Rewards & Recognition for improved Staff morale

Welcome to the May 2019 Edition of the Service Welfare Newsletter. This Edition focuses on the efforts of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation at institutionalizing a Rewards and Recognition System in the Federal Civil Service.

As the custodian of the Federal Government bureaucracy, the Federal Civil Service remains a key factor with  influence and impact on all dimensions of government including performance improvement and delivery of services needed to achieve national development goals and good governance. In realizing these objectives, the need
to establish a robust Rewards and Recognition System (R&RS) in the Federal Civil Service to boost performance becomes imperative.

A Rewards and Recognition System in the Civil Service, therefore, is a veritable motivational tool to enhance the performance of the workforce. Unfortunately, efforts in this direction have either been neglected or largely uncoordinated and for the most part, implemented as stand-alone strategies, without achieving the desired impact.
This gap has led to gross development deficits, resulting in a very low morale among the workforce, low productivity, service failure, corruption, etc. The overall outcome of this has been linked to poor service delivery.

It is believed that the successful implementation of the Rewards and Recognition System, will birth strategic outcomes such as a well-motivated, disciplined, skilled and accountable Civil Service leading to improved staff morale, efficient service delivery, improved productivity, and good governance. It is also expected that the
R&RS will play a fundamental role in accelerating the implementation of the 2017-2020 Strategic and  implementation Plan of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) by linking incentives and rewards to performance.

The R&RS Proposal establishes three categories of Awards, namely Service-wide Awards and Recognition, MDA Awards, and Departmental Awards. It has a total of eleven (11) Awards and two (2) Recognition. The Proposal has been presented to the Meeting of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, and the Body of Federal Permanent Secretaries with various inputs made. It has also been presented at a Stakeholders Engagement Forum comprising Directors of Human Resources (HR) across MDAs, Labour Leaders and other Stakeholders. The Validation of the proposal by the stakeholders is scheduled to hold later this month.

Since the publishing of the maiden edition of the Newsletter last month, the Service Welfare Office has continued to fashion out ways of improving the Welfare of Civil Servants. Within this period, it held a Retreat of the Management Staff to develop a 3-year Strategic Plan for the Office, as well as Technical Meetings with key Stakeholders on the Prototype House Design for the Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) Programme; a flagship programme of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

There was also the Permanent Secretary’s Quarterly Forum with Labour Leaders in MDAs held in the month of April. During the occasion, the Service Welfare Newsletter and the Online Helpdesk were formally presented to the Public. The Newsletter is already gaining some traction across all MDAs with positive reactions from Civil Servants. I must place on record, that all the aforementioned programmes would not have been possible without the visionary leadership of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita, FCA, NPoM, and her commitment to ensuring the Institutionalization of various welfare packages for Civil Servants.

Please join me this month as we explore the world of rewards and recognition in the Federal Civil Service. Feel free to make your comments through our feedback handles.

Mrs. Didi Walson-Jack, mni
Editor-in-Chief
&
Permanent Secretary,
Service Welfare Office.
Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation