Scrutiny to streamline public service jobs and numbers in nears completion

Salaries and Remuneration Commission Vice Chairman Daniel Ogutu. The SRC has completed job evaluation exercises to determine if jobs are fairly compensated, undervalued or overvalued. (PHOTO: COURTESY)

An exercise to streamline public sector workforce, including compensation and numbers, is nearing completion.
The Salaries and Remuneration Commission has completed job evaluation exercises to determine if jobs are fairly compensated, undervalued or overvalued. This concerns jobs in the Civil Service, counties, State corporations and independent commissions.

It has now turned to the Parliamentary Service Commission, disciplined forces and institutions of higher learning
in the first ever assessment of the worth of public service jobs that began last year.

It will lead to new grading and salary structures, which in turn will inform pay negotiations as to how much teachers and other public servants should earn. 

"The process of a job evaluation is a complex exercise through which we determine the worthiness of a job. But it has more to do with the job holder and that is why it is taking longer than anticipated," said Daniel Ogutu, the SRC vice chairman.

He added: "We have evaluated jobs in the public service, State corporations and teaching service. We are almost done and are currently handling job evaluation for the parliamentary staff."

Last month, SRC Chairperson Sarah Serem said the commission was focusing on the disciplined forces; the police, military and National Youth Service.

SRC has identified 3,339 jobs in the civil service and 82 in the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

It has also evaluated 7,856 jobs in the commercial and strategic State corporations, that include the Kenya Postal Authority, Kenya Revenue Authority, KenGen, National Social Security Fund, National Hospital Inurance Fund and Kenya Power.

In the exercise, which is being undertaken for SRC by audit firm, Deloitte, 9,572 jobs have been evaluated in the service and regulatory State corporations, which include the Central Bank of Kenya and Kenya Tourism Board.

So far, 1,881 jobs have been evaluated in the independent commissions, including the SRC itself, Commission on Revenue Allocation, Controller of Budget, and 918 jobs in the 47 counties.

Within the counties, the SRC has evaluated jobs for Members of the County Assembly, whose roles and functions were not clearly defined in the statutes and which made it difficult to place a salary on the position.

The PricewaterCoopers (PwC) that assessed TSC has already finalised meetings with all the 47 TSC county directors. However, the exercise is far from over.

"With teachers, we had 26 jobs but we have now evaluated more than 82 jobs," Mr Ogutu said adding: "The exercise is aimed at determining the monetary worth of job groups and salary structures in the teaching service."

Teachers unions are due to open salary talks with TSC in October.

The chairperson of Public Service Commission Margaret Kobia confirmed that job evaluation for civil servants was complete. "SRC has already carried out job evaluations in the civil service, and we were able to share with them (SRC) the data they required for the exercise. We are now waiting for their report," said Prof Kobia.

She said the exercise would not lead to job cuts. "We are going to use it to enrich our jobs and, thereby, enhance the roles of civil servants. We are not sacking."

Ogutu explained that the exercise will result in salary bands (grading) for each position, which then determines what an individual holder would earn.

"The evaluation will not raise or cut salaries. It will only help us understand the real worth of the jobs so that unions can now have a basis for salary review negotiations," Ogutu added when he launched the review in Kisumu.

Yesterday, unions said they were not aware about the findings of the exercise that began last year.