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The Civil Service Bureau launched the first phase of its enhanced performance appraisal system this month, introducing a guided distribution mechanism across 100 core grades to establish more rigorous and objective standards for staff performance evaluations.
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Appearing on a radio program on Friday, Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan emphasized that the new appraisal framework is neither rigid nor mechanical.
She stated that appraisal panels and well-defined appeal channels are firmly in place, ensuring that departments facing exceptional challenges or requirements to meet international standards can receive administrative discretion upon providing sound justifications.
The initial phase involves approximately 41,000 serving civil servants, representing nearly 30 percent of civil service grades, though authorities noted that it remains premature to estimate how many officers might be denied annual salary increments.
Safeguards in place to prevent unfair penalization of top-scale staff
Addressing public concerns regarding the roughly 37 percent of civil servants—exceeding 60,000 individuals—who have already reached the maximum salary point of their pay scale, Yeung dismissed suggestions that these veteran employees might be unfairly singled out to fill lower rating quotas because they have no further increments to lose.
She stressed that the framework does not enforce a rigid bell curve, nor will department heads be allowed to arbitrarily select employees to shoulder substandard ratings.
She explained that such staff may still be eligible for promotion and must undergo fair evaluations, adding that arbitrarily assigning them the lowest three ratings would severely undermine workplace morale and disrupt departmental operations.
Yeung anticipated that appraisal panels may face heavier workloads and require more frequent calibration during the first year or two of implementation.
However, as management and staff progressively establish consensus around objective evaluation standards, future appraisals are expected to become more standardized and streamlined.
The government plans to conduct a comprehensive review after two appraisal cycles, with an eye toward rolling out the second phase in two to three years.
The subsequent phase aims to incorporate non-core management grades and divisions with larger headcounts, eventually bringing more than half of the civil service under the enhanced framework, while departments demonstrating early success may voluntarily opt in ahead of schedule.
Preparations advance for administrative responsibility investigations
Regarding the implementation of the departmental head accountability system and the two-tier investigation mechanism for administrative responsibility outlined in the Policy Address, Yeung noted that the Legislative Council approved relevant subsidiary legislation under the Public Service Commission Ordinance in July, granting the commission statutory investigative authority.
The bureau is currently seconding directorate administrative officers to assist the commission's secretariat with full-scale preparations, including securing legal advisers, office space, information technology infrastructure, and internal operational codes of practice.
Touching upon the recent fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, Yeung reiterated that follow-up actions and accountability measures will depend on the findings of an independent committee report scheduled for release at the end of the month.
She indicated that preparatory work with the Public Service Commission is underway.
If the report identifies clear misconduct by individual officers, the administration may initiate standard disciplinary proceedings directly.
Alternatively, if the inquiry reveals institutional or systemic shortcomings, the commission's second-tier investigation mechanism may be invoked to determine administrative responsibility among the personnel involved.
Transitional protections considered for restructuring postal workers
Turning to Hongkong Post's operational restructuring, which recently saw contract terms offered to a group of employees following the completion of their probationary period, Yeung addressed concerns affecting an initial cohort of around 30 staff, out of an estimated 200 postal officers and postmen expected to be impacted over time.
She disclosed that the bureau views the primary requests raised by affected staff as reasonable and is actively considering specific support arrangements to be announced in the near future.
These measures include granting affected contract staff a trial period comparable to substantive civil servants when transferring to other grades—allowing those who fail to meet standards to return to their prior posts—as well as preserving existing salary levels to prevent pay reductions upon transfer, alongside giving them hiring priority for suitable government vacancies.
