Bangkok: Thammasat University academics have expressed support for the government's "early retirement" policy for civil servants and are advocating for a comprehensive overhaul of the country's "human resource strategy" to effectively address the issues of work overload and overstaffing.
According to Thai News Agency, Associate Professor Dr. Wasan Leuangprabhas, Head of the Public Administration Department at the Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University, supports Deputy Prime Minister Pakorn Nilapraphan's directive for the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to explore an early retirement plan aimed at reducing the excessive number of civil servants. Dr. Wasan believes that this initiative should serve as an opportunity to extensively review and reform Thailand's public sector workforce strategy, which has been largely neglected over the past two decades. He emphasizes the need for long-term workforce planning that accurately aligns with workload demands across agencies.
Dr. Wasan outlined three crucial reforms necessary for the entire public sector human resource system. Firstly, he recommended that the Civil Service Commission utilize data from the entire civil service system to inform workforce planning. This approach would provide a comprehensive understanding of personnel requirements, moving beyond a narrow focus on central government officials to consider local government officials and specific professional fields in each agency. Dr. Wasan noted that the current system fails to address the need for more medical professionals and future professional fields, leading to imbalances in workforce distribution.
Secondly, Dr. Wasan cautioned against adopting a uniform approach, such as applying early retirement across all agencies, without considering alternatives like extending retirement ages. He argued that such a one-size-fits-all strategy could resolve overstaffing in some sectors but worsen shortages in critical areas like healthcare, where there is a significant demand for medical personnel.
Thirdly, he stressed the importance of delineating and avoiding overlapping roles and responsibilities across central, regional, and local government agencies. Dr. Wasan pointed out that despite decentralization efforts, the size of central and regional agencies remains unchanged, resulting in inefficient overlap in public service provision. He called for better coordination and synergy among government levels to enhance service delivery and workforce efficiency.
Dr. Wasan further stated that if the Deputy Prime Minister chooses to implement early retirement without comprehensive reform, he should at least utilize comprehensive civil servant data to understand the actual situation. He warned against using a universal approach for all agencies and emphasized the need for detailed workforce assessments to prevent further issues.
Currently, many agencies face challenges in managing workloads due to difficulties in replacing retiring employees, often resorting to hiring retirees as consultants. Dr. Wasan urged the government to provide clear support measures for such practices to ensure they remain viable solutions.