By George Psyllides
The government is proposing the introduction of exams for mid-management promotions in the public sector, transfers between departments, and changing the way civil servants are evaluated as part of wider reforms included in the bailout adjustment programme.
“Just one part of this reform plan, which is also one of the few outstanding issues that will conclude the programme, which will lead us out of the memorandum, concerns civil service human resources management,” undersecretary to the president Constantinos Petrides said.
Petrides said it concerned labour issues, which have been around for decades without however any administration taking the decisions that would change the system in place since 1960, when the Republic was founded.
Among others, the goals of the reform effort include combating bureaucracy, improving cross-departmental coordination and efficiency, identifying and rewarding the best-performing personnel and battling nepotism.
The issues are being discussed with the workers union, PASYDY.
“Our common goal I believe… was to make those changes that will put an end to clientelism and create a permanent mechanism protecting public administration from nepotism,” Petrides said.
Included in the proposals is the introduction of written exams for mid-management and management positions. The exams will be taken by all qualified candidates.
Only the top candidates would be interviewed – three per position – while the exam grade would carry a lot of gravity in the final evaluation.
Academic and professional qualifications, experience and the recommendation of the department head would also be considered.
“Fully objective criteria are introduced for the first time and while experience is recognised, seniority is abolished as the only selection criterion,” Petrides said.
Changes are also envisaged in the system of mobility and promotions, putting an end to practices that essentially enabled certain individuals serving in a department to claim a position.
The proposals include doing away with the current evaluation system and replacing it with a new one based on a scale of 1 to 100.
The trial period for new civil servants will also be cut to one year from two and will be accompanied by more effective evaluation procedures before being made permanent.
