Public sector workers could get ‘sweeteners’ to leave and stay quiet

Public sector workers should be sacked if they underperform, a top civil servant has argued.

Department of Public Expenditure secretary general Robert Watt also suggested that financial sweeteners to get senior public sector workers to leave their positions but keep information private could be introduced.

On the other hand, public workers could be given rewards if they excelled in their fields, he said.

Speaking at the MacGill Summer School in Donegal, the top civil servant defended recent reforms in the public sector.

But he said ways of ‘exiting’ senior officials should be explored.

“We know in the private sector particularly when it comes to senior leaders when there are issues around performance that people are exited out and that usually comes in the form of a payment or a package,” Mr Watt said.

“So that’s done in a way which respects confidentiality so people don’t know exactly why somebody left or the conditions of their departure.

“In our system we don’t have those sort of tools that are available in parts of the private sector,” he said.

“And I think there is a debate about whether that type of approach would be appropriate in our system.

“So if we do see somebody who is not necessarily breaking disciplinary procedures in some way but is not performing the way we’d like that, perhaps you could have a conversation and say look, we’re going to buy out the remainder of your contract.”

Mr Watt said such a system existed in Britain.

The secretary general also suggested that there may be merit in the future at looking at pay structures which “incentivise” workers.

During his speech, he suggested rewards could apply for workers who excelled in their field. But civil servants who did not work deserved to be fired, he also declared.

“I think if people continuously non-perform in our system, there’s a disciplinary code there.”

This should result in dismissal, he said.

Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin is set to launch measures aimed at strengthening the assessment of civil servants in September.