State to start public staff appraisals

Job evaluations for at least 680,000 civil servants are expected to begin soon, after the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) invited applications for consultants to do the job.

The exercise will cover all public offices in the national and county governments including other public institutions such as public universities, tertiary education institutions and research bodies.

Others include constitutional commissions, independent offices and the teaching service as well as disciplined forces such as the police, prisons, Kenya Wildlife Service officers among others.

However, State officers will be excluded from the evaluation.

SRC has said the evaluation is meant to inform decision-making in reviewing and advising on remuneration and benefits for public officers.

According to the commission, the job evaluation is also expected to provide the criteria for classifying jobs in the civil service, and produce a rationalised, harmonised and equitable job-grading structure. It is also expected to recommend a salary structure for the jobs.

"The results of the job evaluation exercise will facilitate development and implementation of an equitable and harmonised remuneration and benefits structure," reads a recent SRC request for proposals, signed by the commission's Acting Secretary Anne Gitau.

The Constitution requires the SRC to ensure the total public wage bill is sustainable and can attract and retain skills to execute functions.

The job evaluations, SRC said, are also meant to recognise productivity and performance and ensure transparency and fairness.

SRC said the consultancy tenders must be submitted by February 12, after which the winners will be selected. But no specific time frames regarding the exercise have been made public.