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Performance-related pay 'can help save public sector jobs'
HR News |
25/06/2010
Despite the Con-Lib government implementing significant spending cuts, the majority of public sector employees remain opposed to performance-related pay (PRP), a new study has found.
Research conducted by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) reveals that just 36 per cent of such workers think their salary should be achievement-based, compared to 60 per cent in the private sector.
And just six per cent of public sector workers believe the performance of their organisation as a whole is an appropriate factor in determining their pay, compared to 35 per cent of those working in the world of business.
CIPD's report, entitled 'Transforming public sector pay and pensions: Building productive public sector workplaces', claims that senior civil servants need to make greater use of performance-related pay and bonuses if they are to provide greater value for money to the taxpayer.
However, more than half of government-employed workers believe that market forces such as the cost of living should determine their salary, while another quarter remain firmly in favour of trade union-negotiated pay deals.
Charles Cotton, expert reward adviser at the CIPD, said greater pay restraint is "vital" in the public sector given the dubious state of the UK's finances.
He suggested that compromises will have to be made, as seen within the private workforce during the recession, if widespread public job losses are to be avoided.
Meanwhile, Mr Cotton claimed that ministers' continued failure to adopt PRP infers that "both poor and excellent performance should be rewarded equally".
"A refusal to make use of bonuses in the public sector removes one of the most powerful tools the new government has to drive up standards and deliver its many and stretching ambitions for public service reform and improvement," he said.
"Conversely, the status quo is an approach to pay that does little to support meritocracy, and may foster mediocrity. By linking pay far more closely to performance, ministers could find that they are able to get far more bang for the taxpayer buck."
A report published by the Office of Manpower Economics in 2007 indicated that PRP can have a positive impact on the public sector workforce.
Posted by Jon Aspinell
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