Government starts re-grading workforce, pay increase this month

GOVERNMENT will today begin re-grading its workforce under a new remuneration framework aimed at aligning salaries with employees’ roles, responsibilities, qualifications and experience, following a comprehensive job evaluation exercise that was concluded last year.

The move marks the most significant overhaul of the civil service pay structure since 2009, when Zimbabwe emerged from hyperinflation and adopted a generally uniform salary system that largely ignored differences in skills, experience and job complexity.

Under the new framework, all public sector workers are being reassessed and placed into updated salary grades based on the nature, scope and demands of their jobs, in a shift towards a fairer, more transparent and performance-based remuneration system.

This is the first time in over a decade that Government is systematically linking its workers’ pay to job value, qualifications and experience, effectively dismantling the “one-size-fits-all” salary model adopted during the period the country was undergoing sanctions-induced economic challenges.

When Zimbabwe dollarised in February 2009 at the height of its economic challenges, Government introduced a flat US$100 monthly allowance for all civil servants.

The measure, implemented during the Government of National Unity, was designed as an emergency stabilisation tool to restore basic incomes after hyperinflation had eroded salaries to near-worthless levels.

At the time, the priority was to retain critical skills in the public service and ensure continuity of essential services rather than to maintain structured pay differentials.

As the economy stabilised, wages were gradually adjusted, rising to US$150 in July 2009 and reaching an average of US$204 by January 2010.

By January 2014, the lowest-paid Government worker was earning about US$375.
However, despite these increases, the underlying salary structure remained largely compressed, with limited differentiation based on job weight.

The latest exercise now paves the way for the rationalisation of civil servants’ salaries, with adjustments set to take effect from today.

In addition to salary reforms, Government has also introduced measures to improve working conditions in the public sector, including strengthening occupational safety and health standards and expanding access to affordable housing for civil servants.

Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Edgar Moyo said the reforms are part of broader efforts to modernise the public service.

“Salary adjustments are going to take effect from April 1 (today) and this means these salaries will now be paid according to the job evaluation,” he said.

“The reforms are part of the broader National Development Strategy 2 and Vision 2030, which seek to build a responsive and motivated public service as a key driver of socio-economic transformation.”

The job evaluation exercise was conducted using the Paterson System, a widely used methodology that ranks jobs based on levels of decision-making responsibility.

The system classifies roles into bands ranging from lower-level operational tasks to top executive decision-making positions, ensuring that jobs requiring greater judgment, accountability and complexity attract higher remuneration.

By focusing on decision-making as the core measure of job value, the Paterson System enables organisations to establish clear relationships between different roles and ensures internal equity in pay structures.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) said the evaluation was aimed at establishing pay equity by determining the relative value of jobs across the civil service and creating a consistent grading structure.
The exercise will also result in the production of a job rating manual, which will guide the placement of jobs in a structured hierarchy based on their assessed worth.

Writing in the PSC’s 2026 first edition newsletter, head of human capital development and management, Mr Walter Mpandawana, said the exercise had already laid the foundation for sweeping reforms.

“A major highlight of 2025 was the successful completion of the job evaluation exercise, which resulted in the development of new job grades and titles across ministries, departments and agencies,” he said.

“This landmark exercise laid the groundwork for rationalised structures and equitable job classification. Concurrently, the agency has begun implementing the new organisational structure emanating from the job evaluation outcomes.”

Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions president, Mrs Cecilia Alexander, commended Government for the new remuneration framework.

She said worker representatives will continue to engage Government on the job evaluation exercise.
“We agreed on the remuneration framework, which was introduced by Government,” she said.
“However, we have concerns about the job evaluation exercise and we are going to have a stakeholder meeting on the issue.”

The PSC evaluated from February 2023 across 21 Government line ministries to assess the composition and value of jobs and functions.

Key findings revealed significant structural inefficiencies, including duplication of roles within and across ministries, identical duties between some senior positions such as chief directors and directors, an overconcentration of managerial roles and limited career progression opportunities for technical specialists.

The evaluation also exposed distortions rooted in the grading framework, where job classifications had become misaligned over time due to ad hoc changes, resulting in inconsistencies between job responsibilities and remuneration levels.

As a result, the new framework is expected to trigger a review of staffing levels across ministries, rationalisation of posts and targeted up-skilling and re-skilling of civil servants.

The job evaluation programme followed three key stages: job analysis, which involved collecting detailed data on duties, qualifications and working conditions; job description development, which standardised roles across Government; and job grading, which assigned each role a relative value and corresponding salary band.