Employee Pay-Plan, Op-Ed

NOTE: The following is an op-ed piece from Frank Corbett, Minister of the Public Service Commission.

A recent story by the Canadian Press may cause readers to confuse merit pay with bonuses.

Unionized civil servants and public sector workers progress through the steps of a pay system based principally on years of experience in their position. New hires are placed on the scale based on experience and progress each year until they reach the top of what is often a six-step scale.

Non-unionized employees in this province are placed on their salary scale below the full rate for their position. This allows them the opportunity to earn step increases through their demonstrated performance. This non-unionized system is therefore called a merit system.

Many employers, including other provinces, have step systems for unionized and non-unionized employees. Some award the step increases automatically, others make them performance-based like Nova Scotia's non-unionized civil servants.

A step system is, in-part, based on the belief that employees take time to gain enough expertise to earn the top step available at the position.

Rather than paying all employees at a top step as soon as they are hired, it requires them to earn that pay rate over several years, which has the benefit of saving the province money.

Some reading the Canadian Press article may believe the merit system is a bonus system. It is not.

By lowering increases to one per cent and reducing the civil service by 1,000 employees through attrition, the current government will save more than $300 million.

That's a significant factor in helping this province live within its means.