Speakers Assess Proposed Separation Payments, Application of Human Resource Policies, as Budget Committee Weighs Changes to Staff Compensation Package
Managing personnel costs while exercising fiscal constraint guided the discussion of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today, as it examined new and proposed compensation rules that governed, among other things, separation payments, dependency allowances and salary scales for staff in Geneva.
The packages were part of a series of changes proposed by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), many of which were approved by the General Assembly in December 2015 in the first major reassessment for staff in more than 25 years.
Kingston Papie Rhodes, Chair of ICSC, in introducing that body’s annual report on the common system of salaries, allowances and other conditions of service, recommended an end-of-service payment to fixed-term staff separating from the Organization after 10 years of continuous service.
Ian Richards, President of the Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations, said that since the proportion of staff on fixed-term appointments with 10 years or more of continuous experience had been halved due to an increase in time-defined contracts, only 0.2 per cent of staff would be eligible to receive the proposed benefit. “The ICSC’s proposal sets the bar low, at 10 years, but it is a good start,” he said.
However, Diab El-Tabari, President of the Federation of International Civil Servants’ Association, suggested that the number of years of service staff needed to qualify for the benefit be cut in half.
Thailand’s delegate, speaking for the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, said it would seek clarification on the proposed required duration of continuous service and any financial implications arising from the Commission’s recommendation.
In assessing the suitability of the recommendation, Japan’s representative said there was a lack of consistency among human resource policies and that ICSC and member organizations should harmonize the proposed policy on unemployment benefits with the Organization’s reemployment policy.
Delegates also discussed the comprehensive review being led by the Commission of conditions of service of National Professional Officers and staff in the General Service and Field Service categories.
The United States representative said that there was a significant scope to review those categories, in order to rationalize the use of internationally and locally recruited personnel. As personnel costs exceeded three quarters of the budgets of most organizations in the United Nations system, crowding out resources for important programme work, it was essential that conditions of service were sustainable in an era of fiscal constraint.
Johannes Huismann, Director of the Programme Planning and Budget Division at the Department of Management’s Office of Programme Planning, Budget and Accounts, introduced the statement submitted by the Secretary-General on the budgetary implications of the Commission’s 2016 report. Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), introduced that body’s related report.
The representative of Paraguay also spoke.
The Fifth Committee will reconvene at 11 a.m., on Friday, 28 October, to discuss the pattern of conferences and human resources management.
United Nations Common System
KINGSTON PAPIE RHODES, Chair of the International Civil Service Commission, introduced the body’s report for 2016 (document A/71/30). According to the document, the General Assembly had approved a unified salary scale for staff in the Professional category that would not distinguish between the family status of a staff member. The new scale, to take effect on 1 January 2017, would also be adjusted to reflect the movement of comparable salaries between the time the unified scale was approved and its implementation date. In line with usual practice, ICSC suggested a 1.02 per cent increase in the salary scale, with a commensurate reduction in post adjustment. On the net remuneration margin of Professional staff in New York compared to officials in similar positions in the United States federal civil service, the calendar margin was around the midpoint of 115. A new round of cost-of-living surveys was under way and in pursuing that work, the Commission had been implementing a set of recommendations suggested by the Advisory Committee on Post Adjustment Questions to enhance its methodology. The result of those surveys would be reported in 2017.
After revisiting a recommendation it had introduced in 2009 to establish an end-of-service severance pay, the Commission had decided to resubmit that recommendation as it remained valid, he said. On its mandate to review gender balance in the United Nations common system, ICSC urged organizations to continue implementing existing gender policies to reach the goal of 50/50 gender balance. Salary surveys for General Service staff and Language Teachers in Geneva had resulted in a recommendation to lower the current salary scale by 1.8 per cent. Based on a review conducted by the Commission on dependency allowance levels in Madrid, London, New York and Geneva, after the General Assembly’s decision to lift its freeze on those allowances, ICSC had recommended that the executive heads of respective organizations revise their levels of dependency allowance. A revised human resource management plan to replace the current framework, which had been in place since 2000, had also been reviewed and approved by ICSC, he said, adding that it was a “living” document that would allow organizations to create links with their own relevant human resource policies.
With regards to the comprehensive review of the common system compensation package, the Commission expressed concern over the implementation delays by some organizations. It was also continuing its work on the use of various staff categories, he said, underlining that “this is clearly a complex matter requiring careful study, as decisions taken may have a profound impact on the way the international civil service is structured in the future”.
