To appoint the right people

It is seen that an official receives training on a particular matter but later gets transferred to another department. It's a waste. But using the system, the government will know who is an expert on what with just a few clicks. The right people will be appointed to the right posts.

— Doulutuzzaman Khan Joint secretary, Ministry of Public Administration

Sometimes, it takes just days to find a competent person for a post in government services. Sometimes, relevant authorities remain in the dark about vacancies. This large discrepancy leads to the inefficient use of human resources.

Management becomes difficult when there is a lack of coordination and timely responses regarding these posts. But things may change for the better.

To make human-resource management dynamic and transparent, the government has introduced the Government Employee Management System (GEMS).

The Ministry of Public Administration launched a beta version of GEMS on November 1, incorporating some primary information of public servants. Work to enrich GEMS is ongoing.

Doulutuzzaman Khan, a joint secretary of the ministry, said they aim to update information of officials of grade 1 to 9 in the first two years. Gradually, information like joining date, performance, training, and retirement of all officers and staff will be incorporated.

"It is seen that an official receives training on a particular matter but later gets transferred to another department. It's a waste," said Doulutuzzaman, who is involved with GEMS.

But using the system, the government will know who is an expert on what with just a few clicks. "The right people will be appointed to the right posts," he added.

According to the GEMS website (gems.gov.bd), there are 19.13 lakh sanctioned posts for government employees in the country. Right now, 15.54 lakh government employees are working.

All government employees of grade 1 to 20, barring those working in the defence department, will be brought under GEMS within five years, said A Razzaque Sarker, programme director (joint secretary) of Government Employee Management System (GEMS).

Right now, the performance of a government official is evaluated through Annual Confidential Report (ACR), which is written by the immediate superior of the respective officer.

Through the new Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR), a government employee will declare their annual target and prepare their own performance report at the end of the year. Superiors will then verify it.

Pointing out that APAR will be incorporated in the profile of an officer, Sarker said this initiative will, to some extent, stop foul practices in case of promotion.

The ministry will look after GEMS centrally, while respective departments will manage the system locally.

A department will not have access to information of another department, and only designated persons of respective departments will have access to the system.

Five IT professionals have been working since June to develop the system. The ministry is hiring more consultants to expedite the development work.

About Tk 4 crore is estimated to be spent per year for consultancy fees. The data will be stored at the national data centre with a high-end security system to prevent hacking, said Sarker.

Mohammed Mezbah Uddin Chowdhury, the ministry's senior secretary, opined that the new system will give them freedom to manage government employees.

Asked whether GEMS will create any conflict among departments and ministries, he said they have already held some stakeholders' meetings to make departments concerned aware of GEMS. "We will hold more meetings."