THE PUBLIC sector is staffed by people who are “able, suitably-educated both academically and otherwise”, but are not given the necessary motivation to “do their best and have their professionalism and expertise used to the fullest advantage”, Auditor-general Chrystalla Yiorkadji said yesterday.
Speaking to the press after presenting her 922-page report for 2008 to President Demetris Christofias, Yiorkadji said that the moment someone is employed by the public sector, they regard their salary, job-security and pension as being guaranteed.
“What I am calling for by way of motivation is for the exceptional performers to be recognised and to have benefits beyond those normally given to colleagues on the same grade”, she said.
Yirokadji said that part of the problem is that the management system in both ministries and other government services does not give managers the tools to get the best results. She said that a department head does not get to choose who is hired, nor can he/she reward the best performers or penalise those who perform badly, which in turn affects the performance of the managers themselves.
Asked whether job permanency in the civil service should be ended, Yiorkadji said there are many arguments for and against, but on balance – in her personal opinion – she is in favour of permanency, as this “guarantees the avoidance of party and other political interference as the government changes”.
However, she said, job permanency creates such a degree of security for employees that it “sometimes produces a negative result”, so it should be coupled with appropriate systems for staff assessment and the flexibility to reward the best performers.
Yiorkadji said that a system for motivating and rewarding high-performing staff does exist in some semi-governmental organisations, such as the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC). She added: “But when you apply those motivational measures to the overwhelming majority of employees, they cease to be motivational and simply become an indirect way of increasing wages”.
Yiorkadji did not agree with the notion that in general public sector wages are excessively high, saying that new hires’ wages are at a satisfactory level compared to those of senior staff. She added that when work-loads are taken into account, the salaries of senior public sector staff are not competitive when compared to the private sector.
