(2018) Final Completion Report USAID/HAITI HICD SUPPORT TO SONAPI

i Final Completion Report AID OAA-1-13-000511/AID-521-TO-17-00001 Submitted January 26, 2018 International Business & Technical Consultants, Inc. 8618 Westwood Center Drive, #400 Vienna, VA 22182 Contact: James C. Martin jmartin@ibtci.com DISCLAIMER This Deliverable was prepared by International Business & Technical Consultants, Inc. (IBTCI) for review by the United States Agency for International Development. The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. Cover Photo: Balanced Score Card Training Workshop USAID/HAITI HICD SUPPORT TO SONAPI ii Table of Contents ACRONYMS ......................................................................................................................................... iii I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................. 1 II. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 3 III. FINDINGS ........................................................................................................................................ 4 IV. ACHIEVEMENTS ............................................................................................................................ 6 A. Performance Solutions Package (PSP)................................................................................................. 6 B. Balanced Score Card (BSC) ................................................................................................................ 8 C. Technical Assistance for PSP Implementation .................................................................................. 9 V. RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................................. 10 VI. ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN SINCE NOVEMBER PROGRESS REPORT ................................. 11 A. Microsoft Project Training ................................................................................................................ 12 B. Review of SONAPI HR Policies and Procedures Manual .................................................................. 13 C. Out-Briefing for SONAPI and USAID .............................................................................................. 14 VII. LESSONS LEARNED ................................................................................................................... 14 ANNEX A: Table of Deliverables ......................................................................................................... 16 ANNEX B: Progress Against Performance Indicators (Indicator Performance Tracking Table) .............. 17 ANNEX C: Funds Obligated and Disbursed .......................................................................................... 20 ANNEX D: Microsoft Project Training Background Materials............................................................... 21 ANNEX E: Human Resources Policies and Procedures.......................................................................... 33 iii ACRONYMS BPR Business Process Reengineering BSC DG COR ERP GOH HICD Balanced Score Card Director General Contracting Officer’s Representative Enterprise Resource Planning Government of Haiti Human and Institutional Capacity Development HR HTG IBTCI Human Resources Haitian Gourdes International Business & Technical Consultants, Inc. IT KPI KSA MOU M&E Information Technology Key Performance Indicators Knowledge, Skills, Abilities Memorandum of Understanding Monitoring and Evaluation PIC Parc Industriel de Caracol PIM Parc Industriel de Métropolitain PSP Performance Solutions Package SONAPI Société National des Parcs Industriels USAID United States Agency for International Development 1 I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/ Haiti contracted International Business and Technical Consultants, Inc. (IBTCI), under the terms of USAID’s HICD Pro IDIQ # AID-OAA-1-13-000511 and Task Order (T.O.) AID-521-TO-17-00001, to perform a Human and Institutional Capacity (HICD) assessment of Haiti’s Société National des Parcs Industriels (SONAPI). SONAPI is the government-owned regulator and manager of two industrial parks: Parc Industriel de Métropolitain (PIM, located in Port au Prince) and Parc Industriel de Caracol (PIC, located on Haiti’s north coast). The initial period of performance for the contract was from May 1-November 17, 2017, and was subsequently extended by USAID/Haiti until January 5, 2018. PURPOSE AND METHODOLOGY As part of the contract, IBTCI was to perform an HICD assessment of SONAPI, then (together with SONAPI) produce a Performance Solutions Package (PSP) identifying steps to address the performance gaps identified in the assessment. Following that, IBTCI was to support SONAPI in developing a Balanced Score Card (BSC) to track its progress in implementing the recommended measures in the PSP and, to the extent possible, provide limited technical assistance to help begin implementation of some of those measures. Director General Introduction to the Risk Management Training FINDINGS The assessment team’s Final Assessment Report detailed human and institutional performance gaps ranging from issues as fundamental as a lack of vison regarding what SONAPI seeks to achieve as an organization to as (seemingly) mundane as procedures for hiring and firing employees. SONAPI lacks coherent mission and vision statements, strategic planning 2 documents to support such a vision, and an organizational structure that would efficiently support such a vision. The organization is so overcentralized that decisions on spending as little as $70 must be made by the Director General (DG). It lacks properly written down procedures and policies covering almost its entire range of activities, from Finance and Accounting, to Human Resources (HR), to Tenant Services. HR weaknesses were particularly troubling. There is a dearth of procedures for hiring and firing, promotions, and training; many employees are on annual contracts that make building a professional staff difficult; and SONAPI employees provide services, such as cleaning and transport, which are not part of its core mission. SONAPI has poor communication both internally (to its employees) and externally (to business tenants and potential tenants) and is not organized in a way conducive to proving quality service to its tenants. At SONAPI’s request, the team also provided a paper organogram with recommendations on how SONAPI could reorganize itself for more efficient performance. ACHIEVEMENTS After completing the Assessment Report, the team worked together with SONAPI to develop the Performance Solutions Package (PSP), containing a total of 47 recommendations for addressing the performance gaps identified in the Assessment, including both organization- wide, cross-cutting solutions and solutions in each of 11 function/office-specific areas. Among the key recommendations were that SONAPI do a Business Process Reengineering (BPR) for its core business process and key support services to help determine how to organize itself to perform more efficiently; write and fully implement detailed policies and procedures across the organization’s functions; decentralize management procedures in general, and of PIC in particular; consider out-sourcing some services; empower a highly qualified HR professional to bring its HR processes up to international standards; and create a business unit to improve service to tenants and attract new business. SONAPI then developed a Balanced Score Card (BSC), with support from the assessment team, to detail and track its progress against the individual steps needed to implement each of the recommendations in the PSP. The assessment team provided a three-day training to SONAPI staff on how to produce such a Score Card, and then supported the dedicated SONAPI task that developed the Score card, which eventually contained 117 separate steps required to implement its recommendations. To help SONAPI track its performance on the Score Card and as a performance tool in general, IBTCI funded training on “Microsoft Project” software for a core team of SONAPI professionals and is purchasing the software for SONAPI’s use. As part of its support for implementation of the PSP recommendations, and in addition to the steps mentioned above, the assessment team also provided training to relevant SONAPI staff on risk management, and provided an analysis of and recommendations for SONAPI’s HR procedures manual. CHALLENGES 3 The assessment team faced challenges throughout the project. The original three key personnel dropped out and had to be replaced. SONAPI’s commitment to the process was questionable: the team experienced significant delays in access to SONAPI senior management and information (such as SONAPI procedures manuals). SONAPI senior management was also very slow in providing input to/approving the Assessment Report, PSP, and BSC. RECOMMENDATIONS The Assessment Team strongly recommends that USAID condition future support for SONAPI on seeing clear evidence of SONAPI’s commitment to reform, as evidenced by the organization moving forward unilaterally on several of the steps outlined in the BSC and PSP. Illustrative steps could include new Mission and Vison Statements; creating a new business unit and interactive website for tenant communications; collecting outstanding rent due from tenants; beginning implementation of a decentralization strategy; conducting a cost-benefit analysis for out-sourcing services; and creating/implementing a strategy for converting one-year employee hiring contracts to permanent ones. Should SONAPI demonstrate such commitment, possible areas for donor support to SONAPI include BPR; training for Accounting, Audit, Business Unit, and HR staff; Enterprise Resource Planning software (for integrated IT operations across SONAPI); and writing a complete HR policies and procedures manual. ACTIVITIES SINCE LAST MONTHLY REPORT Since the last monthly report (November 22, 2017), the team: a) organized a training session on Microsoft Project software to help SONAPI in performance management; b) reviewed and provided advice on HR policies and procedures contained in the SONAPI policies/procedures manual; and c) provided out-briefings on the Assessment’s findings, conclusions, and recommendations to SONAPI (December 14, 2017) and USAID December 15,2017) LESSONS LEARNED As mentioned above under “Challenges”, access and SONAPI commitment were issues, as was the lack of a SONAPI permanent staff POC for the team. More time for team and SONAPI reflection (and SONAPI internal consultations) between the stages might have been helpful. The importance of having clear commitments up front (for example, through a Memorandum of Understanding [MOU] outlining what is expected from both sides in an HICD assessment, and assign a full-time empowered employee to support the assessment) is the most important lesson learned the team can offer. The team also suggests that the Assessment, PSP, and technical assistance stages should generally play out over a longer period of time, and perhaps be undertaken by different groups. II. INTRODUCTION The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/ Haiti contracted International Business and Technical Consultants, Inc. (IBTCI), under the terms of USAID’s HICD Pro IDIQ # AID-OAA-1-13-000511 and Task Order (T.O.) AID-521-TO-17-00001, to perform a Human and 4 Institutional Capacity (HICD) assessment of Haiti’s Société National des Parcs Industriels (SONAPI). SONAPI, owned by the Government of Haiti (GOH), is the regulator and manager of two industrial parks: Parc Industriel de Métropolitain (PIM, located in Port au Prince) and Parc Industriel de Caracol (PIC, located on Haiti’s north coast). This is a fixed price contract with a total value of $499, 862.19 and payment against four deliverables: a) M&E Plan/Work Plan; b) Final Assessment Report/Performance Solutions Package; c) Balanced Score Card; and d) Final Completion Report. The initial period of performance was from May 1-November 17, 2017, and was subsequently extended by USAID/Haiti until January 5, 2018. PURPOSE AND METHODOLOGY As part of the contract, an IBTCI assessment team (team) was to perform an HICD assessment of SONAPI, utilizing the process set out in USAID’s HICD Handbook, and produced a written report setting out the finding of the assessment. Following completion of the report, the team was to work together with a small SONAPI task force to produce a Performance Solutions Package (PSP) identifying steps to address the performance gaps identified in the assessment. Based on the recommendations in the PSP, the team then would support SONAPI in developing a Balanced Score Card to track its progress in implementing the recommended measures in the PSP and, to the extent possible, help in initial implementation of some of those measures. (NOTE: the activity was NOT viewed as a full-blown technical assistance activity). In accordance with the terms of the T.O. this Final Completion Report presents:  Findings (The Final Assessment Report)  Achievements, including: o Performance Solutions Package o Balanced Score Card o Technical Assistance  Recommendations on Future Assistance; and  Lessons Learned. As the Assessment Report and PSP are comprehensive documents in their own right, this report presents them in telegraph style. The “Recommendations” and “Lessons Learned” sections include more detail. This report also serves as the final monthly report for the activity, and as such includes detail on activities undertaken since November 22, 2017. III. FINDINGS KEY PERFORMANCE GAPS IDENTIFIED During the initial assessment of SONAPI’s performance, undertaken in June-July 2017, the IBTCI team met with SONAPI senior management (including the DG, but unfortunately only one member of the Board of Directors) and with SONAPI department directors and staff in ten functional areas, conducted two focus group discussions, and visited each of the two industrial parks (meeting with tenants in both). Please note that the findings shown below represent the state 5 of affairs as of the conducting of the assessment; changes since that time are reflected, to the extent possible, in the version of the Balanced Score Card included with this report. Key Findings of the Assessment include, but are not limited to: Institutional Level: Critical Gaps  Mission/Vision not differentiated, do not express strategic future growth objectives of SONAPI (DG expressed to the team a new vision, but it has not been formalized or approved);  Lack of strategic planning at all levels, resulting largely from lack of clear vision, mission and strategies;  Current organizational structure is not optimal; nor does it match that shown in SONAPI’s organigram o At DG’s request, the team provided an informal recommendation on a revised structure, including a draft organigram;  Lack of good international governance policies & practices;  Inactive Board of Directors (sometimes meets the requirement to meet 4 times per year, but not at regular, predictable intervals; few directors play active role);  Overcentralized decision-making makes SONAPI less efficient/effective o Even most mundane issues pushed to top for decisions o (for example, financial transactions exceeding $US 70 (approximately 4,500 HAITIAN Gourdes, or HTG) must be approved by DG; PIC requests for payments are sent to SONAPI HQ for approval/check signing);  Investment/capital improvement budget is very low as percentage of total budget;  Standardized policies and procedures are unavailable and/or unenforced (throughout the assessment, SONAPI said it had such procedures, but could not share them). Lack of such procedures leads to: o Lack of controls/responsibility/accountability on part of staff at all levels o Decreased overall effectiveness o Greater business risk, decreased growth potential and sustainability;  Lack of modern management tools (hardware/software) harms productivity;  Lack of both internal (to staff) and external (to existing and potential customers) communications policy and systems o Culture is