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Matthew Vella
The government has told MaltaToday that poor performances by heads in the civil service would lead to early termination of their appointment or of non-renewal when it expires.
Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Gonzi has made performance bonuses to civil services heads one of his budget’s priorities in a bid to quantify a deserving bonus for heads who reach performance targets set for their departments. Until recently, all heads received performance bonuses irrespectively of their performance. Bonus payments for a given year are made in the following year.
During 2003 Lm271,613 was paid to 322 senior officials in performance bonuses for the year 2002. Up to October 2004, Lm221,423 was paid to 253 officials in performance bonuses for the 2003. Figures for 2003 are not complete as some bonus awards remain outstanding.
So far, monthly averages for both 2002 and 2003 bonus payments are at par at a respective expenditure of Lm22,634 and Lm22,142. Performance bonuses are one-off payments which do not constitute an increase in base salary. The lowest possible award is a nil bonus.
Senior management staff in the public service, including heads of department, are appointed on the basis of three or five-year performance agreements. Reappointment is not guaranteed and is based on competitive selection according to performance, the Finance Minister told MaltaToday.
The performance of each senior manager is assessed annually against a set of specific and tangible targets for the year. Each individual’s performance rating determines what performance bonus, if any, he or she may receive for the year. Bonus awards can vary from 0 to 15 per cent of salary. In both 2003 and 2004 only three officials received the 15 per cent maximum award, the Minister said.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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