
The picture shows a reader in Heilongjiang reading the Civil Service Law at Xinhua Bookstore (data picture).
□ After a civil servant resigns, he will not be employed by an enterprise or other profit-making organization directly related to his original work within two years.
From January 2000 to June 2003 alone, 10,304 leading party and government cadres at or above the department level resigned and went to sea.
Civil servants "go to sea"
Because of "encouraging" civil servants to go to sea, a "red-headed document" named "Several Provisions on Expanding Opening to the Outside World and Promoting Entrepreneurship for All" was issued in Shangqiu, Henan Province on May 22, which aroused widespread concern in society.
Since the civil servants began to "go to the sea" in the 1980s, the first wave of "going to the sea" for civil servants started in the 1990s. Now this phenomenon has become commonplace, and the relevant laws and regulations have gradually increased. Should the government actively encourage civil servants to "go to the sea" or take a neutral attitude? Should the destination of "going to the sea" be limited and should all be compensated? These issues have always been controversial.
Looking back on the civil servants’ going to sea for 20 years, relevant experts said that Article 13 of the Civil Servant Law and Article 7 of the Provisional Regulations on State Civil Servants, which adjusted the relationship between state civil servants before the entry into force of the Civil Servant Law, clearly stipulated that civil servants have the right to apply for resignation. However, civil servants must resign and start businesses within the framework of law. The relevant departments should increase research on this, formulate more detailed legal rules that conform to the modern government function concept, and improve the government’s public service quality.
Introducer
Xiao Gu, a civil servant in an office in Shangqiu City, is experiencing an ideological struggle recently: he will resign to the sea after receiving a compensation, or continue to work in this unit with low salary but stable work. Where to go? He is a little uncertain, "the next.
Doing business in the sea, first, there is no way to make money, and second, the compensation you can get is not high. I’ve only been working for three or five years, and I can only get tens of thousands of dollars according to the regulations, which is not enough for any business. If you stay in the unit and work hard, you may be promoted in the future. "
In Shangqiu, there are many civil servants who are hesitating or waiting to see like Xiao Gu. In May this year, Shangqiu issued the "Several Provisions on Expanding Opening to the Outside World and Promoting Entrepreneurship for All", which made civil servants and employees in institutions in the whole city reconsider their future career planning.
This regulation was promulgated at the mobilization meeting of the practical activities of "great ideological emancipation, great economic development and great entrepreneurship for all" held by Shangqiu Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government on May 22 this year. According to this regulation, Shangqiu civil servants "encourage cadres of government agencies and institutions to take the lead in starting businesses." Civil servants who resign and start a business can be given a one-time economic compensation according to their own standard of "length of service ×5× average monthly salary of last year". In-service personnel of public institutions (except the health education system) who resign, the compensation standard is "length of service ×3× average monthly salary of last year".
"The promulgation of the regulations is mainly aimed at promoting economic development. At the same time, it is also aimed at the idea that civil servants in some units are’ keeping their stalls, keeping their qualifications’ and not seeking progress, hoping to promote everyone’s enthusiasm. In addition, I hope that this regulation can be adopted to streamline the organization and eliminate redundant staff. " A responsible comrade of an organ in Shangqiu City expressed his understanding.
From "hard to imagine" to "common"
● Civil servants’ "going to sea" has broken the concept of "official standard" to some extent, providing a new way to solve the problem that cadres can be promoted and demoted, and can enter and leave.
The promulgation of this regulation in Shangqiu City, if viewed in a relatively long historical period, is not accidental.
In the mid-1980 s, civil servants were still in a semi-concealed state when they went to sea, and their way of "going to sea" was mostly to transfer to state-owned enterprises at the same level; In the early 1990s, the pace of reform and opening up accelerated, and the whole China society entered an era of diversified value standards. With the improvement of the status of private enterprises, the tide of civil servants going to sea began to rise.
In the late 1990 s, the reform of government institutions in China began in an all-round way, and the civil servants began to reorganize. In 1999, according to the decision of the Central National Conference on Local Institutional Reform, the number of township government departments in cities, counties and towns was no less than 2.8 million, which directly affected the process of civil servants’ "going to the sea". In addition, the Law on Sole Proprietary Enterprises and related laws and regulations promulgated in 2000 also provided institutional guarantee for civil servants to start businesses in the sea.
Since then, the behavior of civil servants’ resignation and entrepreneurship has gradually entered a "normal" state from "hard to imagine", and even formed a wave in some places. According to Xinhua News Agency, from January 2000 to June 2003, a total of 10,304 leading cadres of the Party and government at or above the department level resigned and went to sea.
"This phenomenon has a specific historical background and should be viewed in a specific economic and political environment, in which the allocation of human resources is an important reason." Professor Jiang Mingan from Peking University Law School said, "In the 1980s and 1990s, China society just began to transform from a planned economy to a market economy, and from an all-powerful government to a limited government. This transformation inevitably requires the allocation of human resources to adapt to it. But in China at that time, talents, especially elite talents, were mostly concentrated in government agencies. There is a surplus of talents in government agencies and overstaffed people, but there is a shortage of talents in the market, especially management talents and pioneering and innovative talents. "
According to Professor Jiang Mingan’s understanding, during this period, the task of adjusting the imbalance of human resources allocation was mainly undertaken by the government. Through a series of "encouraging" policy measures, such as unpaid leave, economic compensation, preferential loans, tax reduction and exemption, the government supports and promotes civil servants to "go to sea". Judging from the development speed and achievements of China’s market economy today, the government’s policy of encouraging and promoting civil servants to "go to sea" was undoubtedly correct, and the wave after wave of "going to sea" has undoubtedly made important contributions to promoting the transformation of China’s social system and concept.