JOHANNES HUISMANN, Director, Programme Planning and Budget Division, introduced the statement submitted by the Secretary-General (document A/C.5/71/3), in accordance with rule 153 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, which detailed the budgetary implications resulting from the Commission’s 2016 report. The report contained four decisions and recommendations that would produce budgetary implications for the Organization’s programme budget: the introduction of end-of-service separation payments for fixed-term staff with 10 or more years of continuous service; a revised unified base-floor salary scale for Professional and higher categories; adjusted salary scales for the General Service and Language Teacher categories in Geneva; and an adjustment of dependency allowance for the General Service and related categories. The budgetary implications for the programme budget for bienniums 2016‑2017 and 2018‑2019 were estimated at $3.29 million and $5.28 million respectively.
The Commission’s recommendation pertaining to the reduction in the salary scales for the General Services and Language Teacher categories in Geneva would apply to staff recruited on or after 1 June 2016, while the salary scales would be frozen for existing staff, in accordance with the standard practice. Therefore, the programme budget for 2016-2017 would be reduced for the related inflation projections, after accounting for the recently completed consumer price index review. The amount of the reduction would be available in the coming weeks. All budgetary implications for the 2016-2017 budget cycle would be addressed, as necessary, in the first and second performance reports, while budget implications for the 2018-2019 budget cycle would be included in the proposed programme budget.
CARLOS RUIZ MASSIEU, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), introduced that body’s related report (document A/71/564), and said with regard to the 2015 survey of the best prevailing conditions of employment in Geneva, the Secretary-General’s statement indicated the financial implications could not be estimated pending an interim adjustment to the salary scales scheduled for September 2016. The Advisory Committee expected that information of the projected 2016 savings would be provided in the first performance report of the 2016‑2017 budget cycle. The Advisory Committee would revert to the matter when it considered that report. The Advisory Committee recommended the Assembly take note of paragraph 17 of the Secretary-General’s statement, should it approve the Commission’s recommendation.
DIAB EL-TABARI, President of the Federation of International Civil Servants’ Association, said he was concerned about the stated intention to use National Professional Officers to carry out international and regional functions. On end-of-service pay, the Federation deemed it reasonable that staff members would receive that type of compensation in lieu of unemployment benefits, and it shared the view of the Human Resources Network that severance pay should be introduced for staff separating from the Organization upon the expiration of five years of continuous service, as opposed to the 10 years recommended by ICSC.
Turning to the issue of whistle-blower protection policy at the United Nations, the Federation had observed that the most robust policy was only as effective as those in charge of enforcing it, he said, adding that a number of its member associations and unions had shared their grave preoccupation with deteriorating staff/management relations in their organizations. In the last few years, staff federations had expressed major concerns regarding the protection of whistle-blowers and denounced the unwillingness of organizations to hold perpetrators accountable.
On pensions, the Federation had been denied to deliver a statement at the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund Board’s recent session, and it was deeply concerned about that form of censorship and had therefore attached that statement to its written statement delivered at the present meeting to Committee members. Furthermore, the Federation supported an external assessment of Umoja to “shed transparency on its successes and failures”, he said. In the next phase of the compensation review, the Federation would also continue to advocate that the number and usage of non-staff contracts be limited.
IAN RICHARDS, President of the Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations, supported the separation payment for staff whose fixed-term appointment was not renewed after 10 years of continuous service. He noted that staff with continuing appointments and those whose fixed-term appointments were cut short received termination indemnities related to length of service, which substituted for them not receiving unemployment benefits in their home country. Yet staff whose fixed-term appointments were renewed, even after 10 or 20 years of high-performing service, received nothing.
He pointed to international practices in that area. The United States Civil Service and Foreign Service provided unemployment benefits in the form of partial-income replacement, regardless of the manner in which a contract lapsed. The European Commission provided indemnities following non-renewal after six months of service; the World Bank after five years of service; and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development after six years. “The ICSC’s proposal sets the bar low, at 10 years, but it is a good start,” he added. Since the issue was last considered four years ago, the proportion of staff on fixed-term appointments with 10 or more years of continuous experience had been halved due to an increase in time-defined field activities and better workforce planning. As a result, only 0.2 per cent of staff in the common system would be eligible to receive the benefit. That explained the minor financial implications.
