Job Evaluation Results To Shape Civil Servants’ Salaries

Civil servants’ salaries are set to be adjusted by the Government in line with the results of a comprehensive Job Evaluation Framework that is expected to be finalised soon, a Cabinet minister has said.

Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Edgar Moyo said that while day-to-day pay talks are handled by the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC), current discussions are centred around the job evaluation framework. Said Minister Moyo:

“The matter of salary negotiations rests with the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC).

“The framework is conceived when they make their demands to the Government, where they seek a mandate from the Ministry of Finance and related ministries.

“Based on 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 main objective of the Job Evaluation exercise is to create a fair and sensible grading system that properly reflects the duties and complexity of different roles in the civil service.

The last time such a comprehensive review was carried out was in 1995. Said Minister Moyo:

“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.

“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.”

“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 said that after the initial data collection phase wrapped up last year, the findings were validated before being submitted to Cabinet.

He said a consultant, working alongside the Public Service Commission (PSC), then carried out a ministry-by-ministry review to assess how the new grading model would affect existing structures.

Feedback from the line ministries has since been taken on board, with adjustments made where needed.

Minister Moyo said the 2025 National Budget has set aside funds to cater for the financial impact of the new framework.

However, he stressed that the exercise is not simply a blanket pay rise, but a process aimed at rationalising the grading system.

He added that while the technical findings will guide the new structure, any final decisions on salary adjustments will also take into account the current economic climate and what the Treasury can realistically afford.

More: The Herald