Public service pay scale

[Ceist Beag]

Ceist Beag , can you can provide me with an up to date report showing that 99.9 % of those who were to receive increments actually received them after the PDMS review?
You should be aware that the PDMS system changed in 2012 , now only those receiving a 3 or above receive increments.
Prior to that & contrary to generally accepted HR practice the Dept deemed that only those who got an abysmal 1 in their review didn't get an increment!
And yes I believe we are very lucky in having high calibre Public Servants

Deise, Purple provided a report showing the 99.9% in 2012. If things have changed since then as you suggest, is there any report showing that fewer now get increments? I'm commenting on the figures available to me so if you have something more recent I'm sure we would all be delighted to see how things have improved.

 

[Firefly]

I'm sorry but as I have pointed out increments are not guaranteed , they are based on staff reviews under the PDMS system & subject to satisfactory performance in the preceding year.
I know that relatively few fail to achieve the required grade which reflects the calibre of our public servants

That's brilliant so it is

 

[Deiseblue]

With respect , Ceist Beag that report covered the year 2011 & in the 6 years since things have moved on considerably, it should also be noted that the report in question only refers to the Civil Service who comprise approximately 10% of the Public Sector.
I previously pointed out that the Dept. have changed the criterion for obtaining increments from an appraisal level of 2 to 3 , it is frankly staggering that only those who got an abysmal 1 were denied an increment .
On foot of the Croke Park Agreement the whole methodology of performance management was questioned & various changes seem to have happened across the Public Sector , for example a friend in the Impact Union tells me that the Civil Sevice have now moved to a 2 point rating system since 2016.
Unfortunately I cannot find any current reports but they should prove interesting when they surface in the media.
I'm not quite sure that performance management appraisals work in any case particularly in such a large sector that has been embittered from management down as a result of painful pay cuts & jobcuts , hopefully now that pay is being gradually restored with hopefully more progress to come in forthcoming negotiations with the various Unions & more jobs are added in addition to scrapping the extra hours things will improve .

 

[Ceist Beag]

As I said Deise, we can only comment on reports available to us but if, as you say, things have changed so that increments are now not handed out quite so easily and that there has to be evidence that workers are at least meeting expectations then that sounds like a step in the right direction and hopefully at some point soon there will be reports acknowledging this.

 

[amtc]

Not everyone in the public sector is employed on a payscale. I spent 8 years working there but paid off scale in the confidential pay roll. Performance management for bonus and increase.

 

[Purple]

Now, I'm thinking of a Line Manager calling me for assessment. "Right, Lep. I have to give you a "1," it's your turn for a kick in the behind, you see; so take it for the team as ya know, I've got to look good in my assessment procedure. The increment ain't too much anyhow and with our tax laws, you won't be losing too much." Brilliant!- Lep is busting his butt to make others look good. So, for my next assessment, I do as little as possible along with the other team members and inform the Line Manager to get his act together or he/she will have a team of disgruntled players who are sick of making low management look good. Nothing like shooting ourselves in the foot, as usual.

How is that any different from the current system from the perspective of incentivising people to work hard or not to slack off?
New Zealand doesn't have collective bargaining or pay scales in the Public Sector. What way does their system work?

 

[Purple]

The report from the Public Sector Pay Commission is out. It says that the value of post '95 pensions is about an extra 12-18% of salary, when current contributions are taken into account.
A report from Davy a few weeks back said that Public Sector Pay was 40% higher than that in the Private Sector and that education and skills differences only accounted for half of that differential. That report did not take into account the value of pensions. Therefore like for like Public sector employees are earning between 32% and 18% more than their Private Sector counterparts. If there is a case for paying them more then fine but let's start from a truthful position.