one of information hoarding rather than information sharing;  Lack of defined and measurable service standards, leading to poor service delivery and tenant dissatisfaction;  High level of tenant rent arrears; and Frequent turnover of DGs, who traditionally have had political rather than a business backgrounds, exacerbates almost all of the problems cited above. Human (Individual) Level: Critical Gaps  The HR Department is particularly weak; HR plays merely an administrative/clerical role, rather than a strategic one;  Lack of HR policies & procedures 6 o Only four developed by end of November 2017; lacked substance and detail o This weakens HR performance controls; contributes to increased operational risks;  Job specifications lack Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) o No career paths o No way to ensure qualified individuals in positions o Actual qualifications vary widely across departments, many un/underqualified staff o (For example, even two weeks after our request, HR was unable to provide more than the most basic info about staff academic and professional qualifications);  No promulgated training policy or plan o Training budget is non-transparent and controlled by DG’s office  Insufficient and non-transparent systems for communication with staff, tenants, and potential customers IV. ACHIEVEMENTS A. Performance Solutions Package (PSP) Following completion of the Assessment report, the team worked together with a small core group of self-selected SONAPI staffs to develop a PSP to address the performance gaps (and their related causes) identified in the assessment. This was a critical step in transitioning “ownership” of the reform process from the team to SONAPI. The PSP included both high-level/cross-cutting “solutions” as well as solutions specific to each of ten separate functions (generally but not always equating to specific SONAPI departments) and one department the task force recommended be created (a business office to interact with SONAPI tenants and work on business development). They were ranked by both priority (high, medium or low) and timeframe (short-, medium- or long- term). SONAPI senior management approved the PSP with few or no changes to the draft. The team believes that SONAPI management appreciates the magnitude of the performance gaps identified and the related solutions. Equally, the team believes that SONAPI management is aware that implementing these solutions is critical to improving performance and achieving sustainable growth. Critical priorities outlined in the PSP included: 1. Write, approve, and implement new Vision, Mission & Strategy statements; 2. Conduct Business Process Reengineering (BPR) for core business processes & key support processes; 3. Write & fully implement detailed policies & procedures; 4. Restructure SONAPI (purpose-built organizational structure) per BPR results; 5. Decentralize PIC (per BPR & restructured organization); 6. Conduct cost-benefit analysis for outsourcing activities & outsource as per findings; 7. Strengthen new Internal Audit team/procedures; 8. Automate remaining accounting operations (budget management & monitoring payroll); 9. Establish a Business Unit (to do market research & manage tenant relations); and 10. Formulate and implement strategy to recover large tenant rent arrears. 7 The tables below show proposed solutions by high-level/cross-cutting themes as well as specific functions/areas. a. High-Level and Cross-Cutting Solutions Proposed Implementation Time AREAS Number of Proposed Solutions Short-Term Solutions Medium-Term Solutions Long-Term Solutions Vision, Mission, Values 3 3 - - Strategies 3 2 1 - Board of Directors 3 - 1 2 Policies and Procedures 1 1 - - Total 10 6 2 2 b. Function and Office Specific Solutions Proposed Implementation Timeline AREAS Number of Proposed Solutions Short-Term Solutions Medium-Term Solutions Long-Term Solutions 1. Finance and Accounting 5 3 2 - 2. Human Resources 7 4 - 3 3. Procurement 1 - - 1 4. Assets Management 4 3 - 1 5. Information Technology 3 1 2 - 6. Logistics 3 - 3 - 7. Engineering 3 1 1 1 8. Communication 1 1 - - 9. Legal Affairs 2 - 2 - 8 10. Internal Audit 3 1 2 - 11. Tenants 5 1 4 - Total 37 15 16 6 B. Balanced Score Card (BSC) The contract required the team to support SONAPI in designing a BSC to track its progress in implementing the solutions identified in the PSP. Having the team in a supporting rather than lead role in this process was a further step in transitioning ownership of the process to SONAPI. The process of developing the BSC began with a workshop designed to introduce 20 selected SONAPI staff (only 14 actually attended) to the BSC concept. The objective of the workshop was to ensure SONAPI staff understand the relevance of the BSC as a performance monitoring tool - both for the PSP and as a broader strategic planning and management tool - and to build capacity to prepare and to use the BSC for those purposes. Of the 14 staff trained, five volunteered for the task force to work on preparing the BSC with IBTCI support. The task force then reviewed the PSP to ensure its members had a common understanding of the solutions proposed, the corresponding objectives/outcomes, and the required activities to implement the recommendations. The final step in the process involved building the BSC in an Excel Spreadsheet, taking each Performance Solution in the PSP and breaking it down into the individual actions needed to accomplish it, along with an indication of the priority and timeframe (both from the PSP, but with the timeframe further broken out by the individual steps). The task force identified 117 discrete steps that SONAPI must undertake to implement the performance solutions in the Score Card. To assist SONAPI in tracking progress against the Score Card, and as a performance management tool in general, IBTCI funded a third-party training of five SONAPI staff on “Microsoft Project” software, and is in the process of purchasing the software for SONAPI to use going forward. The expectation is that SONAPI will load the Score Card onto Microsoft Project, which provides robust applications for performance monitoring. Further details on this training are contained in section VI of this report. 9 Microsoft Project Training Following completion of the Balanced Score Card, the team submitted the document to SONAPI management for review and approval. The only concerns expressed by management were about several of the implementation dates/timelines. The exact dates and timelines may have been over- ambitious projections by our SONAPI colleagues and are not critical. However, it is important that tasks in individual functions be completed sequentially – that short-term tasks (for example, in accounting) be accomplished before moving to the mid- and long-term tasks in the same areas. C. Technical Assistance for PSP Implementation As noted in the introduction, this assessment was not intended to be a full-blown technical assistance activity. Given the magnitude of the SONAPI reforms needed and the limited timeframe of this activity, it was understood that the IBTCI team would offer only limited, short-term technical assistance support. In addition to the training workshop on the Balanced Score Card (which is not considered part of the technical assistance for implementation, IBTCI offered the following technical assistance, based on requests from SONAPI: 1. Risk Management Training: SONAPI management wanted this training be provided to the overall management team (PIM and PIC) in addition to the four staff from the Audit Department. The three-day training workshop involved 17 staff. The training covered the following items: a. Risk management concept, the importance of controlling risks for organizational achievement; b. The risk-based audit concept; c. Identifying, measuring & mitigating risk; and d. Planning audit missions by risk level. 2. MS Project Training (3 days/5 participants) a. As noted under the Balanced Score section, intended to track Score Card progress and other SONAPI projects. 3. Review of HR policies & procedures manual to create a more effective and efficient HR Function within SONAPI. 10 Risk Management Training Workshop More details on #2-3 are contained in section IV of this report covering activities since the last progress report in November. SONAPI also requested IBTCI support in reviewing its current accounting software procedures, and making recommendations concerning software upgrades. IBTCI discussed this potential assistance with a Haitian consulting firm, but in the end SONAPI was unable to come up with a clear description of what assistance it desired, so this assistance did not take place. V. RECOMMENDATIONS A challenging environment requires a challenge to SONAPI: Although SONAPI staff at the working level were supportive of the team and engagement at all levels at SONAPI improved over time, the degree to which SONAPI was truly committed to the HICD process was a question mark throughout the activity. The team experienced lengthy delays in obtaining an initial meeting with the DG, as well as in feedback from SONAPI on the different outputs (e.g., Assessment Report, PSP, BSC) of the activity. The team often received incomplete or even contradictory information about policies and procedures (such as the existence or a procedures manual or lack thereof). Senior management claimed at the team’s out-briefing for SONAPI on December 14 that it had already implemented many of the recommendations of the PSP, including an interactive website for communication with tenants, improved internet connectivity, policies/procedures manuals, and rent recoveries. However, the evidence for those assertions is unclear. In one case – procedures – the team’s review of existing HR procedures showed them to be woefully limited in extent. Accordingly, IBTCI recommends that USAID NOT consider further assistance unless and until SONAPI can demonstrate it has taken ownership of the reform process – specifically, that it is undertaking concrete steps towards implementing some of the PSP recommendations on its own. Below is an illustrative list of steps the team suggests would show evidence of such resolve. These are not the only potential ways for SONAPI to show its commitment, nor does IBTCI recommend a specific number or percentage of PSP solutions implemented to demonstrate that commitment – 11 but the burden of proof lies with SONAPI to prove that commitment. Many of the suggested steps require little or no financial commitment or outside support. Potential steps to demonstrate commitment to change:  Announce/publicize new Mission and Vision Statements  Create a 2-3 year business growth strategic plan  Implement decentralization strategy for both HQ and PIC  Create & implement Business Development Unit  Create inter-active website for improved SONAPI-tenant communication  Create & begin carrying out strategy for collecting all outstanding rent due NLT Q1/2018  Do cost-benefit analysis for out-sourcing services, implement in 2018 per findings Draft strategy to convert 1-year contracts to permanent ones; begin in Q2/2018 Should SONAPI demonstrate its commitment to reform by undertaking steps above, or other steps demonstrating sufficient seriousness, there are several areas outlined in the PSP and Score Card where USAID or other donors could provide support in helping SONAPI restructure itself. Below is yet another illustrative, non-exclusive list of potential areas for donor support once SONAPI has developed commitment: Potential areas for donor support to SONAPI:  Support in carrying out Business Process Reengineering (BPR)  Training for Accounting, Audit, Business Unit & HR staff  Drafting new laws for SONAPI and a one-stop investment shop  Support for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software platform (to link multiple on- line processes, such as accounting, payroll, HR, etc)  Support for writing a complete HR policy & procedures manual and/or empowering a highly trained HR expert to help SONAPI completely overhaul its HR processes VI. ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN SINCE NOVEMBER PROGRESS REPORT This report also serves as the final progress report for the SONAPI HICD activity, covering activities undertaken from November 22 (the date of the last progress report) onwards. Since that time, IBTCI has:  Resubmitted and obtained USAID approval on the Final Assessment Report and PSP;  Submitted and obtained USAID approval on the Balanced Score Card;  Conducted Microsoft Project training (more details below);  Reviewed and made recommendations on SONAPI HR policies and procedures (details below); and  Provided final out-briefings on the Haiti SONAPI activity for SONAPI (December 14) and USAID (December 15). SONAPI Deputy Team Leader Jonathan Elliot Smith and IBTCI home office Project Director for SONAPI James Martin conducted the briefings. 12 IBTCI has also procured five versions of Microsoft Project software for use by SONAPI. Initial users will probably be the five individuals who attended the training, but one participant (from the IT department) expressed confidence that he could train others to use it. Ideally at least one version will be on a computer that several people can access. IBTCI also had discussions with a Haitian consulting firm about providing short-term technical assistance to SONAPI on how to upgrade its accounting software and related processes, but these discussions took longer than expected, and SONAPI was unable to provide clear guidance on the assistance desired. As a result, this potential support activity will not be undertaken. A. Microsoft Project Training As noted above and in the “Balanced Score Card” section, IBTCI funded training for SONAPI staff on “Microsoft Project software to improve SONAPI’s performance management ability of the Score Card and other issues. The training took place December 6-8, 2017, and was conducted by the local consulting firm, Center for Support and Training in Management (CAFEM) located in Delmas 75, Rue Casagnol prolonge, No.3. Six SONAPI staff were scheduled for training, but only five attended: four from PIM and one from PIC.  PIM participants: Ms. Sandy Gedeon Engineer, Administrative Director; Lareche Garah Webster, Financial Director; Rony Toussaint, Economist; Valcout Medgine, Secretary attached to the General Management for PIM in Port au Prince  PIC participant: Mr. Smith Jean, Engineer, Deputy Director for PIC. Course content and program: Day 1  Introduction of planning steps  Setting up Microsoft Project and creating the project file  Inserting tasks and other inputs  Allocation of resource  Tracking activities, costs and time analysis  Case study Day 2  Review and summary of previous day  Inserting of new tasks  Scheduling and analyzing time spent on project  Designing responsibility chart/ Gantt chart  Establishment of monitoring system  Tracking costs and measure performance  Analysis the gaps  Producing and editing reports 13 Day 3  Case study (select a Balanced Score Card project recommendation and develop it as a project, using MS Project  Tracking task, schedule, budget tracking, and cost analysis  Reporting and formatting of the report. Participants completed an end-of-training evaluation. On a satisfaction scale of 5, the group satisfaction rating was 4. Participants confidently stated that they had been taught well in MS Project software and feel fully capable of using it for work purposes. Rony Toussaint, the Economist, said MS Project will bring a lot of added value for SONAPI and that he would be able to replicate the training inside SONAPI, so that more staff and management employees can learn and use MS Project. (Note: SONAPI presumably would need to buy additional copies of MS Project for this to occur. Further details about this training are contained in Annex D. CAFEM provided detailed take-away MS Project manuals for all participants. USAID Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) Christine Musset visited the training session on December 8. B. Review of SONAPI HR Policies and Procedures Manual SONAPI requested that IBTCI 1) review the current SONAPI HR policies and procedures documents contained in the SONAPI Manuel de Procédures, dated 23 November 2017, reference SONAPI memorandum DA-025/EX18-19; and 2) help develop HR procedures to the extent possible in the two-week timeframe for which the IBTCI consultant (the SONAPI Deputy Team Leader) was available. Once in-country, SONAPI specified it wanted the consultant to concentrate on analyzing the four HR procedures in the manual, which constitute 13 pages of the larger SONAPI manual, and which cover 1) applicant background check; 2) new employee orientation; 3) employee performance evaluation; and 4) leave. The analysis and full report (¨Essential Employee Handbook Guideline¨) was undertaken December 1-10, 2017, and is attached as Annex E. The detailed review and analysis of the HR section of the SONAPI manual revealed that the SONAPI HR policies statements too frequently are, or include, statements of procedure rather than policy It also revealed that the HR policies and procedures texts, and even the few flow charts in the HR section, seriously lack detail. Given these findings, the report concentrated on the following discussions and explanations:  Comparisons between some existing parts of the SONAPI HR manual and examples of good practice texts on the same HR themes.  