Removing the human resource bottleneck will enable commune-level authorities to provide better services.

Operating under a two-tiered local government system, many localities are facing overwhelming workloads, with tasks spanning economic, cultural, and social affairs, urban management, social welfare, and administrative procedures… leading to an overload of officials and civil servants. Based on this reality, many suggestions have been made to address the human resource bottleneck, increase staffing levels, and decentralize power appropriately so that local governments can serve the people more effectively.

Overwork

After more than a month of operation, the Go Vap Ward Public Administrative Service Center in Ho Chi Minh City is always bustling with people coming to complete administrative procedures. Officials and civil servants at the 15 counters are constantly busy guiding, receiving, processing, and returning documents to the public. This center also houses a branch of the land registration office, so it receives 600-800 documents of various types daily. The large workload puts considerable pressure on the staff.

Mr. Nguyen Chi Thanh, Deputy Director of the Go Vap Ward Public Administrative Service Center, said that due to the heavy workload, officials and civil servants have almost no time for a lunch break, sometimes working until 8 PM. According to Mr. Thanh, a large number of people come to complete administrative procedures every day, sometimes still submitting documents at noon, so ward officials have to divide shifts to take lunch breaks. In the evening, the team of civil servants takes advantage of overtime to digitize and organize the documents received and processed during the day, because during regular working hours, officials focus on guiding and processing documents for the public.

Citizens submit administrative documents at the Go Vap Ward Public Administrative Service Center, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: NGO BINH

Similarly, the Public Administrative Service Center of Hoa Hung Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, received nearly 2,700 administrative procedure applications in July, mainly for certified copies – accounting for over 60%. Besides the pressure from the large number of applications, the fact that the Public Administrative Service Center and the main office of the Ward People's Committee are located in two different places makes operational procedures difficult, especially for applications requiring the signature of the Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the People's Committee.

"The Standing Committee of the People's Committee still has to run back and forth to sign documents, while the Public Administrative Service Center has its own seal, its own account, and a Deputy Director in charge, but it has not yet been granted the authority to sign certifications," shared a leader of the Hoa Hung Ward People's Committee.

Not only in Go Vap and Hoa Hung wards, but also in many localities, work pressure and shortcomings after the restructuring of the administrative apparatus still persist. In Binh Tan ward, the Chairman of the People's Committee stated that tasks have been handled smoothly and efficiently. However, to speed up and improve the quality of work, and to allow officials and civil servants in various departments to dedicate time to researching and proposing innovative initiatives and solutions, the locality urgently needs to add a deputy head for each department.

Previously, the district level had up to 12 specialized departments, but now at the ward level there are only 3: the People's Council - People's Committee Office, the Culture and Social Affairs Department, and the Urban Economy and Infrastructure Department. However, each unit currently only has one deputy. Under immense workload pressure, one person cannot handle it all. The problem is not only a shortage of personnel, but also a lack of appropriate delegation of authority to increase the proactiveness and flexibility of the local administrative apparatus.

The staffing and organizational structure should be appropriate for the local area.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Internal Affairs, under current regulations on the functions and duties of specialized departments at the commune level, the workload is increasing both in breadth and depth, encompassing many fields such as economics, culture, society, urban management, natural resources and environment, social welfare, and handling administrative procedures for citizens and businesses... This requires civil servants to have extensive professional knowledge, comprehensive skills, and the ability to handle situations flexibly.

However, with the current staffing levels allocated to specialized departments at the commune level, each civil servant is responsible for an average of 4-9 specific tasks, each with numerous detailed and large-scale responsibilities. This leads to difficulties in task execution, such as workload overload, limitations in ensuring quality and progress, shortage of reserve resources, and limitations in management, administration, and advisory work.

Therefore, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Internal Affairs recommends that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee assign relevant agencies and units to review, research, and propose amendments and additions to Resolution No. 98/2023/QH15 of the National Assembly on piloting some specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Ho Chi Minh City to suit the two-tiered local government model. This includes proposing an increase in the number of Vice Chairmen of the People's Committees of wards, communes, and special zones; restructuring the organizational apparatus of the People's Committees of wards, communes, and special zones; and allocating personnel quotas appropriate to the city's current realities.

Processing notarized copy applications for citizens at the reception counter in Ba Diem commune, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: NGO BINH

The difficulties of having too few officials and civil servants compared to the tasks they are undertaking at the commune level are not unique to Ho Chi Minh City; many other localities also face similar challenges.

At the conference summarizing the work of the first six months of 2025 and outlining key tasks for the last six months of 2025, organized by the Ministry of Interior on July 25th, the leaders of the Hanoi Department of Interior Affairs proposed allowing some large-scale localities with unique development characteristics to establish additional specialized departments at the commune level. This is because communes and wards with large populations and diverse fields such as finance, economics, agriculture, transportation, and construction are difficult for any single department head to adequately oversee. Hanoi City proposed that the Ministry of Interior allow these localities to separate specialized departments, for example, the Finance and Planning Department, to reduce the workload for the responsible staff and to facilitate the development of each locality's strengths.

In a recent report submitted to the Ministry of Interior, the Department of Interior Affairs of Lai Chau province requested that ministries and agencies promptly review and advise the Government on amending the inadequate, vague, and inconsistent provisions in decrees on decentralization, delegation of power, and delineation of authority in various areas of state management under their jurisdiction. Specifically, they recommended that the Steering Committee for the reorganization of administrative units at all levels and the development of a two-tiered local government model consider increasing the staffing quota for communes to ensure the fulfillment of assigned tasks.

DONG SON - CAM NUONG

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/go-nut-that-nhan-luc-de-cap-xa-phuc-vu-tot-hon-post807903.html