Appendix H

Letter of 19^th September 1997 to the Chief Executive
tendering advice on the development of
a multiskilled general support service

19^th September 1997

The Honourable TUNG Chee Hwa
The Chief Executive of the
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
of the People's Republic of China
Chief Executive's Office
Hong Kong

Dear Sir,

Development of a Multi-Skilled General Support Service

We have been invited by the Administration to advise, under Clause 1(b) of our Terms of Reference, on its proposals pertaining to the development of a multi-skilled general support service in the civil service.

BACKGROUND

2.The current package of proposals presented to us for advice is the end result of a series of reviews undertaken by the Administration since February 1994 in response to our recommendation at that time that in the face of increased office automation, the Administration should develop a long-term strategy to reduce reliance on secretarial staff and maximise their productivity.

3.So far, the Administration has submitted two reports to us: first in August 1995 and then in July 1996, giving detailed accounts of the various reviews. At the conclusion of our meeting on 3rd October 1996, it was decided that -

4.The Administration has now completed the two reviews it undertook in 1997 : one on the feasibility of developing multi-skilling in the Education Department as a pilot study, and the other on the effect of office automation on the provision of secretarial services in all Secretariat Bureaux. In the light of the positive results of these two studies, the Administration has come to the view that long-term improvements to office efficiency lie in the development of a multi-skilled general support service which would remove restrictive work practices hitherto existing among the secretarial and clerical grades.

5.A number of options have been considered by the Administration but were ruled out. Given the need for a pragmatic approach, the Administration considers that the best course of action would be for it to formulate a package of measures to facilitate the development of a multi-skilled general support service which would satisfy, at the same time, the following criteria-

6.Against these considerations, the package of proposals now formulated by the Administration concentrates mainly in the following areas -

The Administration is confident that with the successful implementation of the package of proposals, a leaner and more effective general support service will emerge.

THE ADMINISTRATION'S PROPOSALS

7.The key features of the Administration's proposals are set out in the following paragraphs. For ease of presentation, they are divided into four parts.

8.This affects mainly the Typist and the Office Assistant grades.

Reducing the establishment of Typists

9.Of the 3,000 Typists, around 1,200 of them work in secretarial pools to provide fast and extensive typing services, and the remainder work in general offices alongside clerical staff. The Administration proposes to phase out Typists in general offices and regrade those posts as Clerical Assistants (CA), provided that the post-holders are trained and equipped to perform word processing duties to a certain standard. The secretarial pools and Typists working there will be retained for operational reasons. The regrading of posts will not incur additional salary costs as the pay scales of Typists and CAs are comparable. The Administration considers that from the staff development viewpoint, Typists so regraded would be exposed to a wider variety of duties and should have better advancement opportunities in the clerical grades.

Phasing out the Office Assistant grade

10.The Administration considers that the Office Assistant (OA) grade is anomalous in structure and restrictive in function. With increasing office automation, the role of OA in receipt and despatch, file movement, photocopying is diminishing. As the difference between the salary costs of CA and OA is only marginal, the Administration considers it operationally more cost effective to employ a smaller number of CA than there are OA to strengthen the office support services, while at the same time devolve the manual duties of OA to the Workmen II rank. The majority of OA are qualified for appointment as CA. Those who prefer not to regrade can be retained in their existing grade and be replaced by Workmen II when they leave the service. The proposal would result in the deletion of 136 of the existing 2,804 OA posts and the regrading of the remaining posts : 1,278 as Clerical Assistants and 1,390 as Workmen II.

Training and equipment

11.The Administration intends to seek additional training resources in the 1998/99 Estimates to provide secretarial and clerical staff with a reasonable level of computing competency to maximise the benefits of office automation. Funds will also be sought to strengthen the provision of computer hardware and software in departments so that these staff are equipped to assume a more significant role in providing word processing and computing support.

Financial incentives

12.These consist mainly of granting incremental credit(s) to clerical and secretarial staff as an award to them for attaining higher typing or computing skills. Details are as follows.

Incremental credit to clerical staff for English typing and CWP skills

13.With the phasing out of Typists from general offices, their duties would have to be assumed by clerical staff. The Administration proposes the granting of one incremental credit to Clerical Officers (CO) II and CAs who can attain a speed of 30 wpm in English typing and 20 wpm in Chinese Word Processing (CWP) as motivation for them to acquire the necessary skill and as a reward for their increased productivity.