Samples of cross-functional (“swimlane”) flow diagram, which allows one to appreciate that the SONAPI flow diagrams still need substantial work, and which illustrate why we recommend that SONAPI develop cross-functional flow diagrams, with substantially more detail than they have in the current Manuel de Procédures. 14  A detailed write-up of an array of RSTP (recruitment, selection, transfer and promotion) policies, as an example of the detail that should exist in a good international practice employee handbook. A brief review of the rest of the SONAPI policies and procedures manual revealed that the document generally requires the same kinds of detailed work to be done for the HR section in order to bring the manual up to reasonable good international practice standards. C. Out-Briefing for SONAPI and USAID The Deputy Team Leader and IBTCI Project Director conducted an out-briefing for SONAPI staff, including the Director General, and with attendance from the USAID COR, on December 14, 2014. Attendees expressed appreciation for the team’s findings and recommendations, but insisted that the recommendations were already outdated, as many of them had been accomplished already (see discussion under Section V above). The same individuals conducted an out-briefing for USAID staff on December 15.This briefing covered much of the same ground, but with a sharper focus on the need for SONAPI to show more commitment to reform before additional assistance is considered. VII. LESSONS LEARNED IBTCI understands this was USAID/Haiti’s first experience with an HICD activity. Some lessons the assessment team took away from the process that might be useful for USAID Haiti and beyond include: Commitment up-front is critical: The team had substantial difficulties at the outset obtaining access to key SONAPI interlocutors and documents. SONAPI’s slow response at various stages in the process (e.g., review of assessment report, PSP, BSC), and turs HICD Handbook recommends that USAID sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the assisted explaining and governing how the process will be undertaken. There was no such MOU with SONAPI. Completing one would almost certainly not have solved all difficulties the team encountered, but it would have provided a roadmap for all sides of what was expected. Have an empowered POC as a team member: The team did not have a permanent SONAPI POC at the start of the assessment process. The individual finally named several weeks into the process was a consultant rather than a full-time SONAPI employee. This person later left, and was replaced by still another consultant. If a full-time SONAPI employee with sufficient stature and experience in the organization had been named early on, things might have gone much more smoothly. For future assessments, such a POC might be named as part of the MOU process. Time (and perhaps different implementers) needed between steps: The assessment process can be undertaken in a relatively time-bound period by one party, but the other steps in the HICD process – the PSP, development of a Score Card or similar performance management tool, and technical assistance to implement PSP recommendations – require much more substantial involvement by the assisted organization and USAID. Future HICD engagements should take into account the need for a more expanded timeframe if the plan is to undertake more than just the 15 assessment part of the process – and the longer timeframes might in turn require different implementers depending on the situation. Time is better spent in-country: This “lesson” conflicts to a certain extent with the previous one. IBTCI found that shuttling team members in and out of Haiti multiple times was not conducive to a smooth operation or building rapport with the assisted organization. On the other hand, having the team sitting on its hands in Haiti waiting for SONAPI to approve the PSP and Score Card would not have been a productive use of its time either – so these two recommendations should be considered as two sides of the same coin. 16 ANNEX A: Table of Deliverables Deliverables Status Observations Monitoring & Evaluation /Work Plan Submitted /USAID Approved/August 4, 2017 Final Performance Assessment Report Submitted /USAID Approved/December 7, 2017 Performance Solutions package (PSP) Submitted /USAID Approved/December 7, 2017 Monthly Progress Reports Submitted /USAID (June through November) Approved/Various Dates, 2017 Balanced Score Card Submitted/USAID Approved/December 26, 2017 Draft Completion Report To be submitted within 10 working days after Out- brief Submitted January 2, 2018 Final Completion Report Following USAID review/comments Submitted January 22, 2018 Resubmitted January 26, 2018 17 ANNEX B: Indicator Performance Tracking Table No. Indicator Title Unit of measure Disag- gregation Baseline FY 17 target Dec. 2017 LOP results Comments 1 SONAPI core organizational functions interviewed Percentage of SONAPI functional units interviewed PIM and PIC 0 100 % N/A 100 % This indicator was completed in July. 2 Tenants interviewed Number of tenants interviewed PIM and PIC 0 15 N/A 13 The planned interviews were completed at the end of June: 6 of the 8 PIC tenants (2 interview requests rejected), plus a representative sample (7) of the PIM tenants. Thus, 13 tenants out of 15 were interviewed. 3 Performance gaps identified Number of gaps between SONAPI’s existing procedures and standard international practices identified N/A 0 24 N/A 47 A total of 47 gaps were identified in the Final Assessment Report/PSP. 4 Performance Solutions Package designed Number of HICD Performance Solutions Packages (PSPs) designed and formally delivered to USAID N/A 0 1 N/A 1 The PSP was approved by USAID December 7. 5 Score Card developed Number of HICD scorecards developed and delivered formally to USAID N/A 0 1 N/A 1 The scorecard has been approved by USAID. An updated version showing status of SONAPI progress to date was to be delivered to USAID with the 18 Final Completion Report, but the team was unable to collect the necessary information from SONAPI. 6 Performance solutions initiated Number of performance solutions for which implementation has been initiated N/A 0 2 2 3 The Risk management workshop addressed the solution of strengthening the capacity of the new internal audit function. Development of an M&E system for tracking progress on the Balanced Scorecard is underway via the Score Card and the MS Project software. IBTCI provided support on HR policies and procedures. 19 7 SONAPI units receiving HICD assistance Number of SONAPI functional units receiving HICD assistance N/A 0 10 6 10 1 Participants from SONAPI functional units (see below) participated in training on: a) Risk Management (10/18-10/20/2017). Functional Units represented included: 1. Finance and Accounting 2. Human Resources 3. Procurement 4. Assets Management 5. Information Technology 6. Logistics 7. Engineering 8. Communications & SONAPI Promotion 9. Legal Affairs 10. Internal Audit. b) Microsoft Project (12/6- 12/8/2017 The five participants included individuals from the IT, logistics, engineering, finance, and DG’s office. c) Review of SONAPI HR Policies and Procedures Manual 12-1-12/10/2017 Supported HR functional unit. 1 Ten functional units were assisted on risk management, five in Microsoft and one on HR policies/procedures, but the cumulative total is still ten (the total # of SONAPI units) 20 ANNEX C: Funds Obligated and Disbursed Contract Current Contract Remaining Amount Billing To date Amount Payment Milestones as per the Contract (Fixed Price) Percentag e $499,862.96 Amount Amount 1 M&E Work plan $49,986.30 $0.00 $49,986.30 $0.00 2 Final Assessment Report/Performance Solutions Package $49,986.30 $0.00 $49,986.30 $0.00 3 Third Progress Report $99,972.59 $0.00 $99,972.59 $0.00 4 Score Card $199,945.19 $199,945.19 $199,945.19 $0.00 5 Final Completion Report $99,972.58 $0.00 $0.00 $99,972.58 Fixed Price Amount 0.00% $499,862.9 6 $199,945.1 9 $399,890.3 8 $99,972.5 8 21 ANNEX D: Microsoft Project Training Background Materials Microsoft Project Training Agenda Design Features Microsoft Project Workshop Participants Six participants – SONAPI technical and administrative managers Local IBTCI representative Project Management expert, specializing in MS Project (OPS) o Goals Build the capacity of SONAPI personnel by: developing MS Project skills to effectively use the tool for project management. o Dates o December 6-December 8 o Subjects Addressed The following subjects were addressed during the training : 1. Methods for creating project files (length, start date, working hours) 2. Work Break-Down Structure (Tasks and work materials) 3. Resource Allocation  Human Resources, Materials, Time, Budget 4. Activity Monitoring, costs, and time…  Measuring productivity with earned value  Evaluating gaps  Producing Reports 5. Data Analysis and Recommendations o Goals At the end of the course on « Methods for Project planning, implementation, and monitoring », participants: o Reviewed the seven steps of planning and set their expectations o Mastered MS Project 22 Design Features Microsoft Project Workshop o Developed a work break-down structure o Developed a master record/inspection record o Developed a budget o Developed a project timeline o Created a chart of responsibilities o Set up and implement requisites for a good monitoring system o Developed an individual plan o How Participants learn by doing, and the training session focused primarily on instructional dialogue. An array of instructional methods were used: the design and development of training exercises were submitted in accordance to the Principles and Practices of Adult Learning. Participants demonstrated what they’ve learned through rich discussions, visual aids, and on-site training exercises. 23 Microsoft Project Training Attendance List 24 25 26 Microsoft Project Training Exit Evaluations 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 ANNEX E: Human Resources Policies and Procedures SONAPI Organizational Functional Assessment Consultancy June-December 2017 Human Resources Function Essential Employee Handbook Guideline Submitted by Jonathan Smith – IBTCI Consultant December 06, 2017 34 THE ESSENTIAL EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK INTRODUCTION: SONAPI requested the consultant review the current SONAPI HR policies and procedures documents contained in the SONAPI Manuel de Procédures, dated 23 November 2017, reference SONAPI memorandum DA-025/EX18-19. This was done and it is noted here that there are several SONAPI HR policies and procedures, as well as other functional policies and procedures which have not yet been developed at the time of this report. This review is focused on the 13 pages which constitute the aforementioned 23 November edition of the SONAPI Manuel de Procédures. However, many of the observations apply to the rest of the manual. Purpose of Review of SONAPI Manuel de Procédures: Employee handbooks 2 are valuable business tools. The main purpose of this consultancy is to provide SONAPI with professional observations that can assist SONAPI to create and put into effect a SONAPI HR employee handbook (manual of HR policies and procedures) that meets the standards of an international good practice manual and which can serve as a benchmark for all other SONAPI policies and procedures in all SONAPI functions. Contents of this Document: Section 1: Key findings of review; general advice on constructing a good international practice employee handbook; 2 tables: 1) essential topics to include in an HR employee handbook; and 2) self-audit checklist 3 Section 2: Definitions of Policy and Procedure Section 3: Some comparisons between SONAPI HR manual texts and sample texts taken from good practice employee policy and procedures handbook 4 Section 4: Standard flow diagram symbols; Swimlane Flow Diagram explanation and sample ANNEX: Sample of RSTP policies and procedures (RSTP=Recruiting, Selection, Transfer and Promotion) SECTION 1: KEY FINDINGS OF REVIEW: The review revealed that the SONAPI HR policies statements too frequently are, or include, statements of procedure. 5 Writing policy statements is sometimes a challenge for an organization. Therefore, this document includes a section on ¨text book definitions¨ of the meanings of ¨policy¨ and ¨procedure¨ for guiding one on the distinctions. We strongly recommend that SONAPI review all their statements of policy across the entire manual, to ensure that their policies statements do not include statements of 2 Term used in this document for referring to any organization´s manual of policy and procedures 3 A basic, simple means for analysing the thoroughness and reliability of the SONAPI employee handbook (Manuel de Procédures) in general and, in particular, Section II of the SONAPI manual-Procédures des Ressources Humaines, constituting 13 pages, dated August 23, 2017 4 Samples by consultant´s research over years. Not all original sources identified. 5 The Consultant reviewed other functions written up in the Manuel. There is a similar mix-up. 35 procedure. It is important, since policy has legal implications, whereas procedure is the simpler aspect of how policy is carried out. This review also revealed that the HR policies and procedures texts, and even the few flow charts in the HR section, seriously lack detail. The existing flow charts are entitled ¨summary view¨. However, that is not the purpose of a flow diagram. A flow diagram is like a road map, in that it is supposed to provide the viewer with enough detail so that the viewer can understand the flow, or path, without having to read extensive text. A cross-functional flow diagram, which is the kind we recommend SONAPI develop, should clearly denote who the activity owners are all along the different functional activities involved in a procedure. The lack of detail in the present version of the SONAPI manual flow diagrams, as well as the paucity of text in the procedures section, suggest that SONAPI has either 1) not taken good measure of the completeness of the detail required in order for a policy and procedures manual to be considered up to the standards of a good international practice policy and procedures manual; or 2) have not fully understood what elements constitute a good international practice policy and procedures manual. Given the above observations, it seems useful to use this review document as one means to provide SONAPI with targeted professional guidance required for taking their policy and procedures manual up to the standards of an international good practice manual. Technical guidance includes: Section 3: comparisons between some existing parts of the SONAPI HR manual, with some samples of good practice texts on the same HR themes. Section 4: samples of cross-functional (¨swimlane¨) flow diagram, which allow the reader to appreciate that the SONAPU flow diagrams still need substantial work. We recommend that SONAPI develop cross-functional flow diagrams, with substantially more detail than they have in the current Manuel de Procédures. The Annex of this document: a highly-detailed writeup of an array of RSTP (recruitment, selection, transfer and promotion) policies, as an example of the detail which should exist in a good international practice employee handbook. We invite SONAPI to use any of the text in the Annex, as pertinent The consultant provided initial feedback to the SONAPI HR Director concerning the review of Section 2, HR procedures. In addition to the above introductory observations, we offer the following, more detailed, overview observations (without order of importance): The HR Department themselves apparently did not write up the HR policies and procedures in Section 2 of the manual. They were written up by an outside advisor. 