Story by Peter Chivhima
IN a bid to promote fairness and equity in the healthcare sector, the government has embarked on a comprehensive job grading system.
Stakeholders from the healthcare sector gathered in Gweru, Midlands Province this Monday to launch the two-week programme, which aims to upgrade professionals within the sector while addressing their concerns.
The initiative follows last year’s successful job evaluation exercise and seeks to create a grading structure that reflects the unique needs of different professions.
“We are now at an advanced stage of doing job grading so that we are able to see how we can equitably put all our employees in different categories of their responsibilities at work. As is captured in the job description exercise that took place last year, the Health Service Commission was left out initially in the whole sector which undertook a job evaluation for the rest of civil service,” Secretary for the Health Service Commission, Dr Christopher Pasi said.
“Our goal is to create a grading structure that is fair, equitable and reflects the unique needs of different professions. We expect the job grading system to result in a grading structure that is fair and equitable, allowing our employees to identify with their job roles and feel that their contributions are valued. A satisfied employee is more productive and motivated. One of the demotivators in the sector is the grading structure. However, once employees perceive that the grading system is fair and correct, it should motivate them to perform better,” HSC’s General Manager for Conditions of Service and Industrial Relations, Mr Michael Sande said.
The stakeholders agreed on the importance of job grading in the healthcare sector.
“Job evaluation is the foundation, the beginning, the keystone of organisation development. If they have studied the job evaluation, to me it means that they are going to take the full steps to improve the government systems, from some of them are now antiquated, to improve them, to come to these management principles,” a consultant, Mrs Flavia Muyambo said.
The new job grading system is expected to influence employee motivation and contribute to building a healthy nation.
It also aims to achieve better health outcomes in all areas and for all populations.
