Economy
Civil servants to earn bonuses in push to boost productivity
Monday April 17 2023
Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) Chairperson Lyn Cherop Mengich at a past function on February 16, 2023. PHOTO | LUCY WANJIRU | NMG
Public servants are set to earn bonuses after they hit targets as the government moves to boost productivity in the Civil Service.
The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) says it has established a new framework aimed at recognising productivity and performance in public service.
It is expected to set the procedure for the linking of financial rewards to measurable productivity and performance.
Public institutions will be required to achieve at least 101 percent of the annual performance ratings to qualify for bonuses.
Read: SRC turns down Sh19bn pay rise requests in nine months
Commercial and revenue-generating State corporations will be obligated to demonstrate cost efficiency and growth in revenue and profit.
Individual employees who achieve at least a 101 percent performance rating will also qualify for the bonuses, which will be set by the SRC provided the institutions employing the persons beat the target too.
According to the SRC, the bonus shall be prorated based on corporate score and will be anchored on the basic salary of the State and other public officers and the wages of accounting officers in the case of board members.
Beyond realised revenue and profitability, other productivity metrics cover quality, cost-effectiveness and time taken in the delivery of service.
The SRC says the productivity bonuses will mark a turning point in the quest to trim the wage bill by focusing on the expansion of productivity.
“The wage bill has two elements to it, one is about revenue. The higher the revenue, the lower your wage bill-to-revenue ratio. That’s the target. We think it is a more sustainable route to reducing the wage bill,” SRC chairperson Lyn Mengich told the Business Daily.
Read: SRC to review civil servants’ salaries every four years
The next performance contracting guidelines are expected to have productivity as one of the requirements.
Public entities will be required to set out productivity measures and have them evaluated by the SRC after which the institutions and their staff will qualify for the bonuses.
