The government is planning to introduce a performance based incentive system in the foreign employment sector to curb bribes and financial irregularities. The Ministry of Labour and Employment has approved the incentive plan proposed by the Department of Foreign Employment. The department has developed an incentive plan to provide better service to migrant workers, said director general of the department Purnachandra Bhattarai. “The plan was developed according to the suggestions of the committee led by Dr Ganesh Gurung,” he said. 

The government had, last September, formed a high level committee under Dr Gurung to suggest necessary reforms in foreign employment for safe migration. The committee had suggested a 30-point reform plan for immediate action. “We have implemented most of the suggestions. Now we are looking at providing incentives to employees and building a service friendly office,” Bhattarai said. According to Bhattarai, incentives will encourage employees towards fair financial behaviour and better service. 

Currently, the government has been providing similar incentive schemes to civil servants working in revenue and employees of Civil Servants’ Personal Record office. They get 200 per cent and 150 per cent incentive, respectively. 

According to the incentive plan, employees providing timely service to migrant workers will get 60 per cent benefit and an additional 40 per cent for speedy service. “Employees who provide services promptly and according to law will get the benefit,” said a section officer of the department Lavraj Joshi. 

“We have different performance criteria for employees according to the nature of their work,” Joshi said, adding that different performance measures have been set for nine sections of the department. We have planned a unit based incentive calculation formula for it, Joshi added. 

For instance, according to the civil charter, the department should issue a foreign job permit in three days, but employees who issue the permit in two days are entitled to get 15 per cent incentive for quick service. Similarly, employees providing the same service in one day will get 30 per cent incentive. About 300 outsourcing agencies and foreign job aspirants visit the department every day. Providing services is difficult due to poor physical facilities. Therefore, the department is also exploring a new place to build its building in Kathmandu.

Department of Foreign Employment is planning to open an express service for outsourcing agencies and foreign job aspirants. The department is studying the possibility of express service for those who can pay an additional fee for the service, said director general of the department Purnachandra Bhattarai. According to him, the financial principle ‘pay for service’ will be applied in the express service. Currently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has applied the principle while issuing passports. Any person who wants to get a passport earlier than the prescribed time has to pay twice the amount. The department’s express service will be similar to it, but we don’t have details now, he added.

Published on: 6 November 2012 | The Himalayan Times