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The Ministry of Health and Social Development summed up the results of the first year of the wage system reform

Officials from the Ministry of Health and Social Development, who oversee the reform of the wage system for federal public sector employees, which started on December 1, 2008, reported on the first successes. Over the nine months of 2009, the average salary of a public sector employee in Russia increased by 18%, reaching 25,311 rubles. Deputy Head of the Ministry of Health and Social Development Alexander Safonov announced this yesterday. The deputy minister recalled that the reform, aimed at abandoning the Soviet equalization in the wage system, initially concerned exclusively federal budgetary institutions. But to date, the program, according to the official, has already been supported by 75 regions, extending it to their state employees. But if officials are satisfied with the progress of the reform, then, according to independent trade unions, it is too early to talk about success, at least until the bonus ceases to be a significant part of the salary of a Russian public sector employee.

According to Alexander Safonov, the main disadvantages of the old wage system, based on a unified tariff schedule (UTS), in which “institutions were given estimates for staffing schedules that were not agreed with the ministries,” were that it carried out only distribution functions. “This approach did not allow the manager to respond to the need for resources associated with changes in staffing, reduction and optimization of the number of management structures,” says Mr. Safonov. These shortcomings, in his opinion, could be corrected only if the powers of the leadership of institutions and organizations were expanded. “The manager was given the authority to independently establish the staffing table and determine the structure of those workers whom he attracts to carry out statutory tasks,” the official explained what was done over the past year.

As a result, according to Alexander Safonov, without any special instructions from above, budgetary institutions managed to achieve a significant optimization of the number of staff members. “The total number of public sector employees was 2 million 302 thousand people. Today, the number of workers has decreased to 2 million 49 thousand people,” the official cited the figures. However, the optimization, as Mr. Safonov claims, did not affect vital vacancies, but “empty units in the staffing table” or positions of deputy managers, the number of which decreased from 86 to 23 thousand in nine months.

As for the salaries of managers, according to the deputy minister, now its amount and growth dynamics will directly depend on the level of income of the organization’s key personnel. “We encouraged the manager to think about how much his people earn, so that a situation would not arise where the manager, endowed with broad powers, spent the entire wage fund on himself and his deputies,” explained the essence of the innovations of the deputy minister. In order to avoid such excesses, it was decided to “exclude the management team from the wage fund and include only those specialists who provide services.” “That is, at a university, the rector needs to think about how much his teaching staff receives,” the official gave an example.

Speaking about the structure of wages and the ratio of its bonus and basic parts, the deputy minister noted that the ideal to which his department will move is “70% of the basic rate for 30% of the bonus.” “But in order to increase salaries, it is necessary to remove unnecessary functions and unreasonable compensation payments,” the official emphasized, once again recalling that the ideal is still unattainable. Meanwhile, Alexander Safonov made it clear that there is no need to be afraid of a reduction in compensation payments to public sector employees. “The compensation part cannot be absent, because it is determined by labor legislation. Inflation is not inflation - the law is above all, we are obliged to pay,” the official noted.

However, as long as the bonus part still remains significant in the earnings of a Russian public sector employee, it is impossible to talk about a radical change in the situation, Sergei Khramov, general labor inspector of the Sotsprof trade union, said in an interview with a Vremya Novostei correspondent. “A very large share of the wage fund is also under the control of the manager, and extra-budgetary revenues are under his absolute control,” says the trade union leader. “That is, money is distributed, for example, by the head physician or school director at his own discretion and often without the slightest agreement with the staff.” According to Mr. Khramov, this “leads to abuse and tension in teams.” “In addition, we are aware of cases of kickbacks. With an average salary in a hospital of 5-7 thousand rubles. the chief accountant receives a bonus of 50 thousand and, naturally, shares it with his superiors,” says a trade union representative.

A significant drawback of the reform, according to Mr. Khramov, is also the actual abolition of the institution of qualifications, which existed in the form of UTS categories. “The step between categories has become so small that the incentive for doctors and teachers to improve their qualifications has disappeared. A new employee is told that he will have a salary of 10 thousand rubles, but every month, for good work, he will receive the same amount. As a result, the boss can always withhold half of the employee’s salary without the right to appeal such deduction, because deboning, which is nothing more than a fine, is not a penalty under the Labor Code,” Sergei Khramov is indignant, emphasizing that “the bonus usually does not depend on the quality of work, but on the degree of loyalty to management.”

Vyacheslav KOZLOV