16 January 2017

By Abdul Rahman Bawazeer

JEDDAH — A total of 1,461 employees, including 177 women, resigned from government jobs last year, the Ministry of Civil Service said in a statistical report.

According to the report, about 37 senior employees at the rank of minister quit their jobs during the fiscal year 2015-2016.

“Service extensions were made for eight senior officials,” the report said.

According to the report, 36 senior employees were sacked for “other reasons” which it explained as termination during probationary period, dismissal because of inability to carry out their duties, expulsion for repeated absence from work, disciplinary dismissal. The report said only one senior official left office on retirement.

Last year the Ministry of Civil Service introduced a raft of new reforms under which government employees will be subject to mandatory job performance evaluations to determine their eligibility for bonuses or pay rises, and they will be classified under five categories from ‘excellent’ to ‘unsatisfactory’.

These reforms are in line with the National Transformation Plan 2020.

The Transformation Program 2020 assesses the performance of each government agency based on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

The majority of advanced countries adopt KPIs in their strategies because through these indicators they can measure whether or not the sought-after goals have been achieved and can detect strengths and weaknesses.

© The Saudi Gazette 2017