Cuepacs against civil service bonuses based on merit or sector

 

Cuepacs says Malaysia’s civil servants should be viewed as a team whose members complement each other.

PETALING JAYA: The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) today said bonuses for civil servants should not be given based on merit or service sector, stating that such measures could lead to a lack of motivation among civil servants who miss out.

Noting the Malaysian Academic Association Council’s (MAAC) proposal to give bonuses to civil servants based on merit and sector, Cuepacs said the country’s civil servants should be viewed as a team whose members complemented each other, as opposed to a “one man show”.

“No sector is more important than another because they all contribute to the development and economic progress of the country.

“If the criteria for giving bonuses is given according to the service sector, it gives the impression that certain sectors in the civil service are not as important as the sectors that get higher bonuses.

“This will lead to debates, and is likely to make civil servants in certain sectors unmotivated because they think they are not important.

Cuepacs president Adnan Mat.

“Therefore, Cuepacs is of the view that bonuses should be given equally to every civil servant regardless of their merit or sectors,” Cuepacs president Adnan Mat said in a statement.

MAAC president Mohd Idrus Masirin yesterday proposed that civil servant bonuses should be awarded according to merit and the service sector, stating it could be carried out based on annual performance appraisal report marks received by the employee as well as the employee’s performance in key performance index set by the department and government.

Noting the “major challenges” civil servants had faced in the past three years due to economic recession, change of government and the Covid-19 pandemic, Idrus said that awarding bonuses according to merit and service sector would help low-income civil servants as well as ensure it was distributed fairly.

Adnan, who said that bonuses based on merit were too subjective, added that strong individual performance in the public sector was only possible due to the support of colleagues and employers.

Conversely, if the civil servant was evaluated poorly, he said the head of the department should also be questioned. - FMT