MUSCAT — Sayyid Ali bin Hamoud al Busaidy, Minister of the Diwan of Royal Court and Chairman of the Civil Service Council, yesterday approved two executive decisions issuing the executive bylaw for the Civil Service Law and the Jobs Classification and Arrangement System which will come into force from the next day of their publication in the official gazette. The approval was made at an extraordinary meeting of the Civil Service Council yesterday which was presided over by Sayyid Ali.
During the meeting he pointed out that it is a great coincidence that approval of the executive bylaw comes on these blessed days when the Sultanate is approaching the 40th National Day celebrations. He appealed to Allah the Almighty to protect His Majesty Sultan Qaboos and grant him good health, happiness, a long life and for the return of this occasion and similar occasions on His Majesty and the Omani people with blessings and well-being.
The council expressed its thanks to all government units for their efforts to prepare the draft of the executive bylaw, especially specialists at the Finance Ministry, the Legal Affairs Ministry and the Civil Service Ministry. It is worth mentioning that the provisions of the new executive bylaw for the Civil Service Law and the Jobs Classification and Arrangement System includes merits for government units that apply the civil service law and the employees affiliated to these units.
First: The executive bylaw for the Civil Service Law One of the main merits of the bylaw is to have a system for filling vacant positions at a government unit from among the employees at that unit. This will be done according to certain guidelines, terms and preferential rules among candidates. It will be based on a system for selection from among those who meet the requirements of promotion when they are equal in seniority and efficiency. The test is based on stimulating the employee who obtained higher marks in efficiency. The bylaw provides a mechanism that allows the promotion of those who occupy the positions from advisers and experts who are not subject to job performance assessment report on which promotion is based.
The provision of the bylaws are stimulating with relation to giving bonuses. The bylaw approved the giving of these bonuses — subject to certain rules — to members of the internal committees or work teams at the unit. It also approved a standard bylaw for granting overtime regardless of the grade of the employee — contrary to the current situation which allows overtime of 25 per cent of the basic salary for two times a year only for those in the fourth grade and above.
As for the allowances, the bylaw approved increasing the housing allowance for Omanis who are occupying crafts jobs and supportive services (9th grade and below employees) by 100 per cent. The bylaw allowed for proving a government housing without deducting the housing allowance for the employees who are appointed or transferred or deputed to work in governorates other than their governorates or places of residence in cases approved by the Civil Service Council after the approval of the Finance Ministry. This will not be subject to the condition that standard of living in the place at which he lives is different from other regions. The bylaw approved increasing the telephone allowance to the employees at certain grades by 100 per cent from the current allowance.
The procedures for granting this allowance to employees whose grades are below that required to be eligible for the allowance have been simplified. The head of the unit now can grant this allowance to employees whose jobs’ nature requires so without recourse to the Civil Service Ministry. The bylaw became flexible with relations to granting the job nature allowance or job risk allowance. The bylaws approved dispensing this allowance for cases designated by the head of the unit, after co-ordination with the Finance and Civil Service Ministries. This will provide the opportunity to take appropriate decision for new cases for which no decision has been made to dispense this allowance.
As for the training and official trips allowance, the bylaw provided a number of merits including approving these allowances for employees from the 10th to the 13th grade, who occupy non crafts or supportive services positions, at the same rates provided to employees who occupy the 8th grade. It also approved dispensing a standard allowance for this category regardless of the country for which the employee is delegated. This means that the allowances for countries which were classed as second region will be raised compared to the current bylaws. Moreover, these allowances — in certain cases — will be increased compared to the existing allowance.
As for leave, the bylaw approved adding the Eid, official occasions and holidays announced by the respective state authorities, which fall during the regular holidays or at the beginning or at the end of the holiday to the accumulated leave for the employee. It also approved deduction of Eid and official holidays during the employee’s absence period from the absence days and will be calculated as fully-paid official holiday.
Second: Jobs Classification and Arrangement System
As for the Jobs Classification and Arrangement System, one of its merits is that it will enable providing job description cards for all jobs at the civil service units. These cards will include the job title, the duties and responsibilities and the requirements of the job. This will help in assessing the employee’s performance of his duties. It will also eliminate any ambiguity or overlap between the job responsibilities and authorities. It will also provide an accurate information data base, thereby providing a sound source for researches and studies related to this aspect.
The system will help in planning for the manpower at government units and identifying the needs of these units from the new jobs at the annual budget based on objective criteria. It will also formulate proper rules that ensure filling all jobs at different units with suitable candidates because the requirements of the jobs included in the job description card are accurately identified. It will also provide a proper framework for the selection process and preference among competitors for the job.
This system affirms the objective criteria that promote the performance-based salary and that the salary is compatible with the nature of the responsibilities and duties of each job. The system includes 19 qualitative groups of jobs. Each group includes all jobs that are similar in type and natures even if the duties and responsibilities are different. The system approved the rules that will be used in placing the employees at the approved jobs. The placement will be made after the issuance of the decision from the head of the unit approving the system in this unit and after granting the approval of the Civil Service Ministry.
The employees should be placed at the jobs and grades they occupy at the date of placements. Those who occupy supervisory, expert, advisor, walis and deputy walis are not included in this system if their degrees are less than the grade of the jobs stated at the schedule of the unit jobs. The employees who are transferred as per the provision of article 152 of the Civil Service Law and its annexure No 2, will be placed at the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th grades, and who were occupying the 8th, 7th 6th or 5th grades of the second cycle at one of the jobs which was equalised with the qualitative jobs groups for the supportive jobs of these groups, even if the evaluation grades are different from the grades to which they are transferred.
It is worth mentioning that the executive Jobs Classification and Arrangement System does not meet the requirements for its application after issuance except when the respective government units complete the tables for distributing the jobs on the qualitative groups and on the organisational divisions, as per the forms prepared for this purpose and after preparing a job description card for each job.
These tables and job description should be approved by a decision from the head of the unit after getting the approval of the Civil Service Ministry and placement on the approved jobs. This requires the governmental units to complete the requirements as quickly as possible to avoid any difference in application among units. The Civil Service Council pointed out that it is important for the respective governmental units to take the required measures to approve the system and place their employees according to its rules. It should be noted that the decision of the Chairman of the Civil Service Council gave the units 6-month grace period to complete the procedures. — ONA
بياً ودوليا، سواء من خـلال منظمة اليونسكو أم غيرها من المنظمات الإقليمية والعالمية. 