ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet has approved new evaluation criteria for federal government employees based on recommendations made by Dr Ishrat Husain, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity, who also heads the Institutional Reforms Cell.

In order to enhance the efficiency of the federal government, Prime Minister Imran Khan is in contact with each minister to monitor performance of their ministries.

Under the new criteria Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been created for all federal government employees driven by a set of objectives and targets mutually agreed by the officer and the supervisor. The KPIs will be measurable and verifiable and they will help determine if desired goals have been achieved or not.

In addition to this, a new pro forma is being devised which would assess objectives and goals achieved by the officer on the basis of which he/she would be evaluated by the reporting officer. There is also a provision for highlighting training requirements of officers.

The cabinet decision said the reforms introduced additionally contained a system of evaluation for ministries/divisions whereby only 20 per cent of officers could be ranked as outstanding, 30 per cent as very good, 30 per cent as good and 10 per cent as average, 10 per cent as below average.

The officers in outstanding category would be entitled to receive twice as much in annual merit increase as compared to those placed in other categories.

The Institutional Reforms Cell also introduced a comprehensive training programme for the 29,000 ex-cadre employees of the federal government who under the current system receive little to no training after induction into service. They will now not only be given training along the lines of that offered to cadre civil servants, but they will also be provided domain-specific training that is aimed at instilling specialist skills to assist employees in their work.

The training would be conducted by specialised training institutions under the National School of Public Policy which will function as the supreme institution. All these training institutes will be autonomous bodies governed by an independent board of governors.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2019