The Secretary for the Civil Service, Ingrid Yeung, stated today (May 10) that while ensuring government services are not affected, the Civil Service Bureau has continuously urged departments to review their workflows over the past two years.
They are examining whether technology can be applied to reduce manpower or prioritize tasks, and adjust human resources based on demand.
Yeung noted that the premise for any cuts is that services remain unaffected.
"Each government bureau's departments will have flexibility in the actual numbers of positions reduced, allowing for adjustments based on actual manpower needs, potentially cutting more or fewer positions than targeted to achieve overall goals."
According to Yeung, the bureau will continue to ask all departments and policy bureaus to assess their manpower to reduce it where possible. However, some departments currently face manpower shortages, leading to increases in positions, such as the Civil Service College, which needs to hire more staff to implement training.
When asked whether the government has evaluated whether artificial intelligence could compensate for the reduced manpower and if jobs similar to those functions could be replaced, Yeung mentioned that the bureau hopes some of the reduced positions could be replaced by AI to improve efficiency. They are currently exploring tasks that could utilize AI, such as the Census and Statistics Department using AI for verification work that was previously done by hand.
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