Government to reconfigure civil servants salaries

GOVERNMENT is set to reconfigure civil servants’ salaries in line with the outcomes of the comprehensive Job Evaluation Framework, a long-anticipated exercise that is expected to be finalised within the first quarter of this year, a Cabinet Minister has said.

The framework, 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.

Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Edgar Moyo, revealed 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 what I know 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.”

Minister 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 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,” said Minister Moyo.

He 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 an overall increase in 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.

Minister Moyo 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.