Professional Documents
Culture Documents
May 2014
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Contents Page
1. Context: HRM report 3
2. Performance appraisal 5
3. Promotion 9
4. Key links between PFM, appraisal and
performance 13
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1. Context: HRM report
The work to design the performance appraisal and promotion systems has been
delivered in the context of the World Bank and NSGI HRM report. This report seeks
to bring together the work on the HR sub-systems (performance appraisal and
promotion) to set this work in the context of the overall HRM report and to establish
the linkages between the sub-systems. Accordingly the relevant observations and
recommendations of that report are rehearsed below.
Concerns about rusfeti have also led to the centralization of HRM authority.
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Responsibility for human resource management should be devolved to line
ministries and agencies.
Changes to the salary structure and its dynamics will reinforce efforts to
decentralise responsibility for HRM functions.
Changes to the salary structure and its dynamics will reinforce efforts to
decentralize responsibility for HRM functions.
Limit the value of automatic annual increments in base pay or, better still,
eliminate automatic annual increments and introduce performance-related
bonuses for staff that perform well or consolidate annual increments.
The HRM system should encourage staff mobility across the public
administration so that staff can be redeployed to meet changing business
needs and provide staff with richer more rewarding work experience.
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2. Performance appraisal
The following recommendations are made by the NSGI in respect of performance
appraisal. A comprehensive toolkit was submitted for the Government of Cyprus to
consider in February 2014.
b. Individual objectives will be made up of the what (job objectives) and the
how (competencies) with an 80/20 weighting
l. Performance will be managed in line with the Public Service Law and the
Guide of Conduct and Ethics for Public Servants.
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This policy applies to all permanent and fixed term (casual) employees including
interchangeable staff, who have successfully completed their probation period.
The policy will first be implemented on a pilot basis and for these purposes the policy
will apply to:
NB: Following the evaluation of the pilot all other Ministries and SOEs will be in
scope from 2016
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check and validate the distribution of performance ratings across the
normal bell curve. It is suggested that the ratings should fall within a
guided distribution:
We have listened carefully to concerns that have been expressed to us about the
likely level of effort or additional administrative burden that our recommendations
for performance appraisal will involve, particularly for more senior managers. In
response we make the following points:
The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Law (enabling the PFM reform) requires
Ministries and departments to prepare strategic and business plans containing
organisational objectives, performance measures and targets and to cascade
those objectives down the organization at least to unit level. Moreover,
managers at unit level and above will be held accountable for their
achievement against those objectives and targets. Managers therefore need
a systemic framework with which to translate those organisational
performance objectives into individual performance objectives for their staff to
ensure that the work of their staff is aligned to the overall objectives of the unit
and upwards to the organisation. In short, the PRM reform will not work
without a robust performance measurement and appraisal system.
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More broadly and fundamentally the reason managers have subordinates is
that the managers responsibilities are too onerous to be delivered by the
manager alone. A performance management and appraisal system provides
a framework by which responsibilities can be effectively delegated and
monitored and performance can be measured more objectively and, if
appropriate, rewarded. A performance management system therefore
supports good management as well as providing benefits to subordinates in
terms of increased fulfillment in knowing that their work contributes towards
the organisations aims and objectives (and maybe pecuniary rewards and
prospects of promotion). In short, time spent on effective performance
management is not an additional bureaucratic burden it is fundamental to
good management.
We have been told that some managers manage hundreds of people. Clearly
it would not be feasible for one manager to conduct proper performance
appraisals on one hundred direct reports in a year (plus a mid-year progress
check). But neither is it feasible for one manager to manage one hundred
subordinates effectively. Management development theory refers to this as
span of control. What constitutes an optimal span of control depends on
many factors and is an issue to be dealt with in organisational design. The
sectoral studies of Ministries should help to address this issue.
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3. Promotion system
Open
We recognise that there is a promotion freeze in place. In order for the Cyprus
Government to demonstrate itself as a good employer and to continue to
motivate existing employees, we recommend that promotion posts are
opened up to the wider public service in the first two years following the lift of
the freeze.
Fair
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The JD will include the specific duties required of the post holder. It is these
duties from which the objectives will be derived and which applicants will be
evaluated against. This job description also provides the HR function with the
information it needs to design the most appropriate assessment methods to
be designed into the selection process.
The promotion post should be advertised via channels that will be accessible
to all suitable candidates, not just those in the subordinate post within the silo.
Merit
The most capable person with the right skills and knowledge for the post shall
be appointed.
To ensure fair competition and the selection of the most meritorious candidate
we recommend that the assessment methodology is robust and that the
evidence is triangulated across a range of sources such as:
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The entry level posts and the senior posts are filled by open recruitment
procedures and we agree with this approach.
The promotion posts are 11 (+ 2 increments and 13) where different jobs are
being competed for are the focus of this proposal.
We do not consider the so called 'promotion posts' where people compete for
higher pay grades but are essentially doing the same job (e.g. A8-10) to be
real promotions, these are 'pay grade posts'. These proposals do not apply to
these posts. It is too time consuming and costly a system to apply to these
posts. We would recommend that pay scales are compressed and only real
promotions made available.
Promoting the right person with the right skills, qualifications and relevant
experience into the right job will contribute to the overall ambition of driving up
the performance of the whole organisation. It is in all senior managers'
interests (those being held accountable through the PFM system) to have the
strongest team possible to achieve their objectives to deliver high quality
public services.
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It is very important to recognise that any introduction of these new processes
must be accompanied by a strong communications strategy led by both
Ministers and Permanent Secretaries, to demonstrate there is an
organisational willingness to change.
The Public Service Commission currently plays a critical role in the promotion
system. Decisions about the future role and functioning of the PSC are
integral to our recommendations but the PSC is unaware of the whole
PFM/HRM reform and the functional review of the PSC is not scheduled until
the third phase of the reform programme. Therefore the scope for any
fundamental change (e.g. devolution of promotion decisions to line
management) will need to wait until the PSC review has reported. The current
operating model of the PSC is not compatible with the underpinning principles
of the PFM reform. In particular, the delegation of responsibility and
accountability of the achievement of results to line managers is not compatible
with a system in which so many HRM decisions are centralised and ultimately
dependent on the PSC.
One possible line of inquiry to pursue is whether the PSC could take on the
role of a first tier arbitration function to assess grievances against promotion
decisions.
Despite the need to wait for the results of the PSC review the Government of
Cyprus can still proceed with, for example, the development of job
descriptions, review of the Schemes of Service and the development of more
robust assessment methods.
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4. Key links between PFM, appraisal and
promotion
The appraisal system enables Permanent Secretaries - and other senior staff
cascading down to Director level - to assign objectives to all staff. This will
provide a line of sight to what each individual is expected to contribute to the
overall goals of the Ministry or Department.
The objectives set then enable people to be given responsibility and for
managers to hold individuals accountable for the delivery of those objectives.
This is where the appraisal system enables the organisation to monitor
individuals' performance. Individuals become clear, through the appraisal
system what is expected of them and they can challenge themselves to
achieve those objectives and take pride in their contribution to the delivery of
public services.
Development and stretch should be built into the objectives each year to see
a continuous drive to increase the performance of the Ministries and
Departments.
Training for managers to carry out the performance appraisal and promotion
well is also critical.
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