36 HR Section 2 shows reasonable, overall start in developing and writing up what the consultant considers should be considered a first draft of HR policies and procedures. HR Section 2 covers only 4 HR procedures so far, so there is still a lot of work to do in order to have a complete manual of HR policies and procedures. The four which have been developed, need substantially more details in both texts and flow diagrams. 6 Thus, despite the fact that the Manual has been officially distributed to all staff and management (November 23, 2017), the Manual should be considered a first draft. All procedures written up to date need substantially more detail, which will help give them more clarity, as well; and, as a matter of standard operating procedure, the policy statements should be reviewed for consistency of information and vocabulary / terminology. It seems SONAPI have done this, so this is just a reminder of good practice. There is a difference between a policy and a procedure: The SONAPI manual does not always make the distinction 7 . SONAPI has labeled their manual Manuel de Procédures. However, it includes policies for each procedure discussed. SONAPI should rename the document Manuel de Politiques et Procédures. It is recommended that the final publication be put online and staff should be invited to review and sign off on the publication, indicating that they have read and understood the SONAPI HR policies. 8 With the above SONAPI-specific observations in mind, the following is a short presentation of “business advice” that can help SONAPI ensure that their employee handbook is well drafted and up to good international standards Advice 1: Bullet-proof your employee handbook An employee handbook can be the foundation of employee performance and a shield against a legal case, or it can be a handbook that confuses employees and strips away the organization’s legal defenses. It all depends on how well it’s written and put to use. Too often, handbooks are inconsistent with the way business is actually conducted, or they mistakenly imply that workers have certain rights. For example: a statement about an initial “probationary period” can suggest that workers are virtually guaranteed continued employment 6 The existing flow diagrams need to use a better model, in order to more adequately show displacements by location, action, time. 7 Example: p 2, background check policy (enquête sur antécédents), begins with a statement of procedure, not policy: ¨applicant experience and diplomas should be verified before hiring applicant, or at least no later than two months after hire¨. The rest of the statement is also a statement of procedure or, at least, of internal rules and regulations. 8 Person responsible for Communications is aware of this feature. For the moment, there is a form at the end of the Manual, which SONAPI recipients are required to sign, in recognition that they have received the Manual which was sent out on November 23, 2017 37 after a certain period of time. It is important to review one’s handbook to ensure that it is written in such a way as to ensure such kinds of risks are eliminated. 9 Therefore, do not let the employee handbook gather dust. Keep it up to date and keep it up to date with any and all legal changes in the country’s labor laws. In addition, the handbook should incorporate just-in-time changes in your organization’s policies. It is best to keep it simple by not including details that are likely to change frequently. Make sure all handbook sections are consistent with all the organization’s “other” documents, such as SONAPI´s Règlements Internes¨. When a handbook is updated, make sure that everyone knows which version is in force. Collect and destroy all old copies and ensure that latest version shows date and version number. Include a conspicuous disclaimer that you reserve the right to make changes in the future. It is a good idea to include disclaimers in several places, specifying, for example, that one reserves the right to change benefits or bypass progressive discipline. Unilateral changes are not well-viewed by a court of law, so it is advisable to provide some kind of “consideration” to employees when making such changes, such as additional pay or benefits. Advice 2: Keep it simple The handbook should not be a legalistic tome with elaborate instructions to managers and complex benefits specifications. Keep the handbook simple, with plain language. In any case, it is important to have legal counsel review the document before it is finalized. A poorly-worded handbook can cause more problems than solutions and, of course, can create contract obligations that were not foreseen or desired. The policies and rules that one generally should include in their handbook are: sexual harassment, equal employment opportunity, meal/break periods, overtime, pay periods, discipline, holidays, vacations, paid sick leave, absenteeism, grievances, ethics, email/phone use, dress code, safety, substance abuse…and, of course, each organization will decide which other ones constitute the essentials of their handbook. Be wary of putting in too many specifics on each policy. It is all too easy to box one’s self in and when there are too many details, on runs the risk of inconsistently applying consequences of infractions. Be specific and detailed in procedures descriptions, but keep policy statements less detailed (SONAPI´s policy statements are brief and follow this advice). Also, do not let the handbook grow too large. Employees are unlikely to read a voluminous handbook. Advice 3: Have employees sign off To preserve the “at-will” status of employees that one may hire and fire at will, include provisions in the handbook that say employment is at will and that nothing in the handbook 9 In the case of SONAPI, this is critical, because SONAPI staff are under two contract regimes: 1) fixed, 1-year renewable contracts; 2) indefinite term contracts 38 should be considered a contract or guarantee of employment. 10 Document employees’ agreement to this by having them sign off and return an acknowledgement form. Make sure all staff members, especially supervisors and managers, know the handbook and follow its provisions. The best written policy is not enough if one’s actions do not back it up. Advice 4: Avoid mistakes The following is a short list of the 10 most common handbook mistakes. 11 Every attempt should be made to not commit them. Using boiler-plate handbooks with provisions unrelated to one’s organization Meshing policies and procedures, which may confuse employees Including a probationary period, which implies that anyone who stays with the organization beyond that time is then a permanent employee Being too specific in descriptions and lists, especially those involving discipline Not being consistent with other company documents Not adding a disclaimer, or not having enough disclaimers in the right places Sabotaging disclaimers by what one does or says, especially by reassuring employees that their jobs are secure and that they’ll be fired only for a really good reason Not adapting the handbook to local laws Failing to update the handbook frequently to reflect changes in the law or in the organization’s policies Being unrealistic about what staff and supervisors will buy into. Don’t include policies that cannot or will not be enforced Advice 5: Always include disclaimers Most workers are employed on an “at will” basis unless they have a contract which states otherwise, or unless the local labor laws state otherwise. “At will” means that employees may be fired at any time for any reason – or for no reason at all – and, conversely, employees have the right to leave their jobs at any time for any reason. One’s handbook must pay close attention to protect the at-will status, stay within the law and reduce one’s exposure to litigation. 12 10 This advice could vary from country to country, depending on the national Labor Law. 11 Ref. 2013 Business Management Daily, www.BusinessManagementDaily.com 12 The consultant recommends that this point be given serious thought and that the revisions to the SONAPI Employee Handbook be completed and made official before they carry out any reduction in force of any kind in the future. 39 An employer can preserve (or establish) at-will status by including a disclaimer in the handbook that states: All employees are hired on an at-will status Each person’s employment is for no specific term An employer reserves the right to terminate the relationship at any time Nothing in the employee handbook should be construed as a contract or a guarantee of continued employment Ensure employees read and understand the handbook. Provide a receipt/acknowledgement form to sign (SONAPI has done this). Allow enough time for employees to read the handbook. Note: if the handbook exists only in electronic version, provide a check-off box or some other method that conforms to electronic – signature laws, for employees to acknowledge that they have read the handbook. Advice 6: Avoid 4 common policy writing mistakes 13 A missing phrase, an undefined term or an inconsistency in terms can spell policy disaster. To help avoid such situations, the following best-practice advice is offered on mistakes to avoid: Mistake 1: The handbook has insufficient number of disclaimers. J. Collison stresses the importance of having as many as 5 disclaimers in the employee handbook. He recommends: And opening disclaimer, which, unambiguously states handbook is not a contract of employment and that employment relationship is at-will (again, SONAPI must ensure that ¨at will¨ is in conformity with Haitian National Labor Law). Benefits section disclaimer, which explains that the company may change benefits at the company’s discretion and that, if there is a conflict between language in the handbook and, say, an insurance policy, the official plan document governs At-will reminder: J. Collison states “In any discipline policy or complaint resolution policy, restate the employer’s right to discipline or terminate an employee at-will, with or without cause Misconduct qualifier. In any handbook list of misconduct examples, state that the list is not all encompassing or not all inclusive Mistake 2: Provisions are too open to interpretation No matter how well the policy is written, there is always the chance that some employees may be confused. Sometimes this is because of language used. Just because the writers of the policy are familiar with certain terms does not mean that the rank-and-file employees are also. Be careful to avoid using HR jargon or legalese. 13 2013 Business Management Daily. www.BusinessManagementDaily.com; and Jim Collison, President of Employers of America Inc. Collison has been writing and critiquing employee handbooks since the 1980s. 40 Often confusion arises from what is not said. That is why it is important to spell out exactly what is meant and to define all terms, as necessary. It is particularly important that all procedures be well-detailed and abundantly clear, so that even an outsider can understand how the procedures flow and that they do not leave out important procedural information concerning place where action is taken, time for the action to take place, and so forth. Mistake 3: Requirements are too stringent A common mistake when drafting policies is to include more stringent requirements than called for by law. The best bet is to keep policies in step with legal requirements. Before actually writing a policy, consider whether there are any applicable laws – no matter what the topic is. Mistake 4: Protections are too one-sided Policy drafters often forget to equally address all potential parties in a policy. Best bet, particularly in a harassment policy or in a grievance policy, is to make sure it addresses both sides of the coin. And, make sure that the procedures include full description of what both employee and organization do in those cases. Address the rights of the accused in all cases. In the case of a harassment policy, include examples of prohibited harassment. State the organization’s commitment to protect each and every employee from harassment or other kinds of ethical misconduct. And, again, ensure that the procedures concerning harassment or grievance are abundantly detailed. Section 1 Summary: The below tables 14 summarize 1) essential topics to include in every HR employee handbook 15 and 2) some review questions for testing the completeness and reliability of the employee policies. The below items are considered minimum essential. There may be others which SONAPI HR would want to include. As a rule of thumb, it is recommended that the SONAPI HR employee handbook be organized by sections, such as the ones shown below. TABLE 1: ESSENTIAL TOPICS OF AN HR EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK WELCOME TO SONAPI Letter from the DG Brief history of SONAPI COMPENSATION Pay procedures Payroll deductions Performance bonuses Overtime payments Salary increases Expense reimbursement 14 Jonathan Smith, Bankworld. Bank of Sierra Leone 2015-16 15 Business Management Daily, The Essential Employee Handbook, 2016 41 Severance pay RULES AND PROCEDURES Working hours Lunch periods and breaks Holidays, vacations and sick leave Family and medical leave Disability accommodation requests Military and/or other leave Personal calls/mail/email Personal use of Bank equipment Theft and dishonesty Misconduct and insubordination Use of illegal drugs and alcohol on the job Smoking in restricted areas Dress code Policy on sexual harassment and discrimination Employee privacy BENEFITS Health, life, disability & other insurance Pension and retirement plans Workers compensation Tuition assistance Loans Savings plans (if they exist) EMPLOYMENT POLICIES Probationary periods Performance evaluations Promotions and transfers Seniority Terminations and resignations SAFETY AND HEALTH General safety rules Report job-related accidents Recommendation: your HR handbook should include a statement that each employee must sign to acknowledge responsibility for receiving, reading, understanding and agreeing to abide by the organization´s rules. 16 Keep signed statement in employee’s personal file. The statement could read similarly to the following: “I hereby acknowledge receipt of the Bank handbook. I certify that I have read it fully and that I understand the rules and procedures contained in it. I acknowledge my full responsibility to follow them faithfully in all respects.” 