More bonus pay for gov’t workers

What could be a bigger treat on top of the customary Christmas bonus and 13th-month pay than what awaits government employees this yearend?

Malacañang on Friday announced the granting of a “performance-based bonus” (PBB), which would be given to employees and officials on a merit-based scheme. Employees would be rewarded with amounts ranging from P5,000 to P35,000, depending on their productivity.

At a Palace briefing, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the PBB is expected to be released during the Christmas season.

State officials and employees receive their 13th-month pay in two tranches—on May 15 and Nov. 15.

The 13th-month pay is equal to one month’s salary.

Employees in the private sector also receive the mandated 13th-month bonus (which is not taxable as long as it does not exceed P30,000), while other companies also give out the traditional Christmas bonus, which is usually subject to tax.

Meanwhile, the Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI)— pegged across the board at P10,000 in 2011—is due to be credited to the payrolls for next month, said Valte.

She explained that the national government, prior to the Aquino presidency, was only funding P7,000 of the PEI, with the remaining P3,000 being shouldered by savings of  government offices.

“What happened in the past—at least in the case of 2010—was that agencies which had no (budgetary) savings couldn’t provide for their component (of the PEI). In 2011, what the national government did was to give out the entire P10,000. So everyone received the same amount of (PEI) apart from the 13th-month bonus,” said Valte.

However, she could not say whether the PEI would remain at its current amount of P10,000.

“When I mentioned P10,000, it was in reference to the 2010 and 2011 PEI. Usually, we wait for the memo to know how much PEI will be for the year,” said Valte in a text message.

Performance targets

But for the PBB, the amount of the “new bonus” varies, depending on the performance targets of various government departments, Valte said.

In August, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) asked national government offices to submit performance targets.

The government has individual targets for the employees, division, unit, bureau, agency and the whole department, said Valte.

“So essentially, the difference between the 13th-month pay and PEI … is that the performance-based bonus is merit-based as the name suggests,” she added.

The PBB is mandated by Executive Order No. 80 issued in July this year to “rationalize the current incentive system in the government, which is generally characterized by across-the-board bonuses that are given uniformly to all civil servants.”

The EO calls for a “common set performance scorecard” and rates personnel “in accordance with their contributions to the accomplishments of their department’s overall targets and commitments,” particularly:

The achievements by the departments of performance targets under their respective major final outputs, and priority program/project commitments as agreed with the President under the five Key Result Areas.

The accomplishment of good governance conditions is set by the interagency task force created under Administrative Order No. 25, which seeks to establish a unified and integrated Results-Based Performance Monitoring System.

The PBB scheme has three performance categories: “best,” “better” and “good.”

However, the DBM has yet to release the exact formula for the computation of the PBB for each agency or personnel.