Inside government plan to reward nurses, teachers and doctors

The  Public Service Commission has developed a new scheme to reward performing civil servants. 

Dubbed the bonus policy, the scheme is borrowed from the private sector and it will see teachers, doctors and other government staffers who’ll have met their targets earn extra money in rewards in addition to their salaries and allowances. 

“The objective of the scheme shall be to reward excellent performance by public officers,” say the newly gazetted performance management regulations published by the Public Service Commission (PSC).”

“The Commission shall seek the advice of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) where the Commission intends to award cash prizes under the awards scheme,” the message from PSC read in part. 

In the private sector, performance appraisals are mainly used to make decisions on salary reviews, dismissals, bonuses and promotions. 

After the enacting of the PSC Performance Management Regulations 2021, government came up with an award scheme to motivate employees who come with new ways of improving public service delivery. 

In terms of low service delivery in the public service, poor management performance has been highlighted as government takes action against poor performers who fail to improve after they have been re-trained, coached or counseled.