Implementation of Civil Service
Legislation in Vietnam:
Strengthening Elements of a Position-Based System
Team Members:
Saskia P. Bruynooghe Trina Q. Firmalo
Ann E. Futrell Jonathon A. Kent
Rohan Mukherjee Isy Faingold Vigil
Princeton University
April 2009

Position vs. Career-Based Systems

Research Question / Methodology

Research Focus: Career Paths

1. Recruitment and Retention
2. Performance Management
3. Compensation/Incentives
◦ Findings
◦ Recommendations
◦ Challenges

Career-Based

◦ Internal promotion
◦ Encourages generalized skills
Position-Based

◦ Lateral recruitment
◦ Encourages specialization
Position Career Spectrum

Vietnam

Research Question

How can the Government of Vietnam and other
◦
interested parties strengthen the position-based
elements of Vietnam’s largely career-based civil
service?
Methodology

Interviews
◦
Vietnamese government officials

Donor agencies

Civil service employees

Quantitative data
◦
MOHA, GSO2003


Predominantly career-based

Lack of transparency in recruitment procedures

and proper training of interviewers
Higher-level positions are primarily filled from

within the Civil Service or party; selection
criteria are largely political
Rapid economic growth has pulled qualified

civil servants to the private sector

 Attract high quality candidates
 Improve perception of CS as elite workforce
 Improve outreach via multiple channels
 Increase transparency and quality of
recruitment process
 Carry out job analyses and create job
descriptions that will be used in
recruitment
 Improve training and retraining methods
 Continue experimenting with lateral
recruitment at senior and middle levels

 Develop human resources to a professional
level
 Institute reforms to compete for talent with
private sector
 Overcome bureaucratic retrenchment and
political resistance

Three-tiered assessments

Self-evaluation
◦
Peer review
◦
Evaluation by immediate superior
◦
Focus on character traits and compliance

with general principles rather than job-
specific targets
Emphasis on avoiding noncompliance


Delegate more responsibility to agencies

Use job descriptions as baseline

Strengthen communication and

accountability through negotiated
‘development contracts’
Link individual, group and agency

performance
Streamline responses to poor performance

via a clear and formal process
Focus on positive incentives for good


 Develop relevant performance indicators
 Address goal displacement and gaming
strategies
 Manage expectations about a feasible
pace of change
 Design tools and procedures that work in
the Vietnamese context

Pay is based on a salary scale anchored on

minimum wage, with coefficients
Salary scale is relatively compressed

Many civil servants supplement income with

other sources
Civil servants receive non-wage benefits

and incentives worth more than their salary

Minimum Wage Increases and Inflation Rates (1994-2003)
Source: Government of Vietnam General Statistics Office (2003) in “Sequencing Civil Service
Pay Reforms in Vietnam: Transition or Leapfrog?”. Martin Painter, 2006.

Study possibility of wage decompression

Continue sustainable and practicable wage

increases, especially for professional and
administrative workers
Enhance quality of the work environment

Establish mentoring programs

Emphasize non-financial incentives

Establish group incentives


Carrying out wage reform taking into

consideration size of government wage bill
Implementing decompression

Efficiency measures (e.g. rightsizing)

Overcoming resistance to change

Addressing misperception / lack of

information about the wage gap
Sorting out legitimate vs. illegitimate

sources of income

Moving towards a more position-based

civil service would support PFM reform in
particular, and the PAR MP in general, by:
◦ attracting the right people for the right jobs
◦ monitoring employees with improved
performance management measures
◦ having higher levels of retention with attractive
compensation packages