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Public Service Act, 1994 (Act No. 103 of 1994)

Regulations

Public Service Regulations, 2016

Chapter 4 : Employment Matters

Part 5 : Performance Management

72. Performance agreements and assessments

 

(1) An employee shall enter into a performance agreement or an agreement of similar nature within three calendar months of his or her date of appointment and thereafter within two calendar months of the beginning of each financial year. This agreement may be reviewed from time to time.

[Regulation 72(1) substituted by section 33(a) of the Public Service Amendment Regulations, 2023, Notice No. R. 3971, GG49517, dated 20 October 2023 - effective 1 November 2023]

 

(2) If, during the performance cycle, an employee is appointed, seconded or transferred to another post or position at the same salary level, a new performance agreement or agreement of a similar nature shall be entered into for the new post or position and the performance assessment shall take both periods of work in the cycle into consideration.

 

(3) A performance agreement or an agreement of a similar nature shall include at least the following:
(a) a personnel number, job title, post grade as well as a clear description of the main objectives of the employee's job and the relevant outputs or key responsibility areas and competency requirements;
(b) a workplan containing the outputs, activities and resource requirements; and
(c) a personal development plan that identifies the employee's competency and developmental needs in terms of the inherent requirements of the job as well as methods to improve these.

 

(4) If both the employee and his or her supervisor do not sign the performance agreement or an agreement of similar nature due to a dispute relating to the content of the agreement, a person shall be appointed within one month after the expiry of the period stipulated in subregulation (1), to consider the dispute. Such person shall be appointed in the following manner:
(a) in the case of a dispute involving a head of a national department, the appointment shall be made by the President, provided that the person so appointed, shall be an executive authority, a Deputy Minister or an employee who is a member of the SMS;
(b) in the case of a dispute involving a head of the Office of the Premier or a provincial department, the appointment shall be made by the relevant Premier, provided that the person so appointed, shall be an executive authority, a Deputy Minister or an employee who is a member of the SMS; and
(c) in the case of other employees, the appointment shall be made by the relevant executive authority, provided that the person so appointed, shall be an employee.

 

(5) The person appointed to consider the dispute in terms of subregulation (4) shall within one month of his or her appointment consider the dispute and recommend a performance agreement or an agreement of similar nature to be signed, in the case of a head of department, to the President, Premier or executive authority, as the case may be, and in the case of other employees to the head of department.

 

(6) The relevant employee and his or her supervisor shall sign the performance agreement or an agreement of similar nature, as recommended in subregulation (5), within two weeks of receipt thereof, failing which the agreement shall be deemed to have been signed from the date of the recommendation.

 

(7) No employee shall qualify for performance rewards as contemplated in regulation 73(1), including pay progression, if he or she has not signed a performance agreement or an agreement of similar nature within the period contemplated in subregulation (1).

 

(8) The supervisor and the employee shall ensure that annual performance assessments are finalised by 31 July of the financial year following the year of the assessment.

 

(9) The head of department shall ensure that the outcomes of the annual performance assessments are implemented by 31 December of the financial year following the year of the assessment.

 

(10) An employee who is appointed to act in a higher position or seconded for three months or longer, must amend the relevant parts as contemplated in subregulation (3) of her or his performance agreement or agreement of similar nature to include the new roles and responsibilities.

 

(11) If an employee, who is not a member of the SMS, is appointed to act in an SMS post for a period longer than three months, he or she must amend his or her performance agreement or workplan to include the new roles and responsibilities. In this instance the performance agreement and workplan shall be developed and managed in terms of the departmental performance management system for non-SMS employees.

 

(12) If an employee is absent with permission for a continuous period of three months or longer, the affected employee shall be regarded as having performed fully effective as contemplated in regulation 71(5)(c) for that period of absence within the performance cycle.

[Regulation 72(12) substituted by section 33(b) of the Public Service Amendment Regulations, 2023, Notice No. R. 3971, GG49517, dated 20 October 2023 - effective 1 November 2023]

 

(13) An employee must be assessed by his or her supervisor for each performance cycle.

 

(14) An executive authority shall inform the employee of the outcome of his or her performance assessment.

 

(15) Based on the outcome of the performance assessment an executive authority—
(a) may reward performance in terms of regulation 73;
(b) may, where appropriate, provide training and development for employees;
(c) shall manage poor performance.