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The Government announced today (April 24) an improved civil service pay adjustment mechanism, which consists of the conduct of pay level surveys at six-yearly intervals, the general framework for the conduct of these surveys, and the general framework for the application of survey results to the civil service.
It also announced the findings of the 2006 pay level survey and the comparison of these findings with the civil service pay.
"The decisions to conduct pay level surveys at regular intervals and apply the findings to the civil service in accordance with the frameworks laid down are important milestones in the development of an improved civil service pay adjustment mechanism," the Secretary for the Civil Service, Miss Denise Yue said.
"The development underlines the importance attached by the Government to gradually reforming the management of the civil service, while upholding the established policy of offering sufficient remuneration to attract, retain and motivate staff of a suitable calibre to provide the public with an effective and efficient service."
Continuing, Miss Yue said "The conduct of pay level surveys at regular intervals is consistent with our policy of ensuring that civil service remuneration is regarded as fair by both civil servants and the public they serve."
The agreed framework for the conduct of pay level surveys is formulated after several years of extensive work by the Civil Service Bureau and its professional consultant; and wide consultations with the public, civil service pay-related advisory bodies, and representatives of the staff sides. The framework was used in the just completed (2006) pay level survey and its efficacy has been proven.
The key features of the framework for conduct of pay level surveys are:
* adopting a broadly defined job family and job level method;
* selecting and matching civil service benchmark jobs with comparators in the private sector;
* selecting steady and good employers in the private sector to participate in the surveys; and
* collecting cash-based pay data for data consolidation.
"The conduct of pay level surveys at regular intervals must be complemented by consistency in the application of the findings of successive pay level surveys," Miss Yue said.
The key features in the agreed framework for application of the pay level survey findings to the civil service are:
* adopting total cash compensation data and using the upper quartile (P75) of the private sector pay to arrive at the market pay indicator of a defined job level;
* comparing the market pay indicator of a defined job level with the notional mid-point salary of civil service plus actual average expenditure on fringe benefits paid in cash for that level; and
* adopting a plus/minus 5% as the acceptable range of difference between the civil service and private sector pay for a defined job level to ensure broad comparability between civil service and private sector pay. If the civil service pay of a defined job level falls outside this acceptable range, adjustment will be made to bring it back to the lower or upper 5% limit.
Miss Yue said these features are consistent with the Government's pay policy and past practices. They also have regard to the inherent differences between the civil service and the private sector.
The agreed framework for the application of pay level survey findings is supported by the various civil service pay-related advisory bodies (namely: the Steering Committee on Civil Service Pay Adjustment Mechanism, the Standing Commission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service, the Standing Committee on Disciplined Services Salaries and Conditions of Service, and the Standing Committee on Directorate Salaries and Conditions of Service). It has also received the broad support from representatives of the staff sides.
The Government also announced the findings of the recently completed pay level survey, which was conducted by a professional consultant and which adopted April 1, 2006 as the reference date.
The 2006 pay level survey successfully collected pay data from 97 private companies in a wide range of economic sectors; and matched private sector comparators for 166 civil service benchmark civilian and non-directorate ranks, categorized into five job levels according to their level of responsibilities.
"As the survey findings show that civil service remuneration in each of the five job levels falls within the plus/minus 5% of the relevant market pay indicator, the Government has decided that there is no need to adjust the civil service pay scales as at April 1, 2006," Miss Yue said.
The civil service remuneration in each of the five job levels as at April 1, 2006, set against the comparable private sector pay indicators, as identified in the 2006 survey, is:
* 3% higher than private sector pay for job level 1 (covering the lowest ranks in the civil service such as assistant clerical officer, clerical assistant, artisan, workman, property attendant, motor driver, etc.);
* 2% lower than private sector pay for job level 2 (covering technicians and assistant executives/professionals, such as executive officer II, accounting officer II, senior postal officer, technical officer, etc.);
* 5% higher than private sector pay for job level 3 (covering the middle-level executives/professionals, such as the executive officer I, senior assistant assessor, clerks of work, senior technical officer, etc.);
* 1% lower than private sector pay for job level 4 (covering the managerial and senior professional ranks, such as senior executive officer, housing manager, chief technical officer, etc.); and
* 5% lower than private sector pay for job level 5 (covering the highest non-directorate ranks of the civil service, such as chief executive officer, senior engineer, senior government counsel, etc.).
The disciplined services grades and directorate grades were not included in the 2006 pay level survey because of the absence or scarcity of comparators in the private sector. Preserving the established pay relativities between these grades and those covered in the survey, the Government has also decided that the pay scales of these grades as at April 1, 2006 will not be changed.
Ends/Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:33
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