Performance Bonuses ‘Cumbersome And Unsatisfactory’ - PSA

Performance bonuses are a ‘common but cumbersome and unsatisfactory part of the mish-mash of pay systems operating in today’s public sector,’ the PSA says.

National secretary Richard Wagstaff said the reliance on these payments over the last decade reflected badly on the workplace environment fostered and encouraged under the National Government.

‘These were years of a virtual wage freeze,’ he said.

‘Across-the-board wage settlements were not encouraged and any of these “bonuses” were used as a way to deliver some overdue financial compensation to employees but without increasing their annual salary.’

‘Our members accepted them and that’s completely natural - nothing else was on offer after all!

‘But there is increasing recognition they are an unwelcome tool of the employer and something which does little to encourage motivated workplaces with good pay and morale, job security and rewarding career paths,’ he said.

‘With the new industrial laws and our Partnership for Quality agreement with the Government the PSA is organising to deliver fairer, responsible and more durable pay systems and outcomes,’ he said.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>