In a First, Maharashtra Government to Grade Performance of its 7.5 lakh Employees

In a break from tradition, the Maharashtra government now wants to rank and grade state employees on their performance. According to information, the general administration department led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has proposed a new 100-point performance marking system for its 7.5 lakh state employees, which will take into account both subjective and objective evaluation of an employee’s performance during the year.

While the new reviewing system does not disincentivise the average or the poor performers, it has proposed public recognition and rewards for ‘Sukarmis’ or the good performers across ranks. On the basis of the marking system, various state departments will be asked to identify 5 per cent employees across cadres as the top performers at district, department and state levels.

Sources confirmed the government planned to roll out various cash rewards and perks for such employees, besides giving their contribution wide recognition and enhancing their involvement in decision making.

Performance-linked marking system could be perhaps the first such initiative by a government in India. Sources in the Chief Minister’s Office confirmed that Fadnavis had already given the new regime a go-ahead. With the finance department too in favour of the move, the sources said, a proposal in this regard would soon be placed before the state cabinet. The plan, said the sources, was to introduce the new regime from the coming financial year onwards. State employees are already expecting the government to announce the Seventh Pay Commission pay hike in the coming state budget speech.

Under the new marking system, the quality of the noting on the file by a state secretariat employee or the efforts of the field-level employees in implementing a vital project will win them additional marks.

Out of the 100 marks for an employee’s performance, 60 marks have been assigned to objective parameters, including speed of file disposal, punctuality, attentiveness at work, etc, while the remaining 40 marks are for subjective parameters such as quality of file notings, articulation of thought, contribution in policy making or implementation of a scheme, and quality of presentations etc.

Adopting a 360 degree ranking model, the state has proposed that a committee of employees formed from the various cadres within a department or a field level officer, which would be headed by the department or the office head, would jointly review the performance of an employee.

Hoping that the new system would bolster the morale of employees and spur them to enhance their performance, the government has also proposed that all those identified as ‘Sukarmis’ within their cadre or department would compete with one another for the tag of the state’s best employees. The state also plans to give them an enhance role in decision making in their departments.

Source: IE