In addition, many people believe that the behavior of civil servants "going to the sea" has broken the traditional concept of official standard to some extent, and provided a new way to solve the problem of cadres being able to go up, down, in and out. At the same time, the "going to the sea" of civil servants has also broken through the boundaries of personnel exchanges between institutions and enterprises and institutions, reversed the situation that talents only flowed to institutions in the past, conformed to the development direction of talent management under the conditions of market economy, and also significantly improved the quality of enterprise managers, which is conducive to promoting the development of local economy.
Will public resources be "commercialized"?
● As individuals, civil servants have the freedom to resign and start businesses; However, as a public service provider, the government should be cautious.
In this regulation of Shangqiu City, because the government has the attitude of "encouraging" civil servants to go to the sea, there is no restriction on the whereabouts of civil servants to go to the sea.
Whether it is necessary to limit the whereabouts of civil servants "going to the sea" has always been a concern in the course of civil servants’ "going to the sea" for more than 20 years: these resigned civil servants will use the public resources they have mastered in the past to make profits.
Professor Mao Shoulong, Executive Vice President of institute for public policy, Renmin University of China, once questioned that "going to sea" by civil servants would seriously damage fair competition in the market economy. Although the resigned civil servants have lost their identity and power, the public resources they have can still play a role in a certain period of time, thus affecting the legitimate competition in the market economy. "It must be strictly restricted."
Regarding the abuse of public resources, Professor Li Qiang of Peking University School of Government Administration thinks that some foreign practices are worth learning. For example, they divide government members into political officials and civil servants. The sources of elected political officials are complicated, such as lawyers, businessmen, entrepreneurs, etc. All of them can be elected as political officials, but their term of office is relatively short and their number is relatively small. After the expiration of their term of office, there are few restrictions on their occupation. Comparatively speaking, the management of civil servants with strong professionalism is very strict. They have the freedom to "resign and go to sea", but there are strict regulations on preventing the commercialization of public resources, such as not engaging in business activities related to their original occupations for several years, in order to ensure that government departments can better provide public products and public services.
Li Qiang analysis, in dealing with the issue of civil servants’ resignation and entrepreneurship, the key is that the government should put its position right. As an individual civil servant, of course, there is freedom to resign and start a business, but as a public service provider, the government needs to carefully consider its attitude. If the government promotes civil servants to "go to the sea" with a positive attitude, it is not in line with the concept of modern government functions, and the government needs to change its functions to provide public goods and services.
Urgent need for legal regulation
● The government must formulate appropriate policy provisions to encourage civil servants to resign and go to sea, especially the standard of economic compensation.
"Shangqiu stipulates that from the perspective of streamlining institutions and diverting cadres, it is feasible for the government to provide some study or resettlement expenses for the diverted personnel. But from the perspective of economic development and attracting investment, can civil servants start businesses better than ordinary people when they go to sea? How to exclude civil servants from using the public resources they occupy and compete fairly with others in the entrepreneurial market? Policies should have more detailed regulations. " Li Qiang’s views are very representative.
"How is this compensation standard in Shangqiu determined? Are there any restrictions on the industries that civil servants engage in after resigning? " On the Internet, many netizens have similar questions. Others believe that a large number of outstanding talents have gone from government agencies to business, and how to deal with the resulting job vacancies and the decline in the quality of public services caused by brain drain should also be considered in the process of formulating laws and policies.
Jiang Mingan believes that the government must listen to the opinions of taxpayers through hearings, online discussions or other forms when formulating policy provisions to encourage civil servants to resign and go to sea, especially the standard of economic compensation. It should also report to the National People’s Congress and be reviewed and approved by the corresponding National People’s Congress or its Standing Committee. Because the money used to compensate civil servants who resigned from the "sea" is not the government’s, but the taxpayer’s and all the people’s. At the same time, the policy provisions formulated by the government to encourage civil servants to resign and go to sea, especially the economic compensation standards, must be appropriate, and must be coordinated with the compensation standards for government agencies to dismiss civil servants due to institutional adjustment, cancellation, merger, downsizing and layoffs, and there should be no disparity. The government does not need and should not give excessive economic compensation and inappropriate preferential policies to civil servants who resign and "go to sea".
He also said that civil servants must abide by the restrictive provisions of the Civil Service Law on civil servants’ resignation when they resign. For example, civil servants who have not completed the minimum service period stipulated by the state are not allowed to resign, and civil servants in secret-related positions must be released before they can resign. Within two years (or three years if they were former leading members) after resigning, they are not allowed to work in enterprises or other for-profit organizations directly related to their original work, and they are not allowed to engage in for-profit activities directly related to their original work. In this regard, the relevant departments should refine the regulations, such as what is "direct correlation"? The resignation of civil servants and the government’s policy of "going to sea" for civil servants should also abide by these regulations.
Editor: Li Xiuwei