16 SONAPI´s section on HR procedures includes such a form for staff to sign. 42 Recommendation: any/all changes in current SONAPI HR policies should be pointed out so that staff can see where changes have been made to existing (previous) policy. TABLE 2: SELF-AUDIT QUESTIONS 17 YES NO DON’T KNOW Does your handbook clearly state that the manual/handbook (or whatever name you give to your document) is not to be considered a contract in any way and that you reserve the right to change it? If your handbook lists offenses warranting discipline, including discharge, does it make clear that those listed are merely illustrative rather than exhaustive? Does your handbook encourage employees to bring their complaints to management, and does it inform what the proper procedure is? Does your handbook make clear that any type of harassment is not tolerated? Do the benefits policies contained in the handbook comply with national laws? Does your legal counsel review the handbook regularly to ensure it contains nothing in conflict with national laws and regulations? Do all employees receive copies of the handbook each time it is revised? Do you have a receipt form that employees sign when they receive the handbook and any revisions of it? Is your handbook up to date in all areas? Is the handbook written clearly and simply? Are procedures, particularly, well-detailed, even to point that an outsider, or a new staff member, considers the information clear and complete? Are the rules described in the handbook enforced in an even handed manner? 17 Jonathan Smith, Bankworld. Bank of Sierra Leone 2015-16 43 Do you make sure your employees read the handbook? Does each policy and procedure have a date at the top of the page, to indicate when it was written and that it is the latest version? Note: The above is non-exhaustive. You may wish to add questions which will help you analyse the thoroughness and reliability of your handbook. Note: if you answered “No” to any of the questions, you should (particularly) review your policies and the way they are communicated to your workforce. Go online: Is the employee handbook still an actual book? Turning the employee handbook into an electric document can cut costs, make updating easier and give employees a convenient place to access policies and procedures. It is not technically difficult to go electronic. But the process involves more than simply transferring written documents to a data base or internal website. The following guidelines are offered to help avoid any problems, legal and otherwise, when moving handbooks online: Put acknowledgement up front so that employees access the disclaimer and acknowledgement forms before reading the web version of the handbook Require employees to log in using their passwords to access it. One does not want outsiders to access one’s policies Include links in the handbook that connect policies and procedures and any other information to forms and other pertinent and related documents Include HR Department emails and phone contacts, which are always kept up to date Proofread the handbook before putting online and test links Alert employees to changes, via email and with a link to the handbook. Ask employees to read the handbook, sign the forms and return them to HR within a time limit. Follow up with those who do not respond When handbook changes are made, immediately email all employees. Make it clear that this is an urgent email. Make hard copies of the handbook available for employees who prefer hard copy versions or who may not have easy or frequent access to a computer Never keep outdated hard copies of manual of policy and procedure. Ensure previous versions are destroyed. Previous versions of one’s manual are kept in the data base, and their reference numbers and dates can easily identify which versions are outdated, and which is the updated version currently in effect. To avoid possible mistakes, it is advisable that previous versions be placed in a separate electronic file, clearly labeled as. being a file of outdated, previous versions 44 SECTION 2: DEFINITION OF POLICY vs PROCEDURE Introduction: Rules and regulation of the business organization are framed in the form of policies procedures. Policies and Procedure both are a part of the internal structure of the organization, so they are ‘inward directed’. They are concerned with the middle or supervisory level management. Both of them are made for a short period and so they can be changed periodically without having any adverse effect on the management of the company. They focus on bettering the efficiency of the firm from the operational activities. They are not contradictory to each other, but complementary to each other. Hence, they go side by side. The below differentiating definitions are taken from different business dictionaries. POLICIES PROCEDURES These are the guiding principles of an organization. It should not be confused with procedures, as both are created by top level management for middle and low-level management Policies are general statement that sets out the limits within which decisions are taken by the managers and thus assures the consistent performance. These imply the step by step sequence, for the performance of activity within the organization Procedures, suggest the exact way of performing an activity. It indicates the sequence for handling various business activities. Policies are known as the mini-mission statement, that are formulated by the top management, for serving as guidelines to take quick and rational decision regarding the day to day operational activities of the company. Policies affect the internal structure and routine activities of the entity which requires periodic decision making. They are generally in the form of the concise statement. While crafting the policies of the organisation, some points are to be taken into consideration: They must be based on past experiences, facts, and knowledge. People who are going to be influenced by these policies must actively participate at the time of framing it. They need to be modified with the modifications in the operations of the entity. A schedule of activities which needs to be performed, one after the other, in a fixed period, having a proper beginning and end is known as the procedure. The idea of procedure has been developed to avoid the overlapping of actions and haphazard manner of performing activities. This saves a lot of time and a proper series of actions is framed, which will reduce chaos. Procedures are made for the successful completion of a program. They are made for directing the lower level workers of the organisation. In government offices, procedures are known as “Red Tapism” where you have to follow sequential steps in the performance of activity, like for making a driving license or a passport, etc. Procedures can be framed taking these points into consideration: Based on experience, knowledge and facts. 45 They should be versatile and completely acceptable by the people. Policies are an integral part of the big organisation which helps in its smooth functioning. They provide some common parameters over which the management can take a consistent decision over a long period. They are made for difficult tasks. A specific objective must be there behind any procedure. The procedure should give the required outcome at the end. SUMMARY: DIFFERENCES BETWEE N POLICIES AND PROCEDURES 18 1. Policy is a guide for thinking and action. Policies are the terms and conditions which direct the company in making a decision. Whereas a procedure is a guide for action and performance to achieve the organization’s objectives, i.e., it shows the method and sequential steps which direct the people for any task or activity. 2. Policies are the basis on which procedures are built, but procedures are a reflection of policies, i.e., policies take the first place and procedures follow later on. 3. Policy-making is a superior order of activity in executive responsibility. They reflect the ultimate mission of the organization. They are made to support the strategies. Whereas procedures are always subordinate to policy, and are made to show the practical application of policies and to help in the implementation of programs and activities 4. Officers formulating procedures must work within the framework established by the policy makers who are the high-level executives, whereas procedures are more rapid and permit less liberty in managerial decision-making. 5. Policies are not hard and fast rules, as they permit any extraordinary and unconventional situation. Conversely, procedures are strict in nature, which needs to be followed in a series 6. Policies need to be thoroughly accepted by the people who are influenced by them. On the other hand, they should be a methodical process in the procedure 7. Policies are decision-oriented; procedures are action-oriented 18 May 7, 2015. Surbhi S. https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-policies-and-procedures.html 46 SECTION 3: COMPARISONS: SONAPI HR TEXT SAMPLES & GOOD PRACTICE TEXT SAMPLES The below is not an exhaustive comparison between existing SONAPI HR procedures texts and good international practice texts for the same procedures. It is illustrative, to serve as a guideline for SONAPI when they develop the rest of the HR procedures, as well as when they develop policies and procedures for all of the other SONAPI functions. TABLE 3: COMPARISONS OF SONAPI HR TEXTS ON POLICY OR PROCEDURE WITH GOOD PRACTICE TEXTS Section 2, HR Manual Reference SONAPI TEXT GOOD PRACTICE TEXT SAMPLE pp 7-8 SONAPI RECRUITMENT POLICY & PROCEDURE NOTE : there is no procedure written for SONAPI recruitment. The flow diagram on page 7 summarizes recruitment procedure in one statement: submission of CV. No detail is provided, either in a text of procedure or in the flow diagram on page 7. SONAPI recruitment policy statement = Les Ressources Humaines doivent attester de la conformité de chaque recrutement en regard des réglementaires. Cette attestation doit être présente dans le dossier de chaque employé. NOTE 1: this is more of a rules and regulations statement NOTE 2: the regulations mentioned: there is no information on which ones or where they are found. They are not presented anywhere in the SONAPI manual NOTE 3: recruitment procedure is limited to applicant background check, which is just a part of a much larger recruitment procedure, which begins at the moment an approved position is known to be or to become vacant. RECRUITMENT PROCEDURE SAMPLE Step 1: After the deadline for submission, the Human Resources Officer, with assistance from colleagues from the Ministry of Finance (i.e. beyond the NAO-SU) will undertake an initial screening of all applications received on time. Only candidates meeting the minimum requirements on the basis of a review of their CV and letter expressing their interest will be eligible for shortlisting. Qualifying applications will clearly be marked ‘yes’, while those failing to reach the minimum criteria will be marked ‘no’. The latter will be filed. Step 2: Those applications that have been marked ‘yes’ will undergo an initial assessment by a sub-committee of the evaluation committee, comprising at least two members. Using the tailored evaluation grid for each position, the sub-committee members will individually assess the candidates and award an initial score. Members will then discuss their evaluations 47 NOTE 4: SONAPI background check (which they do describe, as below), appears in step 6 in the illustrative text in right hand column. As can be appreciated, a background check is a small part of the entire, larger recruitment procedure (which, again, is NOT developed in the HR manual). Text concerning SONAPI background procedure is below Enquête sur antécédents Étapes 1-L’unité des Ressources Humaines requiert les pièces et les références des candidats sélectionnés NOTE : this is a policy statement, not a procedure 2-L’unité des Ressources Humaines confirme auprès des institutions, les diplômes et les expériences pertinentes 3-L’unité des Ressources Humaines contacte les personnes de références spécifiées 4-Si le poste à pourvoir n'est pas sensible, l’unité des Ressources Humaines rédige le rapport sur les antécédents 5-Dans le cas contraire, l’unité des Ressources Humaines requiert un certificat de Bonnes Vie et Mœurs (Casier judiciaire) du candidat et vérifie sa validité 6-L’unité des Ressources Humaines rédige le rapport sur les antécédents and will subsequently agree on an overall average score for each candidate. Step 3: With the agreement of the Head of Unit, the 3 to 5 top scoring candidates will be shortlisted and invited for an interview. Step 4: Interviews will comprise a question and answer session with the selection panel. Prior to the interviews, members shall meet to discuss logistics and establish a list of questions, designed to obtain information pertinent to the criteria outlined in the Evaluation Grid for each position. Each member of the committee shall score the interviewees. At the end of the interview, the scores shall be processed and averaged to give an overall score. Step 5: A recruitment report recommending the list of candidates to be appointed shall be compiled by the Secretary and submitted to the NAO for approval and onward transmission to the EU Delegation for endorsement. Step 6: Before proceeding with the recruitment, the Human Resources Officer will cross-check the references of the successful candidates, either by phone or by email. In case of any unsuccessful check, the Human Resources Officer should proceed with the second best as recommended by the Committee and so on, or re-launch the procedure if there is no successful candidate. Step 7: Offers of employment will be sent to selected candidates that have passed the reference checks. Initially they will be informed by telephone and sent their offer letter by email. A hard copy will then be sent by post or made available for collection. 48 p 4 & Section 5- pp 6-11 SONAPI HARASSMENT POLICY NOTE 1 : should say ¨anti- harassment¨ policy NOTE 2 : SONAPI policy says : Voir le manuel de procédures Santé et Sécurité au Travail (section 5) This shows how SONAPI manual confuses policy and procedure statements NOTE 3: Section 5 makes no mention of anti-harassment policy or procedure Conclusion: SONAPI has no anti- harassment policy and there is no SONAPI procedure for what to do if one is the subject of harassment ANTI-HARASSMENT POLICY SAMPLES SAMPLE 1: It is the policy of our company to provide an employment environment free from any form of sexual or discriminatory harassment, including harassment by speech or other expressions, by action, or by combination thereof. This policy applies to all employees. Our company expressly prohibits any form of harassment that is based on any protected classifications, including sex, race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, marital status, medical condition, veteran status, or disability; in any decision regarding employment and subsequent treatment of employment in accordance with the letter and spirit of National Law. Any harassment may be grounds for discipline up to and including termination. SAMPLE 2: Our company prohibits sexual harassment, and harassment based on other protected classifications. Our policy (detailed in chapter X) specifically lists the other protected classifications, and includes examples of the type of conduct that is prohibited, whether oral or written, including lewd comments, jokes or references, and ethnic, racial and religious epithets, slurs and names. This policy prohibits such conduct by managers, supervisors, employees, customers, and third parties. p. 4 SONAPI DISCRIMINATION POLICY ¨Le recrutement, la promotion et la compensation, en particulier, et la collaboration, en général, doivent être exempts des facteurs de discrimination identifiés par le Code du Travail¨ DISCRIMINATION POLICY SAMPLE Factors and categories of discrimination amply covered in the above harassment policy: …protected classifications, including sex, race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, marital status, medical condition, veteran status, or 49 NOTE 1: there is no mention of what Labor Law (code) to refer to NOTE 2: there is no SONAPI procedure for informing what to do in case of discriminatory practices in the work place disability; in any decision regarding employment and subsequent treatment of employment in accordance with the letter and spirit of National Law. p 4 SONAPI TRAINING POLICY (FORMATION CONTINUE) ¨Sur la base des évaluations de performance, un programme de formation continue doit être établi afin de combler les insuffisances identifiées. L'institution pourra, selon la disponibilité des ressources financières, subventionner, en tout ou en partie, des formations approuvées dispensées par des tiers¨. NOTE: the above is a statement of purpose. It is not a policy statement. There is no SONAPI procedure to describe how this works TRAINING POLICY SAMPLE SAMPLE 1: BRIEF AND PURPOSE Our Employee Development company policy refers to the company’s learning and development programs and activities. In the modern competitive environment, employees need to replenish their knowledge and acquire new skills to do their jobs better. This will benefit both them and the company. We want them to feel confident about improving efficiency and productivity, as well as finding new ways towards personal development and success. Scope of Policy This policy applies to all permanent, full- time or part-time, employees of the company. Employees with temporary/short-term contracts might attend trainings at their manager’s discretion. This policy doesn’t cover supplementary employees like contractors or consultants. Policy elements Employees, managers and Human Resources (HR) should all collaborate to build a continuous professional development (CPD) culture. It’s an employee’s responsibility to seek new learning opportunities. It’s a manager’s responsibility to coach their teams and identify employee development needs. And it’s HR’s responsibility to facilitate any staff development activities and processes. 