Al-Madina daily

MINISTER of Civil Service Sulaiman Al-Hamdan said recently that his ministry was working day and night on updating the civil service regulations based on the opinions and recommendations of advisers and experts from different government agencies. He also said the regulations would be ready soon for approval while noting that the regulations came in line with the ministry’s strategic objectives and initiatives.

I hope the old regulations would be updated. We have heard several officials giving similar promises for years but nothing has been materialized on the ground.

Because employees are the most important component of any government machinery, I hope the updated regulations would focus on developing the skills and capabilities of Saudi employees. There are many employees who have not been promoted and who remained in the same rank for years.

Employees should be promoted after they spend four years in a position and their salaries, allowances and annual bonuses should be increased. Employees should work in different regions in rotation just like teachers so that they can get a chance to stay closer to their families if they are posted in a different region.

Employee performance should be improved and productivity increased. The only way to do that is through investing in them and providing them with advanced training. Outstanding employees should be recognized and honored while lazy and negligent ones should be punished. The rights of each employee should be clear, not vague, and should be granted to them naturally and should not depend on their superiors' whims.