Poor performers in government do get axed, CSC says

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) recently upheld the dismissal of a government employee who performed poorly and still failed to improve despite a warning.

A permanent employee in a water district was earlier dropped from the rolls for poor performance. Within the rating period, he displayed a classic case of incompetence and incorrigibility. He did not do his regular duties and responsibilities; he failed to observe existing office rules and regulations; and he ignored his supervisor’s reasonable instructions. After four months of this behavior, his supervisor sent a formal warning that he would be dismissed if he did not shape up. He ignored the warning.

CSC head Karina Constantino-David said that CSC’s rule on performance is clear that one rating of “poor” is enough ground for an employee’s dismissal, as is done in the private sector. She said that “however by practice, government employees are luckier than employees in the private sector because once they become permanent, it is very hard to fire them.”

David explained, “Bosses in government seldom give a rating that reflects the actual performance of their people, largely because the present rating system is highly subjective. Bosses often given in to awa for lack of a strong basis to do otherwise. In fact, the sum total of all the ratings of the 1.4 Million government people in the CSC records would be somewhere near “outstanding”, contrary to that of public opinion.”

David said that the CSC, as central personnel agency of government, has been developing and pilot-testing a rating system to address the problem. “The Performance Management System-Office Performance Evaluation System or PMS-OPES is an output-based system that will reduce the subjectivity of rating people in government agencies, make it easier for the boss to give an honest-to-goodness rating, and will provide a basis for the agency to remove a non-performer. “

She also explained that due process was observed in the case of the water district employee as he was properly warned of the possible dismissal. “Yet, he still ignored it. He probably thought he could get away with it, as some did in the past. It is about time, our government agencies get serious with weeding out non-performers. These non-performers contribute nothing and worse, they drain our limited resources that come from taxpayers’ money.”