Incremental credit to secretarial staff for CWP skill

14.In order to promote CWP skill among secretarial staff, the incremental credit for achieving an English typing speed of 70 wpm has been replaced, since July 1996, by one for 30 wpm in CWP. Secretarial staff have since argued strongly that this arrangement is inequitable and does not provide fair recognition of the extra CWP skill and workload required of them. Having reviewed their claim, the Administration considers that a concession should be made by reinstating serving officers' eligibility for the incremental credit for an English typing speed of 70 wpm in addition to that for a CWP speed of 30 wpm for a limited period of two years. The Administration believes that the concession would have the positive effect of encouraging secretarial staff to upgrade their Chinese and English word processing skills. As for setting a time limit of two years, the Administration considers that with the training programme on CWP scheduled for completion in 1998/99 and the growing opportunity for secretarial staff to practise the skill at work, officers should be able to achieve the required speed of 30 wpm in CWP within a period of two years.

15.One of the Commission's recommendations in 1994 was that "the Administration should carry out a more detailed study of the overall provision of secretarial services in the civil service with a view to reducing reliance on secretarial staff and to maximising their productivity".

16.In the light of the outcome of the various studies undertaken by the Administration over the past two years on the impact of office automation on secretarial staff, the Administration is now in a position to propose changes which, in its view, would lead to improved service proficiency and reduced reliance on the secretarial staff. These proposals consist of revising the terms of appointment of the secretarial grades (i.e. the Personal Secretary, the Typist and the Supervisor of Typing Services grades) and reducing the provision of Personal Secretary posts. Details are as follows.

Revising the terms of appointment of secretarial grades


Personal Secretary grade

17.For promotion to PS I, the skill requirements will be modified to a shorthand speed of 90 wpm (instead of 110 wpm as presently required) plus a new requirement of a CWP speed of 30 wpm.

18.The condition for granting incremental credit to PS Is will be modified to the granting of one incremental credit for a shorthand speed of 110 wpm (instead of 130 wpm as presently required) and another incremental credit for a CWP speed of 40 wpm (instead of 30 wpm).

Typist grade

19.A new promotion criterion to the Senior Typist rank will be set to require the possession of a CWP speed of 30 wpm.

Supervisor of Typing Services (STS) grade

20.With the increasing pace of office automation, the role of the STS has changed in recent years from one of staff supervisor to a trainer in the use of computer software, planner of computer applications and office automation facilities. Competency and expertise in computer applications have become more important in the discharge of their duties than possession of shorthand or typing skills. The Administration proposes to change the STS job requirements to stipulate skill in computer software as an acceptable alternative to shorthand skill and to include proficiency in CWP at 30 wpm as well as English and Chinese language at Grade E of the Hong Kong Certificate of Examination as pre-requisites for appointment.

Reducing the provision of Personal Secretary (PS) posts

21.The Administration has reviewed the establishment of PS II posts in secretarial pools where 160 PS II posts (equivalent to about 10% of total PS II establishment) are at present deployed. The Administration has identified 15 PS II posts for downgrading to Typists. Further reduction in the establishment of PS II posts in secretarial pools will be kept under regular review.

22.Calligraphists are engaged almost full time in CWP duties. The Association of Government Calligraphists made a submission on 24^th July 1997 to the Administration renewing its demand for equity treatment with the secretarial and clerical grades in respect of the granting of incremental award in the light of the development on multi-skilling. It has on previous occasions raised the possibility of granting Calligraphists who attain a specified CWP speed an increment on the basis that secretarial grades are eligible for such awards in respect of English typing skills.

23.Having regard to its current proposal of granting incremental credits to CO IIs, CAs and secretarial staff to give recognition to the increased productivity of staff through attainment of specific levels of typing and CWP skills, the Administration considers that there is a case for according the same treatment to Calligraphists to recognise their level of CWP proficiency on parity grounds. The Administration, therefore, proposes that one increment should be awarded to Calligraphists for attaining a CWP speed of 55 wpm. The Administration believes that the proposal would be welcomed by the Association of Government Calligraphists.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION

24.The situation in respect of the individual items of proposals set out in paragraphs 9 to 23 above is as follows -

CONSULTATION

25.The Administration has conducted extensive consultation with both staff and departmental management. In addition to meeting the 12 staff unions affected, over 80 briefing sessions have been held with secretarial and clerical staff at the grassroot level in departments.

