Staff at the Central Bank of Ireland will get at least one extra day off after the bank gave itself a top grade of over 85 per cent for the third year in a row.

Most of its 1,400 staff will get at least one extra day of holidays, which will cost the bank €800,000.

The bank gave itself a rating of 88 per cent for its work in 2013, The Irish Times has learned, extending its "A grade" winning streak to every year since it introduced a new performance evaluation system in 2010 called a "balance scorecard".

The introduction of performance rating for the bank was brought in during 2010 as the bank reeled in the aftermath of the financial crisis and property bubble.

The bank is also now reported to be preparing to bring back bonuses and pay increases as it prepares to move to a new €140 million headquarters in Dublin’s docklands.

Scorecard
In a statement the bank confirmed that since the introduction of a balanced scorecard scheme in 2010, it had never achieved a score of less than 85 out of 100.

The scorecard is used to measure how well it is implementing the Central Bank’s strategic plan.

The bank said it was monitored on a quarterly basis and "an overall assessment of the scorecard is conducted by senior management at the end of the year and the Central Bank Commission determines the final outcome.

“In the three years since the introduction of the scorecard, it has been determined by the Central Bank Commission that the bank did exceed the 85 per cent threshold, therefore merit leave was awarded to those staff who achieved the required performance rating under the bank’s performance management and development process,” the bank said.

“If calculated on a daily rate of pay basis, the equivalent cost of merit leave awarded equates in value terms to approximately €800,000 or approximately 0.6 per cent of the bank’s annual pay bill,” it added.

It said: “Only those staff who achieve a particular level of performance are awarded merit leave and then they would only receive it when the bank achieves a 85 per cent score or over.”

It said a “number” of staff did not receive any merit leave but was unable last night to say how many this was.

'Exceptional performance'
The bank also said a number of staff of "very high or exceptional performance receive more than one day".

The Irish Times understands that the number of staff not being granted at least one day's merit leave is very low.

The Central Bank is also reviewing new “potential reward models” for its staff after the “various public sector pay adjustments” in recent years.