During his press conference, Emmanuel Macron reiterated his desire to increase the place of “merit” in the remuneration of civil servants. An update on how public employers reward the commitment of their agents and the expected evolution.
How are public officials paid?
The remuneration of the majority of the 5.7 million public agents (civil servants, contractual and military) is divided into two parts: the base salary, called the “index salary”, and the bonuses and bonuses, which constitute the “remunerative” part. . “of his salary.
The amount of the salary is determined by salary scales common to the entire public service (State, hospitals, communities). Therefore, it is identical for all public officials with identical seniority and position.
Bonuses and allowances are equivalent to the variable part of remuneration in the private sector. The compensatory part of civil servants’ salaries can, for example, help them cover their housing costs (residence allowance), pay for their overtime but also reward their “form of service”, a form of recognition of individual merit.
What is the impact of merit pay in the public sector?
The main bonus to remunerate the individual merit of public officials is the “annual remuneration supplement” (CIA).
A form of individual merit compensation that can only benefit public officials and represents a limited percentage of their salary.
A report commissioned by the former Minister of the Public Service, Amélie de Montchalin, highlighted in March 2022 that the CIA’s share should remain “largely a minority” in the bonuses paid to civil servants.
Indeed, “it cannot exceed 15% (of bonuses and compensation, editor’s note) for category A” which includes the highest paid officials, “12% for category B and 10% for category C” , the lowest paid. .
More generally, in 2021, bonuses and subsidies together accounted for less than a quarter (23.8%) of civil servants’ salaries, according to the administration.
What are the government’s plans?
On Tuesday afternoon, the President of the Republic asked the new government of Gabriel Attal that, for civil servants, “the main criterion for promotion and remuneration” be, along with seniority, merit, “in any case much more than today”.
Emmanuel Macron promised reforms “in the coming weeks.” Before the resignation of the previous Government, the Minister of the Public Service, Stanislas Guerini, had already committed to presenting a bill to reform the civil service in February.
One of the objectives of the text is precisely “to better reward those who strive to provide our public services,” the minister detailed at the beginning of November before the National Assembly.
Stanislas Guerini’s idea was then to better reward the individual, but also collective, commitment of public agents, for example by granting a bonus to a team of officials who had achieved their goal of reducing electricity or gas consumption.
What obstacles to reform?
Beyond the fact that bonuses like those at the CIA are not taken into account in the calculation of civil servants’ retirement, the government faces resistance from unions.
The main union in the sector, the CGT of the Public Service, knows “too well what is hidden around meritocracy: random portions of salaries, discriminatory remuneration (…), the widening of inequalities between women and men “, he listed in a press release on Wednesday. release.
The general secretary of Unsa-Public Services (fourth union), Luc Farré joked on the social network
Source: BFM TV
