The official said that the two biggest findings from the second OD exercise was firstly on service delivery issues with officials mostly engaged in too many committees and meetings, and secondly on too many agencies operating in silos even on cross cutting issues and sometimes at cross purposes within the same ministry. 

The official said that apart from the structural and other changes the reforms should strive to change the mentality of the civil servants to be oriented towards public service delivery be it at the recruitment level or at the executive level.

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