There is much concern in the Kingdom about the government being able to pay salaries and bills in general. There is much talk about reducing the size of the civil service while keeping service levels high. This is a challenge to accomplish, but may I offer a way that it might be achievable?
Currently it is almost impossible to dismiss an employee, even if they do not work or are engaged in illegal or immoral activities. If a supervisor has a problem with an employee, there is almost nothing that supervisor can do. An investigation is made by the relevant ministry, but usually nothing is done. If the employee is dismissed, the case nearly always ends up in court- an expensive undertaking which the employer rarely wins. This demoralizes the rest of the employees and the supervisors and gives a bad name to all civil servants.
During this challenging time, SNAT and the labor unions might consider a "Three Strikes and You are Out" policy. In such a policy, if a headmaster or supervisor finds an employee's work unsatisfactory, they can report to the ministry and the person will be transferred to another location, department, or supervisor. A person has three chances to provide satisfactory job performance. No single supervisor can make a decision to terminate a civil servant's employment. If, after three chances, the employee is unable or unwilling to provide the nation with quality services, they would be dismissed from the civil service. They would not be allowed to file a case in the labor court against government.
Reports of sleeping employees in the various government offices would plummet, as would reports of teachers having sex with students. "Ghost employees" would vanish from government payrolls.
The nation might consider such a plan for the sake of the large majority of diligent, honest, hardworking civil servants whose names are tarnished by the few unproductive and immoral government employees.
Sincerely,
Ruth Poglitsh