50 What do we mean by training and development? In general, we approve and encourage the following employee trainings: Formal training sessions (individual or corporate) Employee Coaching and Mentoring Participating in conferences On-the-job training Job shadowing Job rotation As part of our learning and development provisions, we can also arrange for subscriptions or educational material, so employees will have access to news, articles and other material that can help them become better at their job. There are two conditions for this: Subscription/Material should be job-related All relevant fees should not exceed a set limit per person This list doesn’t include software licences or other tools that are absolutely necessary for employees’ jobs. Individual training programs The company has certain provisions regarding individual training programs. All employees that have worked for the company more than four months are eligible to participate in external training programs individually or in teams. We will set a budget for each employee at the beginning of a year, which we’ll renew annually. Employees can be absent for training for up to 10 days per year. Employees can choose to attend as many training programs as they want, provided they don’t exceed the budget and day limit. If 51 they do, they’ll have to use their paid time off (PTO) and pay any extra fees themselves. Employees may have to bring proof of attendance. Any employee training that the company mandates (e.g. due to inadequacies of an employee’s performance or changes in their job description) is excluded from the training budget and time limit. The company may take care of the entire cost. All trainings should consider what employees need and how they can learn best. This is why, we encourage employees and managers to consider multiple training methods like workshops, e-learning, lectures and more. Corporate training programs We might occasionally engage experts to train our employees. The company will cover the entire cost in this case. Examples of this kind of training and development are: Equal employment opportunity training Diversity training Leadership training for managers Conflict resolution training for employees This category also includes training conducted by internal experts and managers. Examples are: Training new employees Training teams in company-related issues (e.g. new systems or policy changes) Training employees to prepare them for promotions, transfers or new responsibilities Employees won’t have to pay or use their leave for these types of trainings. Attendance records may be part of the process. Other types of training Both employees and their managers are responsible for continuous learning. 52 Employees should show willingness to improve by asking their managers for direction and advice. Managers should do the same with their own superiors, while encouraging and mentoring their subordinates. Employees and managers are responsible for finding the best ways to CPD. They can experiment with job rotation, job shadowing and other types of on-the-job training (without disrupting daily operations). We also encourage employees to use their rights for self-paced learning by asking for educational material and access to other resources within allocated budget. General guidelines: All eligible employees are covered by this policy without discriminating against rank or protected characteristics. Managers should evaluate the success of training efforts. They should keep records for reference and better improvement opportunities. All employee development efforts should respect cost and time limitations, as well as individual and business needs. Employees should try to make the most out of their trainings by studying and finding ways to apply knowledge to their work. Employees are encouraged to use up their allocated training budget and time. SAMPLE 3: This organisation recognises that its most important resource is its employees. It is committed to the training and development of its entire workforce so that they will gain the necessary skills to reach their full potential. This will assist in enabling the organisation to achieve its aims and objectives that are to provide specialised, high quality care and rehabilitation to vulnerable people through a well-trained and supported working team. 53 By increasing the skills and knowledge of its staff the organisation will produce confident, highly qualified staff working as an effective and efficient team. The individual training and development needs will be identified through training needs analysis questionnaire The training and development needs identified will be met through a variety of activities depending on the nature and extent of the requirements deemed necessary after assessment. All internal training provided by the organisation will be of no cost to the employee. External courses and professional qualifications may be fully or partly funded by the organisation depending on the nature of the training. Employees are responsible for their own development and as such may inform the organisation of their development needs and take part in prescribed development activities. As part of the organisation's continuing commitment to training and development, employees are asked to provide feedback on the value and effectiveness of the training and development they undertake. This information will be used to assess and improve the training process. This policy respects equal opportunities and applies to all employees SAMPLE OF A SIMPLE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION PROCEDURE 19 Instructions & Procedures: 1. During the Pilot Program period only, the Employee’s performance is to be evaluated every two months by his/her immediate Manager. The ratings are on scale of 1-10, using the below 19 Jonathan Smith, FRR Ltd, UK. Cameroon 2002, DFID Community Forest Unit Pilot Programme 54 categories. Use whole numbers only and write the score for each item in the space available on the far right. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Rating Unsatisfactory Minimally Satisfactory Fully Satisfactory Exceeds Fully Satisfactory Outstanding 2. Calculate the average for each Section and write the average in the space provided immediately at the end of each Section. On the last page of this evaluation form there is a resume form. Write the average score of each section and then calculate the average score for the evaluation. Write the overall average in the space provided on page 3 and calculate the increase approved, as appropriate for recognition of exceptional overall employee performance this evaluation period. 3. The Manager is to write the date of his/her evaluation in the space provided on page 3 of this form. The Manager should write any specific comments required or desired in the space permitted in the form on page 3 before submitting a copy of the evaluation results to the employee. 3. After the Manager has completed the evaluation of the Employee and written his/her comments in the space reserved for Manager’s Comments, the Employee is immediately to be given a copy of his/her evaluation for review. Within 48 hours the Manager must hold an Evaluation Review Meeting with the Employee to discuss the results, using the guidelines for merit- and performance-based evaluations and meetings that have been provided. 4. After the Evaluation Review Meeting, both the Manager and the Employee must sign their names in the space provided in the form on page 3, indicating that the Evaluation Review Meeting was held. The Employee’s signature indicates only that the Evaluation Review Meeting was held. 5. After the Evaluation Review Meeting, the Employee evaluated may write any comments required or desired in the space provided on page 2. The Evaluation Form with Employee’s comments must be completed and returned to the Manager within 48 hours after the Evaluation Review Meeting. The Employee may request a follow-up meeting with his/her Manager to discuss any comments he/she wrote on the Evaluation Form or for any other reason considered pertinent by the Employee. The Manager must hold the requested meeting within 48 hours of the Employee’s request. 6. The Manager must make notes of any/all Evaluation Meetings with the Employee and each time there is a meeting, both the Manager and Employee must sign the Manager’s notes in recognition that they accurately represent what was discussed. 7. After the Evaluation Review Meeting or after any follow-up meetings, a note for the record will be prepared by the Manager and signed by the Employee that indicates the agreed-on performance- improvement actions that will be undertaken. 8. All notes and the agreed-on follow-up actions become a formal part of the management records. Copies of any/all Evaluation Forms or Meetings notes and agreed-on follow-up actions must be given to the Employee for his/her personal records. The Manager must then submitted the complete and final Performance Evaluation file to DFID within 48 hours of having fully completed the Performance 55 Evaluation. DFID will review and reply to Manager with approval or with questions or requests for clarification, etc., within 48 hours of receipt of completed Employee Performance Evaluation file. 9. Salary increases requested by Manager and approved by DFID for outstanding employee performance should appear in the next Employee’s pay check that follows the final approval of the Employee Performance Evaluation. It is the responsibility of the Manager to ensure that the required administrative/financial procedures are properly and expeditiously completed so as to ensure prompt completion of each cycle’s Performance Evaluation process. p 3 SONAPI PERFORMANCE EVALUATION POLICY ¨Sur une base annuelle, la performance de chaque employé doit être évaluée de manière participative et transparente. Aussi, un formulaire d’évaluation sera rempli par l’employé et un autre par le supérieur hiérarchique¨ NOTE 1 : this is mix of both rules and regulation, and procedure NOTE 2: SONAPI has not developed any procedures which explain how ¨the right person is chosen for the right training for the right reason¨ SAMPLES PERFORMANCE EVALUATION POLICY SAMPLE 1: Our company´s policy is to ensure that we administer an Employee Evaluation System which encourages communication between raters and employees and which measures performance against established indicators well known and accepted by both employees and their immediate supervisors. The employee evaluation will operate within legal parameters and guidelines specified in the company´s Directive on Performance Evaluation. Evaluations are conducted fairly, openly, and transparently. SAMPLE 2: Our performance evaluation program has been established to enable each Employee to receive regular feedback on his/her job performance, to assist him/her to become more effective in his/her position and to inform supervisors of the Employee's career aspirations. A-The principal objectives of performance evaluation are to evaluate and improve performance, facilitate mutual feed-back and communication between the Employee and the supervisor, develop or modify objectives, and the means to implement those objectives, 56 plan Professional Development and Training, ensure Position Descriptions are accurate, provide a basis for salary recommendations B- The supervisor and the Employee are strongly encouraged to discuss job performance and goals on an informal, day- to-day basis. Additional formal performance evaluations are to be conducted at least annually near the Employee’s Anniversary Date. p. 4 SONAPI ATTENDANCE POLICY ¨La ponctualité et la régularité doivent caractériser le temps de travail de chaque employé. Aussi, le contrôle de présence fera partie des évaluations de performance et les manquements seront traités conformément aux règlements internes.¨ NOTE 1: there is no mention of which internal rules and regulations, or of where to find them NOTE 2: there are no procedures for taking attendance SAMPLE ATTENDANCE POLICY Our basic attendance policy: Excellent attendance is an expectation of all employees of our Company. Daily attendance is especially important for hourly employees whose customers, and coworkers have the expectation of on-time product shipping and delivery. Emergency personal time is made available to employees for such unscheduled events as personal illness, immediate family member illness, and doctor appointments. SECTION 4: STANDARD FLOW DIAGRAM SYMBOLS; CROSS - FUNCTIONAL / SWIMLANE FLOW DIAGRAM EXPLANATION AND SAMPLES 20 The SONAPI flow diagrams presented in the Manuel de Prodédures are a beginning, but they lack clarity and are missing many details 21 , such as activity times, decision points vs ¨see & forward¨ actions and, most particularly, they are not matrix types of presentation that show at a glance, all the activity ¨owners¨. For this reason, we present an explanation of what cross- 20 1) eDraw Soft/ https://www.edrawsoft.com/flowchart-symbols.php. 2) Creatly.com/ https://creately.com/Flowcharts-and-Workflow-Diagrams-Online. 3) Jonathan Smith, International Finance Corporation /Coopers & Lybrand, Nicaragua 1995-98 21 As mentioned, the flow diagrams say ¨summary view – vue sommaire¨, which is consistent with what is actually in the SONAPI diagrams. However, the purpose of a flow diagram is to give details. 57 functional flowcharts are, how they are useful, what different chart symbols can be used (as required or desired by the organization), and we strongly encourage SONAPI to use cross- functional flowcharts to visually portray, in detail, how their procedures work. Cross-functional flowcharts are also an extremely powerful visual for portraying ¨as is¨ business processes and for identifying where one has redundancies, slow-downs, and non-value-added activities. As readers will recall, the SONAPI functional diagnosis report made a strong recommendation that SONAPI perform a thorough business process reengineering of their vital and key support work processes. The lack of detail and clarity of the SONAPI Manuel de Prodédures underscores why that recommendation is so important. At a minimum, it is hoped SONAPI will find the following information a useful and helpful guideline for doing the required improvements to the flowcharts they have presented in the Manuel de Procédures. There are many flowchart (process mapping) software programs on the market. One of the best is ARIS. 22 Flowchart Symbols Meaning 23 Flowchart Symbols 22 http://www.ariscloud.com/ To design, document, analyze, optimize and communicate processes to achieve operational process excellence. The ARIS Business Process Modeling Platform helps to create more efficient processes across business, IT and SAP systems. 