In 2004, the Kenya
government commissioned a job evaluation exercise for the Civil Service for the
first time. In January 2011, the Prime Minister's office commissioned a similar
exercise for a selected group of ministries and government departments. From
these two experiences, it was evident that there was great need for the public
sector to build the requisite skills and competences in this elusive area of
organization development.
When the Salaries
and Remuneration Commission (SRC) entered the arena in 2012, it hit the ground
running. Only this time, in the wrong direction!
Instead of focusing on its core mandate of
reviewing and setting the State Officers' remuneration and benefits, the SRC took
off on a tangential course, frequently bouncing off the surface of the public
sector's wage bill without leaving a scratch on it. Needless to say, the SRC
didn't have the necessary skills and competences in remuneration structuring,
or in job evaluation, to enable it to carry out its mandate successfully. Without
these skills and competences, the public sector could only hope for a turbulent
phase ahead.
On July 7, 2014, I
implored the SRC to consider, as a matter of urgency, undertaking the task of building
skills and competences in remuneration structuring, and in job evaluation
systems and their use. Just as the competence in remuneration structuring is
fundamental to managing a wage bill, the competence in analyzing and evaluating
jobs is fundamental to ensuring equity in the remuneration structure. Done properly,
a job evaluation should reflect the relative weights, or values, of jobs in the
organization. This provides an acceptable and a logical framework for managing
a remuneration structure that is free of disparities and disputes.
A job evaluation
exercise can be expensive in terms of money outlay and in time demands on
managers within the organization. Having the necessary internal competences can
save the organization, both on time and money. It guarantees the ability to
hire competent external consultants, who can deliver the desired results. The
alternative, which almost invariably has been the norm for the public sector,
is to hire and let loose into the organization, external consultants who often
deliver results that cannot be implemented.
Any organization serious about managing
its wage bill and remuneration structure effectively - the public sector
included - should have requisite internal competences to guarantee success.
Why do I make these suggestions?
Why do I provide
this information freely? I believe the wage bill challenge cannot be resolved
without the necessary skills and competences. It is also evident that a proper
job evaluation exercise has yet to be conducted for the public sector. This is
important if the glaring disparities in remuneration within the sector are to
be removed. My motivation, therefore, comes from a desire to help in an area of
my expertise, and one that has few experts in our region. Left unresolved, the
public sector’s wage bill will continue to generate discussions that contribute
little toward lessening the burden it puts on the Kenyan taxpayer, not to mention the effects it has on the country's development agenda.
One need not be
persuaded that disparities in a remuneration structure, inevitably lead to
employees’ dissatisfaction, low morale, and low productivity. These conditions
are usually manifested in clearly visible manner and form in the delivery of
services and in working habits. For these reasons, developing the requisite skills
is absolutely necessary, as a long-term strategy, for any organization desirous
of improving productivity.
The results of
ignoring the many suggestions and recommendations I have made since 2012, are now
clearly reflected, not only in the following remuneration structures analyses,
but in the fact that the SRC has now proposed a new approach – a new script as
it were: "Cutting the salaries across the public sector!" Unfortunately,
this will not eliminate the problem of a "ballooning" wage bill.
The above salary curves for State and
Public Officers show only the basic pay, and the gross pay after adding the allowances.
The maximum pay for each job group is missing from the data. This omission is
serious because it is an important component of a complete remuneration
structure. The only conclusion here is that the public sector's remuneration
structure has more problematic issues than is realized.
Needless to say, the percentage differences
between successive job groups reveal a sorry state of the remuneration
structure for the public sector as a whole. A credible way of correcting the
problem would be for the SRC, PSC,
and other stakeholders, to go back to the basics and follow the six-step
approach I suggested earlier, as the right approach to wage bill management and
remuneration structuring. The new campaign to cut pay across the public sector
is misleading. It is simply not the way to deal with wage bill. Period! Why
grope in the dark when it is absolutely unnecessary?
The President has come out in support of the
SRC's bid to have the salaries in the public sector trimmed. The Parliament, the
religious leaders, and the general public, are in support of such a move.
I
foresee a situation where the move to cut salaries is resisted, and even
challenged as an unlawful move. The Judiciary, being an independent institution,
will concur. By playing its role appropriately, as it did in matters relating
to collective bargaining agreements, will lead to the other arms of the government pointing accusing fingers on the Judiciary – all because these other arms of the government would be relying on the wrong
script!
Without the requisite know-how, the 'wage bill beast' grows larger as the script on the way forward, continues to confuse many.
