Public: The new evaluation with goals and bonuses

By Dimitris Katsaganis

The Minister of Interior, Mr. Makis Voridis, is preparing to bring a new “regime” of evaluation, focusing on the heads of departments and based on new goals and rewards for the employees who will achieve the service objectives.

More specifically, there are three main changes in the “front” of the evaluation of civil servants which are expected to be provided in the bill that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Makis Voridis, plans to pass at the beginning of next year.

According to secure information from “K”, the first change, according to the basic scenario that Mr. Voridis is examining, will concern the focus of the evaluation. The evaluation in the Public Sector will focus on the supervisors and not the employees, as is the case so far.

The second change under consideration is expected to be the following: The evaluation will be based on a predetermined goal, which will concern each department of each public service.

The third key change that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is considering, as explained by its close associates in “K”, is the reward (through bonuses, telework or additional days off) of those employees who achieve the goals of their service and the training of those who fail.

In a recent statement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Voridis, stressed that the evaluation in the State is necessary, but, in order to have an effect, it must be substantial and timely, and it is in these areas that the government’s policy aims to strengthen meritocracy and efficiency.

More analytically, according to the same sources, the plan that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has in the works (and its main axes were communicated last week to the Prime Minister, Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis) for the evaluation will have the following axes:

1. Focus on bosses

Until now (based on a law passed by the SYRIZA government) the evaluation was basically done by the superiors and concerned the employees.

The bosses rated the employees with a scale, which had a “ceiling” of 10. In fact, according to the same sources, 45% of the employees received a grade of 8.9, as with a grade above 8.9 it had to be justified.

Based on the plan prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the evaluation will concern the heads of departments and will be done by the directors of each department.

Thus, the evaluation of employees will not be done “directly”, but “indirectly”, the same sources clarify.

2. Criterion the achievement of goals

According to the Voridis plan, the evaluation will be based on a specific goal per department of each service.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in parallel with the bill for the evaluation, will “run” the formation of the target in each part of the State.

There will also be a legislative change in the system for selecting heads of departments of all public services.

In the forthcoming legislative regulation, which is brought by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, new criteria for the selection of department heads will be introduced in the qualification database.

3. Reward

What is being considered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to have a reward for the employees who achieve the predetermined goals of their department.

This reward may take the form of a cash bonus or additional days off. Regarding the bonus, the same sources state that funds amounting to 10 million euros have been secured from the Recovery Fund for the purpose. Pilot, information of “K” states that it will be given to municipal employees, with the most likely scenario predicting the number of beneficiaries to amount to 6,000.

It could also qualify for teleworking, ie distance employment. In other words, civil servants who achieve the service objectives will be able to more easily secure distance work.

It is reminded that the relevant bill (for teleworking) has already been passed and is in the process of implementation by the end of the year. In fact, the same sources state that, in addition to the highly efficient employees, the disabled will also qualify for telework in the State.

Employees who do not achieve the goals of their department will be retrained through skills enhancement programs. This retraining, according to the same sources, will be done in collaboration with the National School of Public Administration but also companies such as Microsoft and universities such as Harvard.

It is pointed out that the evaluation will not have a “punitive” character, while it is not connected – in case of underperformance of the employees – with a possible dismissal.