No more delays in salaries of newly recruited public servants — Mrs Katsriku
The perennial challenge of newly recruited public servants receiving their salaries six months after being employed has come to an end following the implementation of the Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS) project.
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The project, which has been introduced in seven ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), has resulted in newly recruited staff receiving their salaries in the month in which they were employed.
So far, 111,053 public servants, representing 19 per cent of the entire public service workforce, have been captured under the HRMIS.
Highlighting the current state of the project in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra, the Chairperson of the PSC, Mrs Brigitte Katsriku, said the project was aimed at establishing a comprehensive and common human resource database for all public service employees in the country.
“The project aims at strengthening controls around entrance, exit, promotions and positions across the various service groups,” she noted.
She said the HRMIS project was established as a component of the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) project, which has now metamorphosed into the Public Financial Management Reform Project (PFMRP).
“The project, when fully rolled out, will create a common technological platform for the human resource data of all public service organisations (PSOs) in the country.
“These PSOs will access and use the data online to initiate human resource processes, while the PSC will have access to the system to perform its essential regulatory and control functions across all the services,” Mrs Katsriku said.
Seven MDAs
The seven MDAs currently on the HRMIS are: the PSC, the Ghana Statistical Service, the Ghana Prisons Service, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Local Government Service and the Ghana Health Service (GHS).
The MDAs were placed on the HRMIS project between December 12, 2015 and December 13, 2016.
“The two remaining pilot MDAs, the Ghana Education Service and the Ghana Audit Service, are being prepared to go on the system by the third quarter of 2017,” Mrs Katsriku disclosed.
According to her, 10 MDAs, made up of five Commissions and five ministries, were being prepared to go on the system by the end of the second quarter of 2017.
Successes chalked up
“The Ashanti Regional Directorate of the GHS processed 639 staff inputs (that is, 621 promotions and 18 new entrants) at the beginning of March 2017 and these reflected immediately on the payroll of the same month.
“This shows how extremely efficient and effective the process is and, thus, addressing the age-old challenge of new and promoted employees receiving their first and adjusted salaries six months and over after employment or promotion, respectively,” Mrs Katsriku said.
“Similarly, the Eastern, Volta, Brong Ahafo and Central Regional directorates of the GHS processed 519; 423; 300; and 279 inputs of their staff, respectively, at the beginning of March 2017 and they all reflected immediately in their pay at the end of the same month,” she added.
The said staff inputs, she indicated, included promotions, new entrants, change of bank details, correction of misspelled names, terminations and postings.
“Furthermore, the Ghana Prisons Service was able to process over 2,000 staff inputs, which comprised promotions, change of bank, sanctions, terminations and transfers and these were immediately reflected on the same month payroll,” she added.
She said the PSC also recruited a dispatch rider who assumed duty on February 1, 2016 and after completing all pre-engagement checks, including biometric registration and placement on the HRMIS, he received his February pay the same month.
Phases
Mrs Katsriku said the HRMIS was being implemented in three phases.
Phase one, she said, would cover Core/Fundamental Human Resource elements or modules, which include the setting up of organisations, jobs, grades and positions, while the second and third phases would tackle employee profile management and talent management, respectively.
She said change management workshops had been organised for: heads, management and staff of the pilot MDAs; chief directors and chief executive officers of HR of MDAs; all the 10 regional coordinating councils; regional and district directors of Health, Education, Audit, etc.; all the 216 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs); regional and district directors of Health; heads of HR of government agencies on the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) payroll; representatives of teacher unions and executives of the Local Government Service Workers Union.
Challenges
She cited some of the implementation challenges as the lack of reliable NITA connectivity for HRMIS sites, short-time frame for payroll access; lack of readily available and reliable data in the required format at the various MDAs and slow response from MDAs to deliver HR data in the required format to the Public Services Commission.