Filenews 12 October 2022 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
Cyprus will enter a new era in recruitment and promotions to the State with the reform of the public service, which will be implemented on January 1, 2024, while in a few months the new evaluation system will enter into force.
Now candidates will not only be judged by their knowledge, academic performance and experience, but will also be judged on the basis of the abilities and skills they have, in order to meet the requirements of the position they are claiming. In addition, there will not be the levelling ratings, by which almost all state employees are excellent. Something that was also found in 2021.
According to the report of the Public Service Commission (PSC), 95% of civil servants were assessed as "excellent" in all eight evaluation data. And only 9 of the 12,005 employees were assessed as "unsatisfactory" and these were only in some elements of their evaluation.
The president of HHRF, George Papageorgiou, presenting yesterday the annual report of the Committee, said that the score will now be numerical and specific criteria will be determined regarding the evaluation of employees.
At full capacity the machines
The NHRF has started the procedures for the transition to the new system of promotions and evaluation in the public service and at the same time there will be the required training. In the context of the reform, a new category of interdepartmental promotion positions is introduced for positions on the A13 scale, with the exception of employees in the Parliament, the Audit Office and the Diplomatic Service. In addition, all candidates in the positions of interdepartmental promotion and first appointment and promotion on the A14 scale will sit exams at the examination centres and then pass an oral examination by the NHRF. The criterion of seniority is replaced by the criterion of experience.
HHRM's bet
The reform of the public service is a big bet for the NHRF, which in order to respond successfully should promote a thorough analysis of the positions of the public service, for which the new procedures apply, in order to ascertain and formulate the skills and competences that a person must possess in order to be able to respond effectively to the performance of the duties of a particular position. For the NHRF, it is also necessary to revise the service plans, as the existing ones are anachronistic, vague, unclear and problematic. Finally, the most important condition is the ability of examination centres and examiners to prepare valid examination tests and oral tests.
Dismissals and compulsory retirements
Disciplinary penalties for five employees in the public service were imposed last year by the Public Service Commission (NHRF). According to the NHRF report for 2021, one employee was given the penalty of forced retirement, three were fined and another employee was given the penalty of reprimand. Last year the NHRF proceeded with the adjudication of nine disciplinary cases, of which four were completed, while five were still pending at the end of the year under review. He also dealt with a case following a criminal conviction of an official. From 2017 to 2021, the Commission proceeded with the disciplinary action of a total of 37 employees. In one case, due to the seriousness of the misconduct, the state employee was fired while a dozen other workers were forced to retire. In addition, one government employee was relegated to an inferior position, three workers were punished with a downgrading of the salary scale, ten were fined, nine were severely rebuked, and one was reprimanded.
INTERVENTION
Make promises come true
We take it for granted that many, if not most, readers of this text will question the... optimistic title "Last time all excellent". Is it possible from 2023 to enter the era of a more reliable evaluation of civil servants, so that almost all (95% in 2021) do not emerge excellent? Government and Parliament have diversified the evaluation process, which comes into force in a few months. We have every reason to be concerned about the extent to which the new legislation has been implemented. On the other hand, we should give the time to the NHRF and the public management staff to implement the new legal framework and we hope that they will not disappoint public opinion.
