Lessons Learnt from the Recent Pay and Grading Review of the Lebanese Public Service

1. Lessons Learnt from the Recent Pay and Grading Review of the Lebanese Public Service Samer Hankir Public Administration/Policy Analyst Seminar on “Pay and Grading Reform” Amman – September 20-21, 2006

2. The Salary Scale in the Lebanese Civil Service • The ratification of a new salary scale for public teachers in March 1997. • The initiative to design and adopt a new salary scale for civil servants was endorsed in November 1998 and became effective as of January 1999.

3. The Objectives of the Salary Scale • Increase wages by certain percentages; • Rectify irregularities and promote harmony in the pay system; • Integrate the multifarious types of allowances into the basic salaries; • Re-define the ranking system

4. The Grading System Grade I Director General Grade II Director Grade II Head of Service Grade III Head of Bureau Grade III Head of Section Grades IV &V Rank-and-File

5. The Ranking System • From a 6-rank system within each grade, to a 22-rank system in which rank one is the lowest and rank 22 is the highest. • Every two years, the civil servant climbs the ladder by one rank.

6. Challenges • Retroactive payments are still on hold; • Compression of the salary scale; • The absence of a comprehensive civil service census and regular functional reviews; • The lack of officially adopted job descriptions; • The freezing of the administrative reform section (the reform provisions were eliminated); • The controversy over the recruitment system • Salary erosion

7. The Current Reform Initiative: A Change “by retail” • The completion of a job description and position classification review by the OMSAR awaiting the action of the CSB; • The adoption of a new recruitment system for grade I civil servants; • The institutionalization of HRM in the civil service organizations; • The instillation of a “performance culture”.

8. Job Description and Position Classification • Job description, evaluation and classification of 15000 established positions in all ministries with few exceptions. • The project was supported by international expertise (factors and point-rating) • A new grading system was the by-product of the project (from 5 to 15 grades). • Computerization of data.

9. Job Description and Position Classification • Service Delivery: (a) interaction; (b) Impact; (c ) Thinking Challenge; (d) Physical Demands • Responsibility:(a) for the Work of Others; (b) for individual care; (c ) for financial resources; (d) for technical resources • Work Conditions:(a) Environment; (b) Health hazards • Skills and Knowledge:(a) Context; (b) Laws & regulations (c )Theories & Principles; (d) Techniques & Practices (e) Communication (f) Physical dexterity

10. Stumbling Blocs • Bureaucratic resistance • Excessive vacancies • Organizational impediments • The “ownership” dilemma • The lengthy methodology • The “No-distinction risk” • Budgetary constraints

11. Avoiding the Impasse • The project is the first serious HR effort in the history of the Lebanese administration since 1959 ! • The Restructuring fallout • Updating, marketing and absorbing shocks !