Turning to ICSC’s proposals for the compensation review, he said the Coordination Committee was concerned with the final agreement and had informed commissioners it would closely monitor its impact. Some of the changes, when accumulated, would have a significant negative impact on staff in certain situations or duty stations, not least for staff with families in New York. Along with the Federation of International Civil Servants' Associations, the Coordinating Committee had commissioned a legal review. The Coordinating Committee would contribute actively to ICSC’s review of locally recruited staff, which would cover the General Service, National Professional and Field Service categories. He urged the Commission to include the S category to cover the Safety and Security staff and asked that their pay be pegged to local law enforcement personnel, not to local office workers as they were now.
Regarding the Pension Fund, he said the staff unions were very concerned by developments there. According to the Board of Auditors, 85 per cent of death-in service cases and 91 per cent of retirement and withdrawal cases were processed with delays ranging from 16 days to more than one year. The Coordinating Committee estimated the average at between four and six months. “This is unacceptable, especially for national staff in the field, some of whom had to sell their houses to make ends meet,” he added. A draft OIOS report confirmed suspicions that the Pension Fund had continually failed to communicate reliable data to staff and retirees about the extent of late payments. “This, we believe, to cover up the problem’s true extent,” he added. Staff unions were also concerned with new financial rules adopted by the Pension Board that had the ultimate effect of taking the Pension Fund one step further out of the United Nations, and increasing risk.
PORNSIRI SUPANYA (Thailand), speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, noted the Commission’s 2016 report contained decisions and recommendations that produced financial implications for the programme budget of the United Nations, starting with the 2016‑2017 budget cycle, and the peacekeeping operations budgets, starting with the 2016/17 peacekeeping financial period. The Group noted with interest that the Commission, following Assembly resolution 65/248 on the common system, had recommended introducing end-of-service severance pay in the Organization’s common system for fixed-term staff involuntarily separating from the Organization, when their contracts expired after 10 or more years of continuous service. The Group would seek additional clarification on the duration of service proposed, the objective of the recommendation, the financial implications and the possible implementation date, taking into account the pending closure of some peacekeeping operations whose personnel were mostly under fixed-term contracts.
Regarding the survey of best prevailing conditions of employment in Geneva, the Group wanted more details on the estimate of the financial implications for the 2016-2017 biennium resulting from the implementation of the 2015 survey, she said. The Group emphasized that after the Assembly took a decision on the Commission’s recommendations, adequate resources should be appropriated for the full and immediate implementation of the recommendations.
KEISUKE FUKUDA (Japan) said the common system should be transparent, fair, simple and sustainable in order to maintain the highest confidence of the staff. He agreed with ICSC on the necessity to review the overlap between the functions of National Professional Officers, General Service staff and related categories and conduct analysis on the current practice of nationalizing staff functions. Since the contractual reform had been introduced in July 2009, the percentage of fixed-term appointments had increased dramatically, he said, requesting that ICSC further analyse those effects. With regard to the end-of-service severance pay, he pointed out the lack of consistency among human resource policies. A former staff member would be ineligible for reemployment for a period of 31 days following separation, which implied that the staff member had no choice but to accept the separation payment since he or she could not be appointed to a temporary position. ICSC and member organizations should therefore harmonize the policy on unemployment benefits with a reemployment policy.
CHERITH NORMAN (United States) said capable and high-performing staff members were essential for the Organization to carry out its many complex and challenging mandates. Therefore, establishing and maintaining conditions of service that attracted, retained and provided incentives for the best and brightest were an important responsibility of the Fifth Committee. At the same time, with personnel costs exceeding three-quarters of the budgets of most organizations in the United Nations system and growth in personnel costs crowding out resources for important programme work over the last decade, it was essential to ensure that conditions of service were sustainable in an era of fiscal constraint.
ICSC continued to help the Fifth Committee balance those imperatives under the steady leadership of Commission Chairman Rhodes, she said. Assembly resolution 70/244 was a testament to the thorough and thoughtful nature of the comprehensive review, led by ICSC, of conditions of service for staff in the Professional and higher categories. The Commission was now in the midst of its next comprehensive review on the use of other categories of staff: General Service, Field Service and National Professional Officers. The United States believed there was significant scope to review those categories, especially with a view to rationalize the use of internationally and locally recruited personnel to enable the common system organizations to deliver their mandates more efficiently and effectively.
JULIA MACIEL GONZÁLES (Paraguay) aligned her statement with that of Group of 77 and thanked the Secretariat, ICSC and its Cost-of-Living Division for data and information they had provided her Government for the calculation of its Foreign Service post adjustment index. Recalling recommendations made by ICSC in its 2016 report, her delegation emphasized the importance that sufficient and appropriate resources were allocated to implement the Commission’s recommendations.