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Source: www.gov.sg |
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SPEECH BY MR TEO CHEE
HEAN,MINISTER FOR DEFENCE AND MINISTER IN-CHARGE OF CIVIL SERVICE,
AT PARLIAMENT, 9 APRIL 2007, 3.00 PM |
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An Excerpt |
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Paying competitive salaries |
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For the Public Service to remain an
attractive employer, our terms must keep pace with the private sector. |
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That is why our policy is to pay
public officers competitive salaries, salaries that are
commensurate with private sector earnings. We do not seek to lead
the market, but to keep pace with it. |
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Salaries in the private sector have
been moving rapidly, especially in the last two years. |
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In February this year, the two
healthcare clusters adjusted nurses¡¯ salaries upwards by 3-7
percent[2]. |
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On 31 Jan 07, a Business Times
report[3] cited that some law firms have raised salaries amid the
growing demand for legal work and a shortage of lawyers. Reports
from HR consultancies point to more firms hiring executives, and
offering attractive salary packages to attract them. |
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The financial and banking sector is
growing rapidly and many potential job seekers are attracted to
it. |
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According to a 12 Feb Wall Street
Journal report, there is a shortage of talent in the private
banking sector. The earnings of some of the relationship managers
in Singapore surpass the pay levels in Switzerland. Singaporeans
are being attracted to these jobs including one young ex-SAF
officer who was featured in the report. |
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As I informed the House in March, the
Civil Service is experiencing the effects of the tightening labour
market. |
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Our overall resignation rate has
increased from 4.8% in 2005 to 5.7% in 2006. We are losing our
lawyers, accountants and management executives. |
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The resignation rate of the Management
Executive Scheme (which employs graduate officers across the
ministries) was 10.6%, up from 7.4% in 2005. At some of our entry
grades, the situation is quite serious, with resignation rates as
high as 25%. |
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Members of the House would also have
read from the newspapers[4] that for our Home Team, there has been
a 40% increase in the resignation of junior officers in January
and February this year, compared to the same period last year. |
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We need to act before the situation
becomes more serious. The Government, as an employer, has to
respond quickly and decisively to stay competitive and close the
wage gaps. Otherwise, we will deplete the Service of the able
people we need, and the service level to the public will be
affected. |
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Civil Service Salary Adjustments |
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Approach |
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The last major salary revision for the
Civil Service was in 2000, seven years ago. During the recession
years, civil service salaries were cut, and restored recently in
2005. In recent years, we have made adjustments to specific
schemes that have fallen behind their benchmarks. |
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For this review, we have taken a
comprehensive look at all the schemes, assessed the attrition
rates and wage levels relative to their respective market
comparisons, and identified the underlying issues affecting the
schemes. |
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Let me explain the approach we have
taken and the principles behind this round of revision. |
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First,
we are not making a uniform across-the-board revision, where
everyone receives a standard ¡®x%¡¯ increase. Adjustments are made
according to individual scheme¡¯s needs. Where the salaries are
severely lagging the market, and there are high attrition rates,
we will make larger adjustments. Where the lag is smaller, we will
make smaller adjustments. Some schemes have been reviewed
recently, and are already being paid close to market salaries. |
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Second,
we will bring our salary structures more in line with our
philosophy of linking pay to performance. Many of the adjustments
will not be in the monthly salaries but in the form of a
performance-related payment. |
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Only those civil servants who have
performed beyond the satisfactory level will receive this
performance-based payment, with those performing very well
receiving a higher amount. |
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These payments allow us to close wage
gaps quickly this year. For subsequent years, these payments are
likely to be incorporated into the performance bonus structure of
the officers, if the market salary levels are sustained, so that
those who are consistently good performers will continue to enjoy
the higher salaries. |
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For schemes which are lagging severely
behind the market, we would have to adjust both monthly salaries
and annual components in order to close the gap. |
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Third,
we recognize that salaries alone are not the panacea to our
problems. We need to look at the whole career proposition, such as
sense of purpose, job scope, interesting assignments, exciting
career prospects, and developmental opportunities. These issues
have to be addressed so that a career in the Civil Service will
remain attractive not just to young people fresh out of school,
but also to serving officers. |
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That is why, in conjunction with the
pay increases, we will continue with our reviews to address the
fundamental issues for specific services. Let me give a recent
example. |
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The Education Service was reviewed in
August last year. We raised the starting salaries and increased
the retention bonuses for the teachers. |
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But the review went beyond pay. MOE
solicited feedback from teachers and made changes beyond salaries:
the study leave scheme was enhanced to allow teachers to take
longer periods of study leave, a special fund was set up for
teachers to use for learning and developmental needs, and
promotional grades were added for classroom teachers. |
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This year, some 10,000 teachers have
been promoted, many of whom to the new promotional grades
introduced in the restructured scheme of service. |
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I will now brief the House on the pay
revisions for the different groups of civil servants. The
revisions will apply to the Civil Service. |
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Statutory Boards will review their
salaries concurrently and make adjustments, where appropriate. A
number of Statutory Boards (EDB, MAS) have already adjusted their
salaries earlier this year. |
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More..... |
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Source: www.gov.sg
Media Release 9 Apr 2007 |
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FrontPage Edition: Mon 9 April 2007
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