Civil service underperformance policy deferred
by Niall Shanahan
 |
Civil service unions have secured the postponement of a proposed new underperformance policy. Management had planned to implement the programme, where an employee would be subject to a performance improvement plan, including bi-monthly performance meetings, in the event that their work performance was found to be unsatisfactory.
Under the proposed programme, the employee could face disciplinary warnings and eventual dismissal (after eight months) if their performance failed to reach an acceptable level.
Civil service unions worked together to refer the matter to arbitration. The arbitration board said that the proposed new underperformance policy was in accordance with good management practice. However, the board found that the underperformance programme should not be implemented until the outcome of the new PMDS rating system is known. The new rating system is in its first year of operation, the results of which are due in January 2017.
IMPACT National Secretary Andy Pike said the matter will be reviewed when those results are known. “If significant numbers of staff are assessed as ‘unsatisfactory’, the implementation of the underperformance policy will need to be reviewed again.
“This is a good outcome for staff and also for the service. It makes sense to pause implementation so that all parties can assess how many staff might be subject to these provisions.
“The unions had already secured new rights of appeal against any disciplinary warnings, and now we have secured a pause to implementation to ensure we have robust yet fair procedures for addressing underperformance,” he said.
|
|
