Joint employment modalities permitting civil servants to work at two public offices simultaneously have been introduced in a new directive penned by officials at the Civil Service Commission.

A minimum of a graduate degree is required to qualify for the modality. Mulugeta Wubshet, head of the inspection desk at the Commission, reasoned that the severe shortage of skilled manpower and expertise in public institutions required a double staffing arrangement.

He highlighted the importance of implementing the new modalities across all regional states as the shortage is pervasive.

"There is a growing demand for experts," he told Fortune.

This comes amidst an impending restructuring of civil servants in the country, which was indicated by Eyob Tekalegn (PhD), state minister for Finance at a Parliament session reviewing next year's federal budget last week.

Eyob said reprioritization of the public service from quantity to quality would decrease the strain on the budget along with improving service. He hinted at the waning of the federal government's role as a primary employer in the country by saying, "the civil service is not the sole employer in the country."

An evaluation every six months upon which continued joint employment is revisited by the pair of employers will determine whether or not the public servant goes back to the former sole position.

Jointly employed individuals will maintain their initial wages while having to renegotiate for the second position with the respective employer. While 80pc of working hours will be allotted to the original public office, the remainder of the time is adjusted to meet the needs of the second job administered by communication between the two employers.

According to Ayele Demise, human resource & employment expert at the Commission, the modality will provide increased wages, diversified working environments and the chance to branch out career paths for employees.

"It'll broaden their horizon," he said.

He said that drawing more experts into public offices will have far-reaching impacts in both academia and public service.

While the Commission will be tasked with monitoring and regulating joint employment procedures, submission of the contractual details governing the tenure will have to be presented by the pair of employers.

Signed by Commissioner Mekuria Haile (PhD), the directive cites the lack of policy advisors, consultants and technical assistants across the 176 federal agencies within the 22 ministries employing around two million people as the driving force for implementation. It caps the share of jointly employed experts at two percent of the total workforce.

Mekuria was appointed to head the Commission two years ago, having served as a Minister of Urban & Infrastructure and as Executive Director of the Ethiopian Policy Studies Institute.