1. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity PRESENTATION TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON THE FILLING OF POSTS 2 SEPTEMBER 2015 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION

2. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity CONTENTS Introduction Background Committee Report of March 2015 Regulatory Framework Calculation of Vacancy rates and the Median period to fill posts Factors impacting on the Vacancy Rate Scenarios ▫ Compensation ▫ Recruitment Processes ▫ Establishment Data Summary and Trends in respect of targets Way forward Conclusion 2

3. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity INTRODUCTION 3 Government’s Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) provides for 14 outcomes to be achieved The MPSA is responsible for leading the implementation of Outcome 12, which seeks to establish “An efficient, effective and development - oriented Public Service.” Within the MTSF for Outcome 12 eight sub- outcomes have been identified as the core steps to improve the professionalism and performance of the public service over the next five years.

4. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity BACKGROUND 4 Within the MTSF, Impact indicators of the state of the public service are intended to tell us more generally about our progress in building an efficient, effective and development-oriented public service that fulfils its role within a capable and developmental state. Impact Indicators are monitored to assess the result of the work of the G&A Cluster to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and capability of national and provincial government and to inform on- going improvements and revision to our plans when necessary. The reduction of the average vacancy rate to at most 10% is one such Impact Indicator. In addition the DPSA also reports on the the median period to fill a funded vacancy in relation to the target of 6 months.

5. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity PREVIOUS REPORT TO THE COMMITTEE TRENDS ON THE VACANCY RATES AND PERIOD TO FILL: 4/3/2015 VACANCY RATES: Median Time to Fill: 5 30/06/201230/09/201231/12/201231/07/201331/01/2014 AVERAGE FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE 9,68%8.58%9.2%8.86%9.56% MEDIAN FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE 30 June 201231 December 201231 December 2013 5,9 months4,0 months4,95 months

6. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity ACTIONS IMPLEMENTED The Late Minister Chabane instructed that individual letters be written to each Executive Authority for National departments and Premiers of Provinces: ▫ Making them aware of the performance of their departments and seeking their support in reaching and maintaining the targets where they had been reached and drawing attention to underachievement and the need for interventions where departments had not achieved the targets. In addition the DPSA continued to meet with and assist departments and Provinces in identifying and implementing strategies to resolve localised vacancy issues. 6

7. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity REGULATORY FRAMEWORK AND PRESCRIPTS FOR THE CREATION AND FILLING OF POSTS Public Service Act (1994 as amended) ▫ Chapter lll: Organisation and Staff ▫ Section 8: Composition of the Public Service (1) The public Service shall consist of persons who are employed- ◦ (a) in posts on the establishment of departments; and ◦ (b) additional to the establishment of departments Public Service Regulations 2001 as amended ▫ Part lll: Planning work organisation and reporting ▫ Section F: Creation and Filling of Posts,  Before creating a post for any newly defined, or filling any vacancy, an executing authority shall- (a) confirm that she or he requires the post to meet the department’s objectives; (b) in the case of a newly defined job, evaluate the job in terms of the job evaluation system; (c) in the case of a vacant post on grade 9 or higher, evaluate the job unless the specific job has been evaluated previously; and (d) ensure that sufficient budgeted funds, including funds for the remaining period of the medium term expenditure framework, are available for filling the post. 7

8. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity CALCULATION OF VACANCY RATES AND THE PERIOD TO FILL POSTS 8 The vacancy rates are calculated by means of the following formula: The assumption is that the data on PERSAL for the funded establishment and vacancies is accurate The period to fill vacant posts is calculated on the following basis: ▫ The vacancy period constitutes the period between the date of the employee vacating the post and the date that the post is filled. The days so counted are converted into months on the following basis: ▫ Only funded posts which are filled permanently are taken into account ▫ Vacancy periods are restricted to a maximum of 36 months to align with the MTEF budget cycle. ▫ The median of the vacancy period is reported. No. of funded vacant posts as at a specified date X 100 No. of filled posts + no. of funded vacant posts at a specified date 1 No of days 30,5 days

9. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity ISSUES IMPACTING ON THE VACANCY RATE ItemIssueFunctional Area ADevelopment of a structureOrganisational design BConsultation and Approval of the Structure Organisational design CTranslating the structure posts onto PERSAL Human Resource Management, PERSAL and Organisational Design DRecruitmentHuman Resource Management EAppointmentHuman Resource Management 9 Assumption is that data on funded posts on the establishment is accurate. Vacancy rate is calculated at D and E and is impacted by any changes made at A,B,C. Failure to manage PERSAL funded Post data accurately affects the vacancy rate adversely.

10. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity SCENARIOS COMPENSATION RECRUITMENT PROCESSES ESTABLISHMENT DATA 10

11. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity COMPENSATION 11

12. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity PUBLIC SERVICE COMPENSATION ANALYSIS : APRIL 2014 – MARCH 2015* DESCRIPTIONAMOUNT Percentage Compensation utilised98.61% Percentage Compensation Remaining1.39% Number of Filled posts1 235 344 Identify Average unit cost expended per filled post** Projected Number of posts that could be filled with available funds17,289 Projected Actual Total Funded Post establishment1235 344 + 17 289 1252 633 Projected Actual funded Vacancy Rate in terms of Budget1,38% 12 * Compensation: Based on figures supplied by NT ** Average unit cost to employer The average compensation of employees’ cost to the employer is calculated by dividing the full year compensation of employees with the number of posts filled

13. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity RECRUITMENT PROCESSES 13

14. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity MPAT 1.4 RESULTS: APPLICATION OF RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION PRACTICES 14 In the HR KPA -The standard on Recruitment performed best with an average of 2.9

15. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity MEDIAN PERIOD TO FILL POSTS Posts filled during the period 1 July 2014 to 30 Sept 2014 1 Oct 2014 to 31 Dec 2014 1 Jan 2015 to 31 March 2015 National departments (excl Defence) 6.05 months6.03 months2.95 months Eastern Cape5.11 months6.16 months4.36 months Free State0.03 months10.00 months6.03 months Gauteng4.95 months6.20 months4.51 months KZN3.02 months2.07 months2.31 months Limpopo5.02 months4.95 months2.80 months Mpumalanga6.98 months8.00 months2.98 months North West10.62 months5.98 months2.62 months Northern Cape5.02 months7.05 months9.02 months Western Cape4.00 months1.54 months2.98 months MEDIAN FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE 4.98 months5.02 months3.05 months 15

16. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity RECRUITMENT PROCESSES 16 MPAT results and decrease in recruitment periods shows a steady improvement in recruitment practices Notwithstanding, the dependencies of recruitment processes on delegations and pre-employment verification processes the time to fill a post has decreased, with a median of approximately 3 months

17. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity ESTABLISHMENT DATA 17

18. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity FUNDED ESTABLISHMENT AND THE VACANCY RATE 18 Unfunded Vacancies Approved Funded Structure Restructuring and Changes Recruitment Funded Filled Posts Vacancy Rate Funded Vacant Posts Funded and Unfunded Structure Funded Posts (filled and vacant) and Unfunded Posts (Vacant) Appointments PERSAL  

19. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity ESTABLISHMENT TRENDS 19 Total funded establishment and vacant posts have been decreasing quarterly with filled posts almost constant and is in line with compensation expenditure. The largest driver of variance in the vacancy rate has been both the changing and cleansing of establishment data in relation to vacancies.

20. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity TRENDS IN VACANCIES 2010-2015 20

21. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity QUARTERLY VACANCY RATE 21

22. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity OVERALL TRENDS ON THE VACANCY RATES AND PERIOD TO FILL POSTS Vacancy rates: Median period to fill: 22 VACANCY FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE 30/09/201431/12/201431/03/201530/06/2015 11.78%14.16%11.58%11.18% MEDIAN FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE 30/09/201431/12/201431/03/2015 4.98 months5.02 months3.05 months

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24. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity VACANCY RATES NATIONAL AND PROVINCES 24

25. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity VACANCY RATE BASED ON PERSAL DATA Employment Additional to the Establishment at June 2015 was 55 287 filled posts This is 35,66 % of the total vacant funded posts and is 3,98% of the total funded posts. Employment additional to the establishment needs to be funded and it is likely that this funding is derived from the compensation budget – hence the total vacant posts is far less than 155060 and should exclude these 55287 posts. The total vacant posts less Additional to the Establishment = 99 773 posts. Then the Vacancy rate on PERSAL is around 7,19% 25 DESCRIPTIONMARCH 2015JUNE 2015VARIANCE Number of Funded Posts1 397 1401 387 545-9 595 Number of Filled posts1 235 3441 232 485-2,859 Number of Vacant posts161 796155 060-6 736 Vacancy Rate11,58%11,18%

26. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity SUMMARY OF PERSAL BASED VACANCY DATA 26 The 30 June 2015 - vacancy rate of 11,18% amounts to 155 060 vacant posts. The under achievement of the vacancy target at departmental level is a concern: ▫ 59.09% (26) of the national departments exceed the target of 10% ▫ In 6 provincial administrations, 50% or more of their respective departments exceed the vacancy target, with Gauteng having the lowest achievement rate - 85,72% (12) of its departments failing to achieve the target Whilst the period to fill posts (3,05 months) is safely within the target of 6 months, there are at national and provincial levels still room for improvement

27. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity SUMMARY (cont) Of the 39 national departments that filled vacancies during the period 1 January 2015 to 31 March 2015: ▫ 61.54% (24) departments exceeded the target period of 6 months. ▫ Of these departments, the longest period to fill appeared at the SAPS that featured a median period of 36 months. At provincial level, 7 provincial administrations met the target of 6 months. ▫ The Northern Cape Provincial Administration has the longest median period of 9,02 months. 27

28. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity WAY FORWARD It is evident that the budget data is a more reliable indicator of true vacancies against the funded establishment. It is a concern that the budget data does not reconcile with the establishment data captured on PERSAL It is apparent that departments in managing their structures through restructuring and reorganisation are unnecessarily tampering with and possibly contaminating the key indicators of the vacancy rate measure; viz. the number of vacant posts and number of posts on the total funded establishment. Departments need to be cautioned about effecting ad hoc changes to the organisational structure or posts before the structure has been approved. Departments need to be advised to reduce their funded posts in line with their available budgets and to abolish duplicate structures and unfunded posts 28

29. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity The clean up of PERSAL should continue and the management of the organisational Directive from the MPSA more stringently monitored. The management of the vacancy rate has more to do with the management of the PERSAL DATA than improvements required within the recruitment process (although there is still room for improvement) especially with regard to:  Insufficient delegations to fill posts  Delays in finalising the prescribed pre-employment verifications by:  SAQA (in respect of educational qualifications)  State Security Agency (in respect of the other prescribed verifications)  Competition for in demand occupations and skills  Analysis of the data reflects that the Public Service may not necessarily have a vacancy problem but an Organisational Design problem in terms of the management of information on PERSAL 29 WAY FORWARD (cont.)

30. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity CONCLUSION Departments must reconcile the compensation budget and employee unit cost with the information on PERSAL so that the budget and expenditure available (1,39%) for funding vacancies correlates with the projected funded vacancy rate of 1,38%. 30

31. Leading the Public Service to Higher Productivity THANK YOU 31