A job with the government is no longer a job for life, civil service head Mario Cutajar said today during a conference on improving public organisations' performance.

This does not mean that the government is going to shed public sector employees, he said, but a job with the public service is no longer the only way to earn a living in Malta.

He said the government "means business" and it determined to improve the civil service in order to make it more people orientated rather than rules orientated.

The aim is for the government to be both a model employer and a model service provider.

He said the structures and regulations in the civil sector to be forward-looking rather than relying on past methods.

"Rules are there to guide and not to dictate. Rules are made by people and people can change them," Mr Cutajar said.

The old system of the public service protecting its turf and putting the system above the needs of the people has to go, he said.

He said that more measures will be implemented in the coming year in order to overcome these challenges.