Kerala govt to change grading system for evaluating performance of its staff

Thiruvananthapuram: The procedures for preparing the secret report on the performance of government employees will change soon. The Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department requested to convert the grading system into a number based scoring system.

It has been decided to introduce the new system for evaluating the performance of all gazetted officers except the officials in the specialised category. The Administrative Reforms Commission pointed out that the current grading system is insufficient.

The new reform will be launched prior to considering efficiency based promotions. The commission also suggested including the conduct of officers as a part of the service rule. Thus, the behaviour of the officials to the public will influence their promotions.

The performance will be continuously evaluated by the higher officials for three years.

The state presently follows a grading system from A to E. But the opacity in evaluating efficiency, favouritism of higher officials, lack of efforts to improve working potential and absence of sufficient reason for awarding high grades are its drawbacks.

The commission has suggested ensuring training for the staff who secure a score of 5 or low. The calendar year for the confidential report will be from January 1 to December 31. The data have to be made available online.

Two-part report

Part one

Information regarding staff, qualification, experience, number of leaves, attended training programmes and awards.

Part two

20 skill sets including leadership quality, problem-solving skills, decision making expertise, ability to handle pressure in work.