ISLAMABAD:
After implementing a new forced ranking regime for awarding cash-for-performance incentives to tax officers, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to extend the system to other civil service groups. The goal is to align additional perks with the integrity and quality of work delivered by officers.
The performance-based regime was first introduced at the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) last week after it was revealed that 98% of tax officers had been rated as either “outstanding” or “very good” under the old system. Officers from critical services, particularly the FBR and Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), already receive performance allowances in addition to their standard salaries. However, these allowances have traditionally been distributed uniformly without factoring in actual performance or output.
Employees of federal and provincial governments also draw a 150% executive allowance on top of their basic pay packages. The FBR’s idea was that instead of giving these allowances to all its officers in the field, they should be graded based on their performance and reputation.
The new performance evaluation framework has been designed as part of FBR Chairman Rashid Langrial’s broader transformation agenda. Under this regime, officers are graded through a peer-based system, and only the top 20% performers are eligible for four additional monthly salaries. Conversely, the least performing officers will not receive any extra compensation.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the decision to expand this system to include other major services such as PAS, which oversees the operations of most federal ministries and provincial administrations, and the Police Service. This declaration was made during the inauguration of the new FBR management system, said government officials.
The government will soon notify a committee to finalise the modalities for the new reward system across other civil service groups.
Under the new system, even a Grade-21 officer is evaluated not only by peers of the same rank but also by junior grade-17 officers, including those from Grade-17. The evaluation criteria centre on integrity and the quality of work delivered.
The prime minister was briefed that the previous performance management regime had become obsolete, with 98% of officers securing top ratings last year. Of these, 58% were marked “outstanding,” and 39% were marked “very good.” Only one officer received an “average” rating, suggesting a lack of objectivity in the evaluation process.
Although the new system also carries some level of subjectivity, it introduces clear and measurable benchmarks. Officers can earn between one and four additional monthly salaries based on their scores, while those posted at FBR headquarters will have their 140% executive allowance deducted from the performance rewards. The PM was told that determining the performance of officers has been a challenge, which required rolling out the new system.
Under the new regime, each officer is reviewed by 45 peers every six months through an anonymous, forced-ranking evaluation system. One criticism of this model is that it caps the number of officers who can be rated as top performers at 20%, limiting the eligibility for maximum rewards. However, this is also a check against declaring 98% officers as outstanding and very good. A high-powered incentive regime has been put in place to reward top performing officers, said the FBR chairman.
The digital performance management regime has been launched with a comprehensive framework. Officer integrity is assessed through anonymous rankings, while quality of work is judged by a technical panel and a second round of peer reviews that examine competence and work ethic.
Officers scoring between 81% and 100% will be eligible for four additional salaries, but this will be limited to 20% of the workforce. Those scoring between 61% and 80% will receive three extra salaries; a score between 41% and 60% qualifies for two salaries; 21% to 40% earns one salary, while those scoring below 20% receive no additional benefit.
The new system operates over a six-month cycle. A top-performing officer can earn up to Rs2.4 million in additional pay over this period. In contrast, a Grade-17 officer currently earns less than Rs600,000 in six months, excluding executive and other allowances.
With the new performance rewards in place, the take-home salaries of civil servants are expected to increase significantly. A Grade-17 officer’s monthly pay may rise from Rs71,000 to Rs356,000. A Grade-18 officer’s salary could jump from Rs93,000 to Rs465,000. Grade-19 officers may see compensation increase from Rs136,000 to Rs681,000, while Grade-20 officers could receive up to Rs915,000 per month, up from Rs183,000.
To determine integrity, the FBR employs a comprehensive algorithm to identify a 360-degree peer set for each officer. Peers are selected using a four-stage criteria based on the likelihood of familiarity. These include a shared office posting with at least three months’ overlap in the past five years, same induction batch in the CSS, common posting city or region with a similar overlap during the last five years.
However, there were some challenges during the initial review exercise, as some officers reported not to know those they were assigned to evaluate. Quality of work is assessed by a technical panel of high-calibre serving and retired FBR officers. Ten system-generated outputssuch as assessment orders, goods declarations, and valuation ordersare randomly selected for each officer and reviewed anonymously.
Peer scoring focuses on five dimensions: co-worker relations, competence, communication skills, legal soundness, and administrative skills. The criteria ensures that evaluations come from those with relevant professional exposure.