23 Creately.com 58 Most people are only aware of basic symbols like processes and decision blocks. But there are much more symbols to make your flowchart more meaningful. Above image shows all the standard flowchart symbols. The most common symbol used in a flowchart is the rectangle. A rectangle represents a process, operation or a task. The next most common symbol is the diamond which is used to represent a decision. What are cross-functional flowcharts? Flowcharts are widely popular and one of the most frequently diagram types. They are excellent means for mapping the flow of steps, decisions that need to be made, etc. in a process. They are also useful for indicating time taken (¨as is¨) situation, or for signalling how much time is actually allowed for each step of a process. In addition, one can also enter information concerning whether or not the step is there just for a ¨see and approve¨ actions, so that one can make decisions as to whether or not such actions add value to the process, or if the step(s) can be eliminated in order to streamline the process. Flowcharts have just more than the process names, their flow and type of action embedded. Things like owners, stages, timelines need addition of more data to the flow and cross functional flowcharts can easily be added in order to make the flowchart more informative and useful. 59 When you have a process that requires the involvement of multiple people, teams or departments it can get difficult to illustrate this in a normal flowchart. Cross-functional flowcharts, sometimes referred as swim lanes, can simply illustrate the owners (functions, not names of persons in the function) of each step in the flowchart, by organizing them into columns or rows. Based on experience, the consultant recommends SONAPI use cross-functional flowcharts for mapping out their procedures. The simple layout of a cross-functional flowchart makes it easy to understand additional attributes about each step of a process, without having to read a lot of text. A flowchart allows the viewer to be able to comprehend how a process works, at a glance. Five Basic Flowchart Symbols 24 Flowcharts are the ideal diagrams for visually representing business processes. For example, if you need to show the flow of a custom-order process through various departments within your organization, you can use a flowchart. Below one can see a visual representation of basic flowchart symbols and their proposed use in communicating the structure of a well-developed web site, as well as their correlation in developing on-line instructional projects. A typical flowchart from older Computer Science textbooks may have the following kinds of symbols: Start, Process, Decision, Document and Sub-Process. Flowcharts may contain other symbols, such as connectors, usually represented by circles, to represent converging paths in the flow of the process. Circles will have more than one arrow coming into them but only one going out. Some flowcharts may just have an arrow pointing to another arrow instead. These are useful to represent an iterative process (in computer science this is called a loop). A loop may, for example, consists of a connector where control first enters, processing steps, a conditional with one arrow exiting in the loop, and one going back to the connector. Off-page connectors are often used to signify a connection to a (part of a) process held on another sheet or screen. A flowchart is described as "cross-functional" when the page is divided into different "lanes" describing the control of different organization units. A unit appearing in a particular "lane" is within the control of that organizational unit. This visual ¨technique¨ allows the analyst to locate the responsibility for performing an action or making a decision correctly, allowing one to understand the relationship between different organizational units with responsibility within different points of a single cross-functional process. Cross-functional flowcharts are 24 eSoftDraw.com 60 particularly useful when performing business processes analyses, since they allow one to identify where there are redundancies, time inefficiencies and non-value-added actions. Other Standard Flowchart Symbols 25 Flowcharts use special shapes to represent different types of actions or steps in a process. Lines and arrows show the sequence of these steps, and the relationships between them. 25 Each organization will select what they need to show in their flow diagrams. A diagram should be both simple to understand, as well as provide complete information concerning the cross-functional activities of a given process. 61 ANNEX SAMPLE OF A WELL -DETAILED HR POLICY & PROCEDURE DOCUMENT FOR AN RSTP SYSTEM 62 SAMPLE POLICY & PROCEDURE DOCUMENT GOVERNING RSTP (RECRUITMENT, SELECTION, TRANSFER AND PROMOTION) ACTIONS IN A MERIT EMPLOYMENT SYSTEM 26 INTRODUCTION The following principles are very useful for different aspects of policy and procedure statement formulations. Some might be useful and pertinent for SONAPI. It is not expected that SONAPI HR create such a sophisticated set of policies regarding their employment system now, because they have not even created a merit-based employment ¨system¨ along the following policy lines. Nonetheless, we present the following example of an RSTP system (recruitment, selection, transfer and promotion), with policy and procedure statements for each aspect of the system, ensconced in a merit-based employment system, in order to: Illustrate to SONAPI readers what is required to elevate SONAPI HR to a fully-strategic, professionalized status within the organization (organigram) Contrast SONAPI´s existing HR Manuel de Procédures with a good international practice set of policies and procedures governing recruitment, selection, transfer and promotion (RSTP). If nothing else, it is hoped that SONAPI can appreciate how much work is still to be done in order to strengthen the quality and usefulness of their HR Manuel de Procédures and, for that matter, the rest of the procedures which were distributed to SONAPI staff and management, as per the aforementioned memorandum DA-025/EX-18-19, dated November 23, 2017 As can be appreciated, the full ¨description¨ of the below RSTP system includes policy, guiding principles and even some procedures statements. What is important to note here is the fact that a policy and procedure document can contain statements of principle, even certain statements about rules or regulations, and of procedure or of certain areas of actions or responsibility, as in this one. It is fine to do so, as long as such aspects are clearly labelled, as they have been in the sample document below. The important thing is to not write a policy statement which is really a procedure statement. It is not required that policy and procedure statements be totally separated into different sections of a manual, such as SONAPI has done. One can select that model, as SONAPI has done; or one can select the below model. But it is not possible to overstress the need to not mix up what is a policy statement and what is a procedure statement. SAMPLE OF POLICY & PROCEDURE FOR AN RS TP SYSTEM Recruitment should be from qualified individuals from appropriate sources in an endeavour to achieve a work force from all segments of society, and selection and advancement should be determined solely on the basis of relative ability, knowledge, skills, after fair and open competition that assures that all receive equal opportunity. 26 1) Jonathan Smith, PricewaterhouseCoopers, UNDP Civil Service Reform Program, Ethiopia 1999-2002; 2) The United States Office of Personnel Management cites the United States Code, Section 2301, Title 5 63 All employees and applicants for employment should receive fair and equitable treatment in all aspects of personnel management without regard to political affiliation, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, or handicapping condition, and with proper regard for their privacy and constitutional rights. Equal pay should be provided for work of equal value, with appropriate consideration of both national and local rates paid by employers in the private sector, and appropriate incentives and recognition should be provided for excellence in performance. All employees should maintain high standards of integrity, conduct, and concern for the public interest. The work force should be used efficiently and effectively. Employees should be retained on the basis of their performance, inadequate performance should be corrected, and employees should be separated who cannot or will not improve their performance to meet required standards. Employees should be provided effective education and training in cases in which such education and training would result in better organizational and individual performance. Employees should be protected against arbitrary action, personal favoritism, or coercion for partisan political purposes, and prohibited from using their official authority or influence for the purpose or interfering with or affecting the result of an election or a nomination for election protected against reprisal for lawful disclosure of information which the employees believe evidences: a violation of any law, rule, or regulation or mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, an absence of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety GUIDING PRINCIPLES 01-General: The Organization adheres to the values and principles of a merit promotion and placement system. As such, our personnel actions, including those specifically of Recruitment, Selection, Transfer and Promotion (RSTP), provide policies and procedures for: Selection of candidates for civil service vacancies, and Promotion of current employees through open and competitive processes against announced and published vacancies Merit promotion and placement governs staffing of all our positions. 02-Policy: We adhere to the policy of filling all our positions efficiently and on the basis of merit, without regard to political, race, color, sex, national origin or age. The objective of merit promotion is to: Identify and bring to the attention of management officials the best qualified candidates 64 Provide current employees an opportunity to receive fair, equitable, and appropriate consideration for higher level jobs Provide an incentive to employees to improve their performance and to develop their knowledge, skills, abilities (KSAO´s) Provide career opportunities for employees. Our merit promotion and placement program does not guarantee employment nor does it guarantee promotion to employees, not does it require that a vacancy be filled by promotion. Nor does it have as stated policy that promotion is the principal means for filling vacancies. Lateral transfers of current employees to vacant positions may be used if management believes that particular circumstances show that this is the most expeditious, effective or desirable way to fill a vacancy. The promotion process may be terminated before selection or promotion of an employee is made and if conditions require it. 03-Responsibilities: The Top Executive of each function is responsible for ensuring that we adhere to filling vacancies according to the guiding values and principles and policies of the National Law, as well as to the rules and regulations of our organization, and that our personnel actions are based on the concepts of merit and efficiency. The Director of Human Resources: Promotes and administers the merit promotion and placement program according to the values and concepts of merit and efficiency Informs employees about career opportunities; and informs about vacancy postings or announcements Maintains records to allow reconstruction of any promotion action for two years from the closing date of the advertisement. Directors, Supervisors: Establish and/or utilize established job-related evaluation criteria for use in considering candidates for merit promotion. These criteria may be reviewed by the proper HR department officers Consider all candidates who are certified for selection, using for this purpose a Selection Committee, and choose from among the candidates based on job-related merit factors Provide prompt performance appraisals according to established norms for informal appraisals, coaching, and formal appraisals; and provide prompt “out of cycle” appraisals of employees´ performance and potential when asked to do so by subordinates who are candidates for a promotion under the merit promotion and placement system 65 Promote equal employment opportunities Employees: Submit an application for promotion within the deadline indicated in the vacancy notice Submit all requested information Agree to any special conditions that may be mentioned in the vacancy notice 04- Personnel Actions that Require Competitive Procedures: The following personnel actions require competitive procedures: Selection into the organization Career advancement in organization Selection into a long-term temporary assignment (secondment) to a higher graded position or into a position with recognized promotion potential that would represent a grade higher than the employee´s current position. Selection for training: when training is required for promotion Re-employment to a higher-grade position: for employment in a permanent or temporary position that is at a higher grade than the last non-temporary grade the employee held in the organization 05- Obligatory actions: pre-recruitment (pre-vacancy fill) Before the Director of Human Resources may take any action to fill a vacancy, no matter if it is competitively or non-competitively, he/she is required to ensure that he/she take into account any employee eligible for re-consideration. The below conditions for priority re-consideration are adhered to. An employee is entitled to priority consideration under the following conditions: Whenever reconstruction of a promotion action shows that an employee did not appear on a selection list because of an error that occurred in the promotion actions (e.g. wrong qualification determination, failure to consider, wrong rating, etc.), the employee will be given one re- consideration for the type of position he/she originally applied for under competitive conditions. This access to re-consideration will have a validity of one year. If, for any reason the selecting officials determine that an employee who is eligible for priority re-consideration is not going to be taken into account, then they must document the reasons for their decision. 06- Applicant search All vacancy postings must be placed in areas accessible to the employees. 