Elite among civil servants, British Columbia employees see career decline as the cause of the exodus

Natalia Garcia
Brasilia, DF (FOLHAPRESS)

Members of the public service elite and central bank employees see the decline of their careers as the reason behind the large influx of professionals leaving the institution and the increasing mobilization for recognition.

Today, BC has 3,300 active employees, just over half of the total 6,470 positions the agency provides for by law. The trend is down. By 2027, another 692 employees are expected to retire.

The downward movement is also due to workers who choose to pursue a career in the private sector and other public bodies – including employees who make up B.C.’s senior management.

This exit was internally called “Drexit,” a combination of Drexit (the name of British Columbia’s new digital currency) and Brexit (an expression referring to the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union).

Recently, for example, employee Bruno Batavia, who worked on the Drex development project, left British Columbia to take an innovation position at management company Valor Capital.

Another 150 employees of the Monetary Authority register to compete for the House of Representatives next December.

To replenish its workforce, BC received permission from the Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services to conduct a public competition offering 100 vacant analyst positions. However, new employees are only scheduled to be accepted between February and March 2025.

The lack of at-large contests for BC was one of the demands made by the class in the 2022 mobilization, which culminated in a strike for salary adjustments that lasted about three months — the last of which was carried out 10 years ago.

The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) granted a 9% line adjustment to federal public servants starting in May.

Today, British Columbia employees mainly complain about inequality between government jobs and demand equal treatment in the public service.

BC’s staff consists mainly of analysts (82.6%). They are higher level professionals, and their salaries range from R$20,924.80 to R$29,832.94, without bonuses.

Some of the analysts’ duties include formulating and implementing projects related to monetary, exchange rate and credit policies, and managing the country’s inflation targeting and payment system.

They receive support from the organization’s technicians, who represent 12.7% of BC’s total employees. With the secondary level, these professionals receive a monthly salary of R$ 7,938.81 to R$ 13,640.89.

Technicians also assist in the work of prosecutors – equivalent to 4.7% of the organization’s staff. This position is aimed at professionals trained in law, and its responsibilities include judicial and non-judicial representation of the authority, legal advice and advisory activities of the BC.

The salaries of public prosecutors are higher than those of the other two categories, ranging between R$22,905.79 and R$29,761.03.

For the president of the ANBCB (National Association of Brazilian Central Bank Analysts), Natacha Rocha, there is a distorted perception of the Brazilian population regarding the wages of BC employees.

“With respect to similar professions, we earn less. This is the case with the Federal Revenue Service and the Prosecutor General’s Office itself, which works alongside Central Bank analysts and earns more, having opened this contrast since 2016.”

Rocha also believes that the high level of complexity of BC’s work is invisible to the community’s eye. According to her, BC needs a highly specialized workforce to develop complex products such as Pix, Drex (Digital Real) and SVR (System of Values ​​Receivable) and to regulate and supervise the national financial system.

There is variation within British Columbia itself. The lawyer (associated with the legal profession) receives a so-called surrender fee, which exceeds the remuneration of other civil servants by more than R$12,000.

Last Wednesday, Central Bank employees tightened the current mobilization, which led to a further slowdown in the provision of services by the Monetary Authority, a delay in publishing economic indicators, and a partial daily closure since last July.

Servers are required to create a production bonus similar to the bonus organized for tax auditors of the Federal Revenue Service.

Paying bonuses for productivity or efficiency was a way to boost civil servant salaries. Revenue is the second group to receive the benefit permanently, after members of the legal profession.

Bonus amounts are added to category salaries. A tax auditor earns a starting salary of R$21,029.09 and a final salary of R$27,303.62. For analysts, salaries range from R$11,684.39 to R$16,276.05. Figures before 9% adjustment.

In addition to the bonus, BC employees are demanding professional restructuring measures, such as requiring higher education for a technician position (which changes the qualifications required to enter the profession) and changing the job title from analyst to auditor.

All BC positions must be held by professional civil servants, with the exception of seats on the University’s Board of Governors. Members of the Supreme Command of the Monetary Authority are appointed by the President of the Republic and approved by the Federal Senate.

If the appointments of Professor Paolo Piccetti and civil servant Rodrigo Alves Teixeira are approved, Director Carolina Barros (Administration) will be the only woman at the helm of BC in 2024, after the departure of Fernanda Guardado (International Affairs and Corporate Risk Management). .

Gender equality remains an elusive reality in staffing in British Columbia. Of the total number of active employees holding positions of analysts, technicians and prosecutors, only 23% are women, compared to 77% of men.

The data also shows a lack of diversity within the organization’s employees. According to BC’s latest numbers, as of August, 15.3% of employees declared themselves black (black and brown), while 63.7% were white. In this section, the total number of active servers corresponds to 3322.

According to June figures on British Columbia’s human capital, 2.94% of employees have some type of disability. As for the age group, 56.98% are between 45 and 60 years old, 33.1% are under 45 years old, and 9.93% are over 60 years old. In these calculations, 3,304 active employees are taken into account.

Today, nearly half (49.8%) of BC’s employees are based in Brasilia. About 17% of employees are based in São Paulo and 11% in Rio de Janeiro. The monetary authority also has representatives in other Brazilian capitals, such as Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Recife, Salvador, and Belem.