The new evaluation system for civil servants is a positive step, however there are also challenges that must be taken into account in order for it to work for the benefit of the evaluators and the evaluated employees, the President of the Public Service Commission (PSC), Giorgos Papageorgiou, said on Thursday.
Mr. Papageorgiou was speaking at a press conference at the GTP, during which he presented the work of the Commission, as well as the activities promoted. The interview took place on the occasion of the presentation of the EDY Annual Report for 2023 to the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulidis.
As the EDY President said, the Committee against in 2023 it convened in 227 sessions and examined 3804 matters, of which 53% concerned procedures for filling positions and 2% disciplinary cases. Specifically, EDY filled 1483 positions, of which 599 were appointments and 884 were promotions.
It is noted that in 2022 EDY had filled 1332 positions, of which 610 were appointments and 722 were promotions.
Regarding the current year, Mr. Papageorgiou stated that until August 15, 2024, the EDY had filled 645 positions, of which 364 concerned appointments and the 281 promotions.
In 2024, the number of oral exams increased significantly, emphasized the President of the EDY, noting that the Commission accepted 750 candidates in an oral exam, compared to 373 in 2022. It is noted that the Commission, pursuant to a relevant provision of the legislation regarding recruitment in non- scientific posts, i.e. posts whose initial scale does not exceed Scale A7, offered appointment to a total of 1,184 candidates without holding an oral examination.
As regards the statutory positions in the Public Service, Giorgos Papageorgiou stated that in 2023 they amounted to 15,652, of which 12,142 were occupied and the 3,510 blanks.
Then, he pointed out that in 2023 the EDY imposed 8 disciplinary penalties in the context of adjudicating disciplinary cases or following a disciplinary procedure that followed the criminal conviction of the employees. Specifically, it imposed the penalty of a severe reprimand on 2 employees, the penalty of demotion in salary scale to 1 employee, the penalty of forced retirement on 3 employees and the penalty of dismissal on 2 employees.
The profile of public servants
Regarding the level of education of public servants in 2023, 68.26% were holders of university qualifications (bachelor's or even master's), said Mr. Papageorgiou, emphasizing that only 9% of the employees appointed in 2023 in the positions that do not require university qualifications had secondary education qualifications. The remaining 91% had a university or postgraduate education.
Regarding the distribution of positions between men and women in the Public Service, in 2023 there were 7,821 women (64.17% rate) and 4,368 men (35.83% rate). The percentage of women is overwhelmingly greater in admission positions. According to the 2023 report, women are still represented with a slightly increased percentage in middle management positions, in which 123 men and 144 women serve. The percentage of women in managerial positions (Scales A15-A16 up to 96,665 PM) is also increased, in which 104 men and 129 women serve.
The President of EDY cited the Legal Service as an example, characterizing it as “female-dominated”, since 27 women work as Lawyers of the First Republic (against 4 men), 19 women as Senior Attorneys of the Republic (against 1 man) and 10 women as Prosecutors of the Republic (against no man).
Regarding the average age of newly hired employees, Mr. Papageorgiou pointed out that in 2023 it dropped to 34.17 compared to 37.94 in 2019.
In addition, said that 67% of civil servants fall in the age group of 35-54 years, 26% in the age group of 55 years and above, while 7% in the age group of up to 35 years.
The Reform of the Public Service
Referring to the reform of the Public Service, the President of the EDY said that the Commission received technical assistance from the European Commission. With the contribution of the General Accounting Office, he noted, a Dynamic Purchase System was set up for the purchase of examination center services.
Additionally, Giorgos Papageorgiou mentioned that an agreement was signed with a private sector entity to upgrade the electronic systems. As he said, the Commission and the staff of its Office receive education/training by organizing workshops, seminars, presentations, training programs and seminars.
The new rating system
Speaking about the new evaluation system, which is implemented from January 1, 2023, the President of EDY explained that there are two levels of evaluated employees, pointing out that the evaluation with the new system applies to employees in positions with a salary scale below the A13 scale ( ii). For positions A13(ii) and above, the evaluation is done only for development purposes, he added.
In the evaluation, he said, the numerical score (0-10 ), speaking of “defined evaluation criteria and behaviors”. The EDY has the role of supervising the system, he added.
A total of 9,658 employees were evaluated, Mr. Papageorgiou said, adding that the average score of evaluated employees was 8,747, the average score of non-exchangeable staff was 8,751 and the average score of exchangeable staff was 8,724.
He stressed that the shift in the rating curve is a positive step, adding that “we would be happy if the curve shifted further to the left”.
At the same time, the President of EDY underlined that many Ministries/Deputy Ministries/Departments/Services worked with respect to the philosophy of the new evaluation system, but there were also Ministries/Deputy Ministries/Departments/Services that did not get the messages, moving more towards the older system.
As regards the objections submitted in 2023, their number reached 1502, of which 1371 were not accepted, 112 were accepted and 19 were partially accepted.
Referring to the findings from the implementation of the new evaluation system, Mr. Papageorgiou mentioned that some employees raised the issue of different/unequal treatment and the lack of a single evaluation measure. At the same time, he spoke about the inability in some cases of the evaluating employees to carry out their work properly, as well as the inability of some evaluated employees to accept criticism.
He also stated that there are reactions to the fact that two out of three members of the Appeals Committees do not have a direct hierarchical relationship with the civil servant whose appeal they are examining.
Then, the President of EDY formulated suggestions for improving the new evaluation system. Specifically, he indicated that evaluators and evaluated employees should receive more intensive and repeated training, as well as better and more complete information with the aim of understanding the new system.
As he said, it should be required that the evaluators adhere to a schedule/calendar, adding that those in charge should monitor, in cooperation with all stakeholders, the progress of the implementation of the reform, and where it is judged that the legislation needs improvement and corrections to be promoted the corresponding modifications.
As the main challenges in the implementation of the new evaluation system, George Papageorgiou mentioned the transition from planning to the implementation and implementation of the new regulations, the consolidation of the new way of evaluation by everyone through modern training methods and the cultivation of a new culture, as well as the continuous monitoring the course of implementation of the reform and the timely promotion of the necessary amendments where deemed necessary, in order to make its implementation more functional and smoother.
Mr. Papageorgiou pointed out that the evaluator must “have the new system as his gospel”, which implies systematic education and training of the evaluators.
He underlined that he must the comparison between the public and private sectors ceases, emphasizing that the Public Service is a key axis of the operation of every state.
The assistance of the General Accounting Office in the implementation of the reform was a catalyst , said the President of EDY, among other things, at the same time thanking those who contributed to the preparation of the 2023 Annual Report.
The General Secretary of PASYDY, Stratis Matthaiou, expressed PASYDY's desire to support the new system. He congratulated the EDY for its work, expressing his satisfaction.
In his intervention, the Accountant General, Andreas Antoniadis, indicated the need to train public servants to become perceived the benefits of the new evaluation system, as well as the need to effectively reward those who work “for something more”.
Source: KYPE
