Perform Or Perish: No Annual Increment For Non-Performing Government Employees

Perform or perish
The Central government has declared that non-performing Central government employees will not get any annual increment if their performance is not upto the mark. The benchmark for performance appraisal for promotion and financial upgradation has been enhanced to “very good” from “good” level, the Finance Ministry said in an order notifying implementation of Seventh Central Pay Commission’s recommendations.

Pay panel’s recommendations
The government will continue to administer the Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) at 10, 20 and 30 years of service as before, the Ministry said as it “accepted” the pay panel’s recommendations. The government has accepted the recommendation of “withholding of annual increments in the case of those employees who are not able to meet the benchmark either for MACP or a regular promotion within the first 20 years of their service.”

There’s a perception among many that according to MACP, they will get increments and move upward in the hierarchy with the course of time. However, from now on, no such progress will happen if they don’t perform upto the mark. It will be interesting to see whether this rule will actually bring any change in the scenario by increasing the efficiency of the employees, some fear that employees might resort to sycophancy to gain increments and promotion from their seniors. Let us wait and see how the initiative pans out and implemented effectively.