Bonus Recommendations in 7th CPC Report
Bonus Schemes in the Central Government – 7th CPC Report
The Terms of Reference (ToR) of the Commission mandate that it examines the existing schemes for payment of bonus and their impact on performance and productivity.
Consultation with Stakeholders was Considered Important: The system of Performance Linked Bonus (PLB) and Ad hoc Bonus have been prevalent in the Central Government for a fairly long time. Therefore, for the replacement of the existing bonus schemes with any other incentive scheme, prior consultation with the stakeholders was considered essential
The Commission feels that there is strong need to create a culture of performance in government – from establishing standards of performance, to measuring, and promoting people based on performance. To emphasize on the culture of performance, the Commission has recommended that all the non-performers in the system should be phased out after 20 years. The Commission has recommended that Performance Related Pay should be introduced in the government and that all Bonus payments should necessarily be linked with productivity.
Bonus Schemes and Performance Related Pay
The Commission feels that any Performance Related Pay (PRP) for Central Government employees should provide a credible framework to drive performance across ministries/departments. Rather than a new system design, the favoured approach should be an incremental adaptation which can operate within the existing framework of rules with minor changes that can enable smooth implementation and operationalization of PRP.
In this backdrop, the Commission recommends introduction of the Performance Related Pay for all categories of Central Government employees, based on quality RFDs, reformed APARs and broad Guidelines, as enumerated above.
The Commission also recommends that the PRP should subsume the existing Bonus schemes. The Commission notes that there could be a time lag in implementing the Performance Related Pay by different departments. Till such time, the existing Bonus Schemes should be reviewed and linked with increased profitability/productivity under well-defined financial parameters.
Bonus Calculation: To illustrate, taking the calculation ceiling of monthly emoluments of Rs. 7000 (where actual average emoluments exceed Rs. 7000), Non-PLB (Ad-hoc Bonus) for thirty days would work out to Rs. 7000×30/30.4=Rs.6907.89 (rounded off to Rs.6908/-).