Policy-making will need to change –both in its function and in its organisation, in UK and perhaps, definitely in Sri Lanka?
by Victor Cherubim
Plans are being mooted in England by employers for workers to reside in Moldova and work for the same firm, on a pay structure applicable to the country of work.
The pandemic and technology have moved the goalposts. This seems to be the “New Normal” of work and life. We have been wanting to work exceptionally hard for less in wages and salaries with the cost of living rising, reduced profitability for business, higher running costs, more time spent in getting nowhere?
“The New Normal of Work” is intriguing. All the above difficulties are playing out against a backdrop of soaring inflation at nearly 9% and rising, further rising interest rate and rising living cost. It costs £100 to fill a car tank with petrol now in UK. The electricity, gas and heating bills are also to climb up with the removal of the Government subsidy and replaced bar one off payments to the vulnerable and Winter Fuel subsidy pensioners.
Over time the traditional work dynamics have changed. How, when, where, we work has always been fluid, especially trying to get work, or for that matter, comparable work.
What is happening to Public Service in Sri Lanka?
We are informed that “there is a proposal in Sri Lanka to allow public servants to go abroad for work for a maximum of five years on no-pay leave. This is up for discussion tomorrow 13 June 2022. Those who go abroad for work under this programme will not be penalised, have their seniority or pensions affected by their absence.”
“This proposal will allow any public servant who is already abroad with or without pay, and is seeking further unpaid leave, to obtain the necessary formal approval without having to return to the country.”
Brain drain by any name is fallacious
If the above is a viable solution to our financial predicament, public servants going abroad in search of work, will be in one sense a brain drain. It can also mean there is a loss of loyalty, but more seriously there is the question of propriety, the question of return to a comparable lifestyle?
It is a criminal offence, which protects certain categories of disclosure of official information and by their duty of confidentiality owed to the State as their former employer. In short, in layman’s language, there is a conflict of interest and standards of conduct for serving public servants, and seeking work abroad. Then there is their obligation to comply with the Public Service Code of Ethics.
Of course, it is a different matter, if the public servants are seconded for service abroad. However, our unfolding financial crisis is challenging both public servants and the government in unprecedented ways.
Protecting jobs is the top priority in Civil Service. But taking easy answers is a recipe for disaster. But the Government also needs to find fast and effective solutions to deal with the retrenchment of public service staff and the economic and social impact or to address all the policies of trimming the public service.
The strength of policy
Our difficulty in Sri Lanka is that the strength of policy-making is integral to the strength of government. Cutting Departmental budgets without an equivalent research of governance is fallacious. Cutting budgets by an average of 33 % over four (4) years is what is envisaged by the Tory Government of Boris Johnson in UK, after much research and planning.
Boris has promised a total change in the way the country is run. He wants less government in the lives of its citizens. Policy-making will need to change –both in its function and in its organisation, in UK and perhaps, definitely in Sri Lanka?
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