The benchmarking body set up to compare pay in the public service with that of the private sector is facing a mammoth task.
Such is the extent of the work involved that those engaged in
negotiations for the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF) that gave rise to the benchmarking project agree that the seven-member body will do well to complete the process by June 30th, 2002, its deadline.
"It's an enormous undertaking. The body will require all the time it has to complete the job," says Mr Peter McLoone, general secretary of IMPACT and chairman of the ICTU's Public Services Committee, which negotiated with the Department of Finance over the composition of the body. Mr McLoone believes the two-year timeframe is the absolute minimum period for which such a wide-ranging review could take place.
"There are a number of key groups that have not kept up in terms of pay relative to the private sector. This has serious implications in terms of recruitment problems and retention problems for the public sector," Mr McLoone says.
There also appears to be a general consensus among those concerned with the establishment of the benchmarking body that the individuals chosen to be its members represent a good cross-section of experienced and senior figures from trade unions, employers, and the business community.
The body's task is to compare pay in the overall public and private sectors and conduct in-depth studies of specific public service grades, comparing them with similar jobs in the private sector. It will carry out comprehensive research into job roles, duties and responsibilities, as well as pay and conditions.
The booming economy and the subsequent sharp rise in salary levels within the private sector have made the issue of public sector pay a bugbear for the Government. Even before the PPF negotiations, the nurses' strike of 1999 brought the issue into focus and underlined the need for a different approach to the review of public sector pay.
There is evidence that job seekers are less likely to consider the public service as a career, says Mr Adrian McGennis, managing director of the recruitment group, Marlborough. "There is a steady increase in the number of people leaving the public sector to pursue careers in the private sector, but it's not an alarming increase," he adds.
"There is this perception that the private sector is more attractive, but that perception doesn't always materialise when people do move into the sector."
According to a spokesman for the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commission, which is responsible for civil service sector recruitment, it has traditionally focused on the benefits of security of tenure rather than pay in attracting recruits. But he admitted that it currently faced "a much greater marketing challenge" than before.
Mr Michael McDonnell, director of the Institute of Personnel and Development, says the public sector cannot afford to be complacent when it comes to attracting recruits, particularly in a market of skill shortages. "If the civil service is going to attract people in, they are going to have to have an environment that is more dynamic than the perception of this bureaucratically driven environment that is there now."
Mr McDonnell says the establishment of the benchmarking body will help to develop a greater "enterprise ethos" in the public service. "What they tend to, to a reasonable degree, is to create mediocrity as the norm, and reward that," he contends.
A spokesman for the Department of Finance says the current system of public sector pay reviews based on cross-sectoral relativities is no longer relevant.
Under this system, he adds, any pay reviews agreed for one public service profession have a "knock-on" effect whereby an increase in a particular grade is automatically introduced in similar grades. "I think even the unions would like to see an end to that era," says the spokesman.
The director general designate of IBEC, Mr Turlough O'Sullivan, believes the introduction of benchmarking will enable public sector pay to be determined in a more modern way.
He says IBEC has long campaigned for the reform of public sector pay because of its concern over the size of the pay bill, the rate of its growth, and the use of cross-sector relativities to determine pay increases.
"Certainly the issue of relativities has been very destructive and very counter-productive. It's been shown quite clearly that, for example, linking the pay of teachers, nurses, guards and prison officers is a very unstable and inappropriate comparison," Mr O'Sullivan says.
Although the work will be conducted over a period of just under two years, any recommendations made by the body regarding pay increases will not be allowed to be implemented during the period of the PPF.
But Senator Joe O'Toole, general secretary of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, says he will put pressure on the Government to have payment of the benchmarking awards much earlier than the end of the national agreement.
Mr O'Toole believes the body's report could be completed earlier than the current deadline. "I certainly believe the body could aim to have its report put together by spring 2002 or the end of 2001 at best, if they really get their finger out," he says.
Mr O'Toole maintains there has been a huge investment by teachers who have managed extraordinary change in education over the past number of years that needs to be properly rewarded. "The future of public sector industrial relations is dependent on positive, progressive rewards for public servants arising from the benchmarking body's report," he adds.
Although the PPF states that it cannot be bound by the current cross-sectoral pay links, it will not completely disregard internal relativities. Indeed, there exists a separate review body that is examining the linking of the pay of TDs and other members of the Oireachtas with that of senior civil servants.
The Department of Finance spokesman says the findings of this review body, which started its work at the beginning of 2000 and will report by the end of the year, will be taken into account by the benchmarking body.
