2010 COS – Prime Minister’s Office – Productivity in the Public Sector – Mdm Halimah Yacob, MP for Jurong GRC, 4 March 2010
Mr Speaker Sir,
In order for us to achieve the target of 2 to 3 per cent growth in productivity, we need a strong and effective public service that is innovative, quick to respond and is not mired in red tapes, to partner the private sector and to carry out the various initiatives.
At the same time, we need to guard against the pitfalls of the old WITs and other similar schemes which, over time, became so mechanical and KPI driven that it began to lose its meaning and impact among staff. A common joke among staff is that WITs, which stands for Work Improvement Teams, actually meant Wasting Important Time.
Such cynicism does not augur well for our productivity efforts in the public service but we cannot blame the staff who after a while began to see it as just a numbers game of completing a certain number of projects within a given time frame. To ensure that the past does not repeat itself, the public service needs strong leaders to champion this productivity push in a meaningful and effective manner.
I would like to ask how the public service is preparing to support our productivity push.
Thank you.