26.The Administration's proposals have received the full support of departmental management as pragmatic moves in the right direction to improve service efficiency, utilisation of human resources and the career prospects of the secretarial and clerical staff.

27.There were initial concern and apprehension by staff over the impact of these proposals on their career development and terms of service and over the threat of redundancy in some grades. There were also misgivings that the proposed incremental award was divisive in that those on scale maxima could not benefit from undertaking additional word processing duties, that the practice of multi-skilling should be recognised either through improvements to pay scales or the grant of allowance and that the expansion of the Clerical Assistant grade would be detrimental to the advancement prospects of serving officers.

28.The Administration considers that most of these concerns have been allayed during consultation. The Administration has managed to convince staff of the need to keep pace with changes in the development in multi-skilling and has reassured them that their career prospects would not be adversely affected through implementation of these proposals. The Administration believes that staff unions on the whole have been persuaded to accept that the current proposals are in the best interest of the development of the secretarial and clerical grades and that it would be unrealistic to press for additional pay or allowance. In summary, the Administration is of the view that

COMMISSION'S VIEWS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

29.When we were invited to take note of the progress of the reviews undertaken by the Administration over the past two years on the impact of the development of office automation in the civil service, we made two persistent comments. First, the reviews took too long to complete and, secondly, to be effective in changing the service culture and mindset of civil servants towards a more welcome acceptance of automation, a top-down approach should be adopted. In view of the Administration's uncertainty whether all the necessary reviews could be completed before 1999 for it to take a view on the way forward and to formulate long-term strategies, we agreed in October 1996 that, having regard to the constraints faced by the Administration, it should aim to submit a comprehensive report to the Commission after the full implementation of the Government Office Automation Programme before the end of 1998, with firm recommendations on how the secretarial and clerical grades should be reorganised.

30.The Administration should, therefore, be commended for advancing this time-table by about a year through its submission of the package of proposals outlined above. We agree with the Administration that the proposals represent an important step forward in creating a conducive office environment and in helping to change the mindset of secretarial and clerical staff towards a more ready acceptance of the need to modernise office practices and procedures leading ultimately to an enhancement of the efficiency and productivity of the civil service. Through the deletion of 15 PS II posts as a start, the proposals, to some extent, also help to address our original concern when we asked the Administration back in February 1994 to consider making changes which would lead to improved proficiency of the secretarial services and reduce reliance on the secretarial staff.

31.One important consideration for the Administration, before embarking on any changes in which some 30,000 general grades staff would be affected, is that the proposed changes must receive the general support of staff, without which implementation will be fraught with ill-feelings and insurmountable difficulties. This has been a recurring theme underlining the Administration's discussions with us over the past two years. While we did not dispute the rationality of this theme, the Administration's insistence on it, coupled with the long drawn out process involving reviews after reviews, have elicited comments from the Commission that the Administration lacked commitment and conviction. We were also concerned that unless the Administration could set itself a realistic time-table with clear visions and adopt a top-down approach, the findings of its various reviews would soon be rendered outdated by the galloping pace of automation technology advancement and the opportunity for making changes in the civil service put back to its own detriment.

32.The Administration should be congratulated, therefore, not only because it is now capable of advancing the time-table but also because in mounting extensive and in-depth consultation with the secretarial and clerical staff, it has managed to inculcate in staff the need to constantly upgrade their skills to keep pace with technological changes. We endorse the Administration's views that as word processing and other computing applications undertaken for improving productivity fall within the reasonable scope of duties of the secretarial and clerical staff, change in this regard should not, therefore, attract the payment of allowances. The proposed granting of incremental credit(s), in the circumstances, appears to be a reasonable alternative although we share the misgivings of staff that this may not be such a morale-booster for those who are already on the maximum of their pay scales. The Administration should not, therefore, lose sight of the negative impact of the proposals on the morale of staff.

33.Given that the Administration's current proposals represent a first step forward in this massive exercise and given the need for the Administration to adopt a pragmatic and incremental approach, the package of proposals outlined above deserves our full support. The proposed changes are needed to ensure that the civil service will be able to respond effectively to the impact of technological advancement and to keep pace with office automation developments in the private sector.

CONCLUSION

34.In conclusion, we support the Administration's proposals for the development of a multi-skilled general support service in the civil service. Specifically, we support the granting of incremental credit(s) to staff in the Secretarial, Clerical and Calligraphist grades; the phasing out of the Office Assistant grade and the revision of the terms of appointment of the secretarial grades outlined in paragraphs 9 to 23 above.