Easing the Burden on Public Servants

Nowadays it is common for grass-roots government officials to work overtime without holidays and manage multiple tasks on tight deadlines. In March 2019, the central government issued a directive to solve the problem of formalism and decrease the workload of government officials at the county level and below. The directive requires local governments to reduce the number of meetings by 30 to 50 percent and higher authorities to cut their inspections by half and quit asking for reports on a whim. Nowadays, local public servants have to spend most of their time on repetitive work. It is important to provide grass-roots public servants with effective incentives to inspire enthusiasm for their work. It is urgent to construct a healthy work environment where the performance of subordinates is not evaluated only by their immediate superiors.