Estonian State Secretary, Taimar Peterkop has called for a significant expansion of the number of Public Servants employed on fixed-term contracts.
In his feedback on a draft law to amend the Civil Service Act, Mr Peterkop (pictured) said middle managers of virtually all Ministries and Public Authorities should be contractors.
In its current form the Act states that these officials are appointed for an indefinite period, except in exceptional cases.
Exceptions include the State Secretary himself, as well as the Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries of Ministries and the heads of Government Agencies, all of whom are appointed for five years.
Mr Peterkop wants the five-year contracts extended to the next level of management, including the heads of individual units within Ministries.
“Every five years, a competitive process would be held for the position where, of course, the current manager would have the opportunity to run and be appointed if successful,” Mr Peterkop said.
“The introduction of the fixed-term employment, not only for senior Civil Servants but also for their immediate subordinates, and the establishment of uniform requirements and selection, evaluation and development principles will make the rotation system, which has been relatively modest, more efficient.”
He said he wanted to change the situation where the middle manager was sitting in place for decades and the arrival of new and perhaps more capable people was being blocked.
There are currently, 217 middle managers working in the Ministries, whose average length of service in the same position is 4.5 years.
However, 66 middle managers have held one position for more than five years, and 28 for more than 10 years.
The number of middle managers working in the same position for a long time has decreased in recent years due to the restructuring of four Government Agencies.
Tallinn, 8 February, 2022
