HRMAJ leader hopeful Gov’t will heed performance assessment suggestions

WESTERN BUREAU:

Michael McAnuff-Jones, the vice-president of the Human Resource Management Association of Jamaica (HRMAJ), is hopeful that the Government will abide by a list of recommendations asking for parliamentarians to be paid based on assessment of their performances.

Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, McAnuff-Jones said the recommendations, which were outlined in a HRMAJ release on May 24, will help to improve other nations’ perception of Jamaica’s level of transparency and accountability.

“I think that as a society, we all have to take responsibility to keep the Government accountable, and not just demand accountability in a vacuum, but to provide what we believe are actionable recommendations which are not unreasonable. These things are quite consistent with international norms, and when transparency is reviewed in countries, they focus on the extent to which human resource management systems allow for merit-based arrangements in promotions and compensation design,” said McAnuff-Jones.

“If as a country we are interested in improving how we are seen from a transparency perspective, one would hope that some of these recommendations which call for independent commissions and pay-for-performance would be seen as useful to addressing the concerns that people have about an independent process to arrive at what the appropriate salary should be and how you do performance assessments,” McAnuff-Jones added.

McAnuff-Jones also pointed out that the HRMAJ’s suggestions should not be difficult for the Government to implement as it should already be familiar with the process of hiring persons based on competency assessment.

“I believe that the Government is interested in putting in an appropriate performance assessment system. I do not think it should be a difficult thing to take on board inclusion of behavioural competencies, as the Government already hires people on that basis,” said McAnuff-Jones.

“As far as variable pay is concerned, I do not think the Government has ever given any indication that the public sector is not interested in pay-for-performance. This is our proposal for managing the compensation, and it is consistent with the Government’s commitment to putting in appropriate performance assessment systems,” added McAnuff-Jones.