Rewarding “collective performance” instead of individual merit: this is the proposal presented on Tuesday by the think tank of senior civil servants Le Sens du public service au Government, which declares itself willing to increase remuneration for merit in the public service . “Remuneration based on individual merit is awarded to the agent based on supposed individual performance,” writes the think tank founded in 2021 in a “contribution” published before the presentation in autumn of a civil service reform project , which unions and the government must discuss on Tuesday.
But “how can we isolate the contribution of each person in a chain of actors that contribute to the well-being” of the population through the provision of public services?, he asks. “Increasing salaries through bonuses fuels unhealthy competition among public employers”, at a time when many of them already have difficulties recruiting staff, adds Le Sens du Service public. Bonuses, including those linked to merit, are also not taken into account when calculating the amount of civil servants’ pensions, she recalls.
Establish a collective public benefit-sharing system.
According to a survey conducted by the LinkedIn think tank among 476 agents at the end of February, 88% of respondents believe they should be entitled to possible individual merit pay. However, “the very principle of merit-based compensation is based on differentiating the average performance (of the majority of agents) from the rest of the performance,” the group of experts points out. Accordingly, The Meaning of Public Service advocates rewarding collective merit, particularly through profit-sharing schemes.
This system must be based on “transparent and negotiated rules” with the unions, which until now have been hostile to the increase in merit pay advocated by the Minister of the Public Service, Stanislas Guerini. It should also be based “on simple indicators aligned with the priorities of business owners, for example in terms of user reception or ecological transition”, estimates the group of experts.
In a survey by Odoxa for Le Figaro, published in early April, 72% of 1,005 respondents declared themselves in favor of increasing merit-based remuneration for civil servants. The same percentage supported the idea of being able to fire officials more easily for professional insufficiency, a proposal defended by Stanislas Guerini and denounced by the unions.
Source: BFM TV
