Paying money for leaders to retire early - Should or shouldn't?

Willing to spend up to 200 million VND to encourage leaders to retire early, "giving up their seats" to young officials - the story of Da Nang city can be said to be causing a stir in public opinion, with many conflicting views. Many people support this, considering it a good initiative, helping to bring opportunities to young officials; at the same time creating a "push" in personnel work, streamlining the payroll. However, besides that, there are also many opinions that: is this way of doing Da Nang feasible?

So how should this story be viewed satisfactorily? VOV reporter interviewed Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong - former Director of the Institute of Labor Science and Social Affairs, Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

PV:Dear Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, with this policy, it seems that Da Nang is showing determination in innovating personnel work, with the desire to both streamline the apparatus and be able to select and retain talented people, especially young people?

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong (left) answers the interview.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong: The policy of streamlining the apparatus and reducing incompetent cadres is a correct policy of the Party and State that is being resolutely implemented by units, ministries, branches and localities. Da Nang's policy is very welcome, because this is a large city that requires a team of cadres with good qualifications, capacity and qualities to fulfill the requirements of a dynamic and developing city.

However, dismissing officials as well as recruiting workers into agencies is a matter of personnel organization, a long-term plan, and must be implemented based on certain standards and principles. There cannot be situational solutions or solutions considered as sudden.

The question here is why should it be applied to the leadership group and why is it applied to the age group of 55 for men and 50 for women? It is necessary to consider and have real assessments of the capacity of this cadre team that we are aiming at this group of people. The lack of qualifications to perform the job in the past must be evaluated based on the standards of cadres, reviewed and why they still stay. The reason this group of cadres had to leave their positions to make way for young cadres. Has there been any research to show that the replacement of young cadres for this leadership group is feasible and qualified?

PV:According to her, is spending money to encourage like that attractive enough for officials who "go to work with an umbrella in the morning and come home with an umbrella in the evening" to be willing to "resign"?

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong: When there is a change in the organization, the issue of leaving the job can be unilaterally by the organization or unilaterally by the incumbent as stipulated in the provisions of the Labor Code, in which case there must still be a regime or compensation corresponding to their working time and contribution. However, with the amount of money offered by Da Nang, it can be said to be quite high, up to 200 million VND. First of all, we see that when a person voluntarily leaves a position in an organization, it depends on many conditions. If they have enough working time, they must also consider the labor market. How does the opportunity cost of leaving that position compare to the opportunities in the labor market? Are such compensations enough to "pull" unqualified people? Do compensations and incentives help people ensure their lives after leaving the organization? I think that using money to "pull" them out of the organization is not feasible from an economic perspective.

PV:Public opinion is also concerned about the feasibility of this proposal, saying that we need more research and should we pilot it first before implementing it on a large scale?

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong: Organizational work, especially personnel work, the team of leaders in State agencies must be very careful, must be in accordance with the provisions of current laws; must create a good precedent for other areas as well as other policies to follow. The fact that we set requirements, solutions such as the 200 million VND level of Da Nang, or groups of workers... must have a valid basis. In reality, in other countries as well as in Vietnam, we have had times when production and the economy stagnated or to perfect the organization, we also used subsidy solutions to encourage people to quit their jobs, but those are cases that affect a large area. As for working with each individual, each subject, in my opinion, that is personnel work and this work must be prepared based on standards, the relationship between work quality and job position, especially paying attention to the economic and social consequences.

PV:There are also opinions that spending money to encourage leaders to retire early can lead to leaders who are doing a good job and should continue to train and guide the younger generation, but instead retire early?

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong: Returning to the story of 200 million VND of Da Nang, the question is where will the finance come from? To pay a new person to work in the state system is about 3.2 million VND (soon we will raise the basic salary to 1,390,000 VND), so with 200 million VND, how many people can we attract? We already have a system of standards, a regular process of evaluating cadres, especially leaders, all of which are reviewed and reappointed. Thus, the purification process must be carried out from the initial basic steps, it is a process and not simply a matter of issuing a policy and asking people to evaluate themselves. People can evaluate themselves as good people, not as bad people. There is also the issue of continuity of the system, the transferability between generations.

With this approach, I do not believe that the younger generation, especially those who are enthusiastic about working in the public sector, because they see a precedent that these groups of leaders, when they first entered, were enthusiastic and determined, and were also talented people, but during the working process, there was no screening or evaluation standards, leading to the inability to handle the problem of staff overload and having to use financial solutions. From the past to the present, financial solutions have always been a double-edged sword; they can achieve goals but can also undermine the good goals of the policy itself.

PV:Many people question if that leader is truly incompetent and cannot meet job requirements, why not just remove him from the organization, but instead use money to encourage and persuade him to "resign" early?

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan Huong: Here the problem arises of the entire system of cadre organization: where are they and what do they do? Is it possible that we do not have enough conditions and regulations to filter out those who are not qualified? When dealing with the consequences of this group, we need to review the work of organizing cadres, review the so-called leaders doing cadre organization work, and their responsibilities. When they do not fulfill their responsibilities, the processes and standards are not good, we must improve these contents and use them regularly. The problem of excess staff only occurs in the state sector when leaders do not have enough functions and powers to handle cadres; or do not have enough courage and good judgment to handle cadres. Instead of handling individual cases, let's focus our efforts and resources on improving and reviewing the recruitment process as well as terminating contracts for these leaders. In particular, we must rebuild the standards of those who do cadre organization and recruitment work.

PV:Thank you, ma'am./.