Staff Compensation.

Staff compensation is a crucial factor in HR management. It should be sufficiently high to attract and retain staff with the necessary qualifications to start work at customs. However, overall staff salaries are often inadequate and the difference between the compensation of management and lower level staff is much narrower than what prevails in the private sector. While compensation is not the only motivating factor for doing a good job, it certainly ranks high. Developing esprit de corps (честь мундира) and pride in the office are complementary motivators that are often not sufficiently emphasized. In recent years, for example, Moroccan customs has paid special attention to this factor and this initiative appears to have had some benefits.

In most cases customs does not have much flexibility in setting salary levels and must adhere to the civil service pay scale.

A partial solution to the salary scale rigidities is to provide bonuses to staff. While many customs services pay bonuses, only a few pay them in a way that enhances effectiveness and efficiency. To do so, bonuses must be large enough to begin to bridge the gap between what private sector workers earn, and satisfy a number of stringent criteria. Bonuses must have internal and external legitimacy, and be objective, transparent, and easy to administer. In addition, they should be SMART, that is, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timed. However, ensuring that performance evaluation provide for adequate differentiation of staff performance is not easy.

Internal legitimacy requires that customs staff perceive the bonus system to be distributed justly, without favoritism, with transparency, and with possibilities for appeal. External legitimacy refers to acceptability of the bonuses outside customs, a requirement for allocating the necessary budget resources that pay for these bonuses. In absence of either internal or external legitimacy, the bonus system will not be sustainable. An alternative to providing substantial bonuses would be to put revenue staff on a higher pay scale than the rest of the civil service, in light of the crucial importance that resource mobilization plays in running the government. Better pay would also protect customs staff somewhat against the temptation of accepting bribes from traders. A higher pay scale would need to be combined with overall customs reforms that provide guarantees of enhanced effectiveness and efficiency.

Some customs services have adopted a more drastic solution to the inadequacy of staff compensation by creating ARAs (Autonomous Revenue Authority) that initially paid salaries that were competitive with those paid in the private sector, or with those given to the best civil servants.

Performance - related salary increases and promotions are also important factors for motivating staff. Yet both are often constrained by rigid promotion policies that are commonly applied to all civil servants and that are highly dependent on seniority.

The state of infrastructure, both for work and housing, particularly at outlying customs posts, also affects work ethic and morale. Often such infrastructure has suffered from years of neglect due to budget constraints.. The poor outpost housing infrastructure in many border posts leads staff to go to great lengths to avoid such posting, which often are considered to be unfair hardship or even penalty assignments.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14