Online Reporter
Rutendo Nyeve-Victoria Falls Reporter
CIVIL servants’ salaries are set to be reconfigured by the Government in line with outcomes of the comprehensive Job Evaluation Framework, a long-anticipated exercise expected to be finalised within the first quarter of this year, a Cabinet minister has said.
The framework, which is a scientific tool used to determine the relative worth of different jobs within the public sector, aims to rectify decades of wage distortions and ensure that remuneration is commensurate with responsibility and seniority.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Edgar Moyo said this while giving an update on the status of salary negotiations and the structural realignment of the civil service.
Minister Moyo clarified that while the day-to-day salary negotiations remain the purview of the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC), current discussions are being informed by the pending conclusion of the evaluation.
“The matter of salary negotiations rests with the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC),” he said.
“The framework is conceived when they make their demands to Government where they seek a mandate from the Ministry of Finance and related ministries,” said Minister Moyo.
“On the basis of the offer and the demand, a salary package is negotiated. It may not be very correct for me to say when that is going to happen but I know that the current situation is that salaries are being worked around the job evaluation framework, which is about to be concluded.
“The indications that we got late last year were that during the first quarter of this year, most likely the job evaluation results will have been implemented.”
The Job Evaluation exercise is seen as a critical pillar in the broader public sector reform agenda.
Its primary objective is to establish a rational and equitable grading structure that accurately reflects the duties and complexities of various civil servants’ roles.
The last comprehensive evaluation of this nature was conducted in 1995. Over the subsequent three decades, particularly during the hyperinflationary period and the subsequent dollarisation era, the original grading structures became severely misaligned.
“The last job evaluation was done around 1995 and it established grades and sub-grades. Now, because of interventions that would come for different reasons and collective bargaining results, a misalignment was created,” said Minister Moyo.
“You remember that during and after the hyperinflation period we got to a point, where the US dollar came in, where people were earning basically the same salary. That has to be undone so that recognition is given to seniority,” he added.
“The job evaluation is meant to recast grades in the civil servants so that they speak to the different hierarchies in the ministries.”
Moyo further outlined the rigorous process undertaken to validate the findings. After the initial data collection phase concluded last year, the results underwent a validation process before being presented to the Cabinet.
Subsequently, a consultant, working with the Public Service Commission (PSC), conducted a ministry-by-ministry review to assess the structural impact of the new grading model.
Feedback from these line ministries has since been incorporated, with adjustments made where necessary.
“The ministries gave their feedback and some adjustments were made in terms of the grading of civil servants. You will understand that over the years, because of a number of issues, there has been a run away from the original job evaluation,” Moyo explained.
“All that had to be done, taken to Cabinet, from Cabinet back to the ministries. From ministries, the Public Service Commission had to then clean the document. This is where I am now saying, before the end of this first quarter, that will have been concluded,” he said.
Significantly, Minister Moyo confirmed that the 2025 National Budget has made provisions to accommodate the financial implications of the new framework.
However, he cautioned that the evaluation is not a blanket salary increase but a rationalisation exercise.
“A job evaluation is basically a scientific exercise to determine the levels of salaries and grades. Whether the current job evaluation will result in the overall increase of salaries is another matter
“There are people in the civil service whose grades went beyond what they should be and there are people whose grades are below what they should be. Those will naturally benefit from this exercise. All those things are going to be rationalised by the job evaluation,” he said.
The minister added that while the scientific findings will inform the new structure, the final decision on salary adjustments will also consider the prevailing economic environment and the fiscus’ carrying capacity.
Peter Tanyanyiwa