More than 30,000 civil servants are to have their job specifications changed and their performance reviewed on an ongoing basis as part of a new Performance Management and Development System.
Announcing the PMDS yesterday at Dublin Castle, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, described it as "very ambitious". It was based on the idea that "every job is very important and every person is very important".
The new system has the backing of the public service unions. It proposes that all 32 Government Departments, and linked agencies, will carry out a profile of their 30,000 staff over the next 12 months. It will include their training needs and career development needs as well as their existing role within the system.
Each employee will be designated a "job-holder" and will agree a definition of their role with their immediate supervisor or manager. There will also be a reviewer, usually from a higher Civil Service grade, who can intervene in the event of disagreement, but it is not expected that such intervention will be needed in most cases.
Five days of training will be provided for all 30,000 participants.
At the end of 12 months each employee is expected to have undergone two interim reviews and will then be assessed on the basis of whether or not they are meeting "a satisfactory level of performance". For most civil servants there will be three possible levels of performance: "exceeds satisfactory level of performance", "satisfactory" and "does not meet satisfactory level of performance".
However, clerical grades, who constitute about a third of the total, have opted for a different system. They may be found to be "satisfactory", to exceed the satisfactory level "in some cases", or to exceed "in all aspects". They can also, of course, fail to meet the satisfaction criteria.
The secretary-general of the Department of Health and Children, Mr Michael Kelly, who chaired the working group which devised the system, said he did not believe that many people would fail to meet the criteria.
He declined to comment on whether senior management might attempt to use the system at a later date as a basis for the introduction of performance-related pay structures.
The new arrangements are part of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. The individual performance system must be operative by April lst, 2001, to meet its requirements.
Verification of adequate progress in implementing the system must be possible by October 1st 2002, if the last 4 per cent pay rise of the PPF is to be paid on that date.
The principal staff representative on the working group, Ms Teresa Dwyer of the Civil and Public Service Union, said that all the unions were committed to the PMDS. They represented "a very highly skilled workforce, highly educated, and it represents a means by which we can use those skills for the benefit of the public".