Senior civil servants to get performance-based bonuses next year

Herald Correspondent

The Public Service Commission has announced that as per the signed agreement with the National Joint Negotiation Council (NJNC), only civil servants of positions of Deputy Director Grades and below will receive bonuses this year.

In a statement released today, the Secretary to Service Commissions Dr Tsitsi Rosemary Choruma said:

“This bonus will constitute the following: a) 13th cheque, plus b) Special Presidential Bonus. This will be paid out in two equal batches in November and December.”

The Commission noted that Director Grades and above signed performance contracts at the beginning of 2022.

“It is in view of these performance contracts that Directors and above will NOT receive any bonus in 2022 but rather will, at the beginning of 2023, get performance awards based on their performance for the year 2022.

“These awards will only be extended to Directors and above after all evaluations and assessments for the year 2022 are completed. Only Director Grades and above who meet their set targets will get performance awards,” stated the PSC.

This, said Dr Choruma, is in line with Government’s new practice of performance contracting which only rewards satisfactory performance and sanctions non-satisfactory performance for Directors and above.

“Government is committed to ensuring that a results-based, high performance, high productivity work culture is inculcated within the civil service. From 2023 onwards, performance contracting, which had only thus far been for Director Grades and above, will also be cascaded to all civil servants of all grades across the board,” said Dr Choruma.