Civil servants’ resignations are on the rise again. This is according to the Royal Civil Service Commission’s Annual Report 2024–2025. Around 2,300 employees left the civil service during the period, with more than 1,500 resigning voluntarily. This has pushed the attrition rate to nearly eight per cent, an increase of about two percentage points compared to the previous year.
Voluntary resignations made up 5.2 per cent of the attrition rate. 314 of them left due to contract completion, 160 superannuated, 58 had died, and 30 had their services terminated. Similarly, 27 withdrew from joining the civil service, 30 were compulsorily retired, and 181 contract employees were regularised.
To understand the reasons for the attrition, the RCSC conducted a survey. From around 500 responses, the main reason cited for voluntary resignations was the pursuit of further studies, making up about 30 per cent of the resignations. This was followed by better career opportunities and family or work-related issues, at around 14 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.
The report highlighted that the country is losing experienced professionals in key areas such as health, education, and ICT.
Between January 2021 and August last year, the education and training sector experienced the highest number of resignations, with 373 mid-career professionals leaving. Significant resignations were also recorded in the agriculture, forestry, engineering, and health sectors.
To address the growing attrition, the report highlights that the commission is implementing multiple strategies to retain and attract talent. These include campus recruitment and paid internships under the emerging talent programme, and talent management and development for mid-career progression.
From July last year and June this year, almost 2,330 new civil servants were recruited across various position categories.
As of June, the civil service workforce stands at 30,025, nearly back to the pre-attrition level of 2021 when the workforce was over 31,000.
Kinley Bidha
Edited by Sonam Pem
