A record 2,612 civil servants left the civil service last year. This is an all-time high, surpassing 2021’s record by more than 800 employees. The RCSC also saw the highest number of voluntary resignations last year in nearly a decade. From the total number of people resigned, more than 60 per cent resigned voluntarily. This is according to the latest records with the Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC).
Of the total number of employees leaving the civil service last year, 712 are from the erstwhile ten ministries and the remaining 1900 are from other agencies such as the constitutional bodies, the legislative, the judiciary and autonomous agencies among others.
The number of separations from the civil service has been soaring over the years. For instance, 1,284 civil servants left the civil service in 2020 and 1,770 in 2021. Separations from the civil service include compulsory retirement, contract completion, death, special retirement, superannuation, and voluntary resignations with or without early retirement schemes.
While the number of separations keeps increasing every year, civil servants from different agencies have outscored the number of those separating from the ten ministries. At 199, the erstwhile Ministry of Agriculture and Forests in 2022 lost the most number of its employees to resignations.
In addition, 113 civil servants resigned from the Ministry of Finance and 101 from the Ministry of Health, followed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs with 67. Moreover, the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs each lost 50 staff. Similarly, 41 from the Ministry of Works and Human Settlements, 37 from the Ministry of Education, and 32 civil servants from the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources left the service. 22 from the erstwhile Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the least on the list.
However, agencies delinking from the civil service also add up to the separation rate. With 64 employees affected, this contributes to a little over 2 per cent of the total separations.
Of 1,900 separations from other agencies, 1,087 civil servants left the service without early retirement schemes while 72 resigned with early retirement schemes. Similarly, 156 civil servants retired with pensions, 430 were separated after contract completion, 11 after compulsory retirement, and 40 after death. However, 18 were terminated owing to administrative disciplinary issues and only 22 retired with special retirement schemes.
An additional 651 civil servants from ten ministries and other agencies availed themselves of Extraordinary Leave or EOL last year.
Meanwhile, the commission recently recruited more than 800 civil servants.
Devika Pradhan
Edited by Kipchu