66 Area of consideration: this refers to the geographic or organizational area in which it is expected that one will be able to locate the sufficiently high-quality applicants for a vacancy. All vacancy notices must state what the areas of consideration are. If the selecting official determines that a sufficient number of qualified applicants are available from within a given areas of consideration, the vacancy notice may be limited to that area. The area of consideration may be broadened by re-advertising over a larger area of consideration. Evaluation criteria: job analysis will be used to determine the KSAO´s required to identify the best qualified candidates for a position to be filled. The KSAO´s will be further refined by using a weighted values rating that will allow giving credit to: performance appraisals, training, education, experience, awards etc. Credited categories that are used must give evidence that the candidate has the KSAO´s that contribute to being qualified for the position under consideration. Vacancy notice/posting procedures: vacancy notices for all appropriate positions being recruited for will be prepared. They must contain all the required information or will inform applicants where that information can be obtained. Vacancy notifications will be open for a minimum of 14 calendar days. Country-wide announcements will be open for 30 calendar days. 07- Application procedures General Procedures: Applicants responding to vacancy notices must provide the following: Documentation of qualifications for the position Most recent performance appraisal (no older than 18 months). Written examinations will be applied if the performance appraisal cannot be submitted Applications which do not contain the required information will disqualify the applicant from consideration. Applicants may not submit one package of information for multiple vacancy notices. Each application for each vacancy announcement must be accompanied by its own required documentation. The Personnel Officer of the organization will retain the documents submitted Applicants will be notified of in-eligibility and/or non-selection as soon as the selection is made or if the announcement is cancelled. Requirements for accepting applications: 67 Applications from all eligible applicants from within the announced area of consideration will be accepted The applications must be received in the organization´s designated reception office no later than close of business of the last day of business Applications must contain enough information to determine that applicant is eligible for the announced vacancy 08- Evaluation of employees for promotion and internal placement To be considered basically qualified for the position, applicants must meet the minimum qualification standard prescribed in the announcement. This, in turn, must faithfully reflect what is in the standard job classification document as well as any other desirable characteristics that line management feels required. Evaluation of basically qualified candidates: Procedure A in Annex 3 should be used to determine the best-qualified candidate when there are six or more qualified applicants for an announced vacancy Procedure B in Annex 3 may be used for determining the best qualified applicant when there are five or fewer qualified applicants. In this case, it is still necessary to identify evaluation criteria based on job analysis and to evaluate applicants against this criteria. It is not necessary to apply the rating scale using the methods in Procedure B. 09- Promotion panel membership for merit selection and promotion For announcements that have six or more basically qualified applicants, a promotion panel will be formed to rate those applicants, using a rating schedule (value weighted scale). The panel will be made up of: three members whose role it is to evaluate applicant credentials against a rating schedule that is developed by subject matter expert(s) for the position being filled. One person on the panel will be the DG and each panel will choose a facilitator. The facilitator´s role is to ensure compliance with merit promotion procedures. The rating factors used for evaluating applicants, and the panel discussions are to be kept confidential. The facilitator is not a panel member. Panel members must be at or above the grade level of the known promotion potential of the position being filled Selecting officials or others who participate in the final selection process by recommending or advising on the final selection, may not serve as members of the promotion panel. They may, however, serve as subject matter experts in the job analysis process to develop the KSAO´s important to the position. Applicants may not serve on the merit promotion panel. 10- Referral and selection 68 Applicants who are certified qualified for promotion are referred to the selecting official in alphabetical order within the grade level groups for which the referral is made. Certificates of qualification will be valid for 90 days from the date of issue. Non-competitive eligible candidates (lateral transfer candidates) will be referred on a separate certificate from that used for promotional candidates. Selecting officials shall be asked if they want non-competitive eligible candidates to be included with the competitive eligible candidates in the selection panel list. If the date of the initial certificate of qualification issued is less than 90 days old when another position becomes vacant, and the position vacancy is the same grade, cadre, and location), another selection may be made from the original list of qualified candidates without need of re- advertising Only the best-qualified applicants will be certified to the selecting official. A reasonable number of best-qualified applicants may be certified (usually 3-10). If only one or two of the applicants are best qualified, the selecting official may make a selection or may request that the area of consideration be extended. The selecting official must be provided with the same applications and other pertinent and related material that were used by the promotion panel for selecting the best qualified applicants 11 – Selection procedures The selecting official may select any of the applicants on the selection certificate. The choice must be based on one or more legitimate job-related reasons that indicate why the person selected could be expected to perform on the job most successfully If one applicant on the selection certificate is interviewed, all must be interviewed. In the case of eligible, non-competitive lateral re-assignment candidates, the selection officer may interview as many/as few persons as desired. These interviews may take place by phone. Before making a final selection, the selecting official should make reference checks. The organization HR officer notifies candidates whether or not they are selected. Neither selecting official nor supervisors can commit to appointments of individuals prior to the background/reference checks being made by the HR function. Appointment commitments may only be made by the administrative or establishment officer. 12- Release of employees from present positions and effective dates The action is normally effective no later than fourteen days after the date of selection. If the release is later than that, there must be a mutual agreement between the losing and gaining offices. The HR Department arranges for the releases. 13- Records 69 HR department records must maintain a record of every selection made under this merit promotion program for 2 years. This 2-year retention period will be extended if there is a formal grievance or if a discrimination complaint is registered. A record must contain enough information to allow reconstruction of the promotion action, particularly to reconstruct if all procedural aspects were adhered to. 14- Prohibited practices Employment of relatives or advocacy of same: A organization official may not appoint, employ, reassign, promote, or advance any relative to the organization over which that official exercises jurisdiction or control. An organization official may not advocate a relative´s appointment, employment, promotion, or advancement to any official within the organization who is in a lower position than him or herself. An official may not appoint, employ, reassign, promote, or advance the relative of any other official in organization, if that official has advocated the action. Supervision of relatives: Employees may not supervise a relative, either directly or indirectly. Any instance of same will be eliminated immediately. Discrimination: Selection, and all procedures leading to selection must be made without discrimination, as laid out in other sections of these provisos. 15- Information to applicants if requested Regarding merit promotion program: explanation of merit promotion program; details of the regulations; qualifications required for a position; details of the evaluation process. About a specific action: If an applicant is considered for a promotion, and if he/she was found eligible on the basis of minimum qualifications requirements for the position; if an applicant was grouped among the best qualified; who was selected. Information that cannot be disclosed to applicants include: conversations and discussions held by the selection panel; rankings and ratings of the other applicants; personal information (age, address, etc.) about other applicants. Our organization´s employment system requires that each function to which duties and responsibilities are devolved for carrying out their employment activities of recruitment, selection, transfer and promotion (RSTP), are required to design and execute their human resources management functions in such a way as to rigorously ensure an efficient and systematic means of selection for promotion and placement according to merit. This policy provides a framework for ensuring fair consideration and merit selection. It provides the entire organization maximum flexibility to develop, negotiate and manage its own merit promotion and placement programs. OTHER ASPECTS RELATED TO R STP SYSTEM POLICIES AND PROCEDURES The Human Resources function is the organization´s normative body, responsible for: 70 Policy formation and guidance in all matters concerning human resources management programs. Ensuring adherence to established human resources management norms and policies. Arbitration in certain cases of policy and procedure violation or employee grievance. Grievances Employees have the right to file a complaint related to promotion actions. Complaints will be resolved according to properly established organizational guidelines. The standards for adjudicating are set forth in National Labor Law rules and regulations. Procedures used may be the subject for formal complaints or grievances. Non-selection from a group of properly selected and certified candidates is not an appropriate grounds for a complaint or grievance. Grievances procedures are treated under a separate organizational document. RSTP-RELATED DEFINITIONS OF TERMS The following word list represents words that have been used in the guidelines and procedures for RSTP actions in a merit promotion program. SONAPI will need to adapt some words to their local reality and add certain terms that do not appear. The purpose of this list and any future, more complete list that SONAPI should develop, is to ensure uniformity and universality of the basic vocabulary used to define concepts, principles, and actions of a merit-based employment and promotion system. Area of consideration: the area in which an intensive search is made for eligible candidates in a specific promotion action. Best qualified candidates: qualified candidates who rank at the top of the scale when compared to other qualified candidates for a position. The selection committee (panel) refers these candidates to the selecting official for further consideration. Career ladder: a group of progressively responsible positions within an occupation from entry level to the grade established as full performance level as set by management and documented for the record Certificate of Best Qualified/Selection Certificate: a list of candidates who received the highest scores in an evaluation process and whose qualifications clearly distinguish them from other candidates. Crediting plan: a product of the job analysis which provides a method of assessing a candidate´s background in relation to the mob being filled. Demotion: a change of an employee to a lower grade Job analysis: a systematic, documented review of the job to be filled to determine what knowledges, skills, abilities and other characteristics (KSAO´s) the worker must bring to the job to perform successfully in a reasonable period of time. 71 KSAO: Knowledge, skill, ability, and other characteristics needed to successfully perform a task Position change: a promotion, demotion, or reassignment made during an employee´s continuous service within the same ministry/agency. Priority consideration: special consideration given to an employee as a result of his/her not getting proper consideration in a merit promotion action, because of some aspect of the action not being correctly applied or observed. When this occurs, there is often a grievance filed by the employee. The grieved employee is entitled to getting priority consideration for the next merit promotion activity, before any other candidate. If the selecting official decides not to select the aggrieved employee, documentation must be presented that satisfactorily explains the legitimate, job-related reasons for the non-selection. Promotion: advancement from one grade to a higher grade within the same job classification system and pay schedule; or advancement to a position with a higher rate of basic pay in a different job classification system and pay schedule. Promotion panel: an ad hoc committee of subject matter experts established to evaluate, compare, and rank employees. Promotion potential: the highest grade to which a person may be promoted non-competitively Public official: anyone who, by law, rule, regulation or delegation has appointment or promotion authority, or authority to recommend employees for appointment or promotion. Qualified candidate: those candidates who meet all established, minimum qualification requirements and any selective placement factors for the position being filled. Re-assignment: the change of an employee from one position to another without grade change while serving continuously with a ministry or agency. Re-employment: the non-competitive re-employment, as a career or probational employee, of a person formerly employed in the competitive service. Relative: aunt, brother, brother-in-law, daughter, daughter-in-law, father, father-in-law, first cousin, half-brother, half-sister, husband, mother, mother-in-law, nephew, niece, sister, sister-in- law, son, son-in-law, stepbrother, step-daughter, stepfather, stepmother, stepsister, stepson, uncle, wife. Selective factors: KSAO´s required in addition to the basic qualification standard and which is essential to successful job performance. The following are examples: Ability to speak, read, and/or write a second or third language. Knowledge and abilities pertaining to a certain program or mission, when these cannot readily be acquired after promotion. Ability in a functional area (e.g. ability to evaluate alternative automated data processing systems). 72 SME: subject matter expert 21. Transfer: movement of a career or career-conditional employee from one ministry/agency to a position in another ministry/agency without a break in service. OTHER POLICIES AND PROCEDURES TO BE DEVELOPED BY SONAPI, TO ENSURE COMPLETENESS OF THE RSTP SYSTEM Vacancy Announcement Procedures & Forms The following is the suggested minimal content that a vacancy announcement should contain: Name of organization and vacancy identification number. All announcements should be able to be data based and cross-referenced. An identification number is useful for this and other reasons. Position title, cadre and grade (number of position if filling more than one position). If the position is other than full-time, state the type (e.g. part-time, number of hours under the part-time schedule, intermittent, temporary, etc.) If the position is for a temporary promotion, this must be stated Promotion potential, if any Location of position (city, region, etc.) Area of consideration; (e.g. local geographic area only, current civil service employees only, etc.) Opening and closing date. Statement of duties and qualification requirements (including evaluation criteria). Address, phone number, and contact person for making application. Statement of non-discrimination practice of organization Eligibility considerations for competitive promotion. Employee must meet all schemes of service requirements: time-in-grade restrictions, if any; etc. Identify KSAO´s that will be used in evaluation process. Statement of time limit for receiving applications. Submit complete application with original signature and most recent performance appraisal; a re- employment candidate must provide proof of prior employment. Statement that failure to specifically address the KSAO´s may negatively affect the applicant´s being considered for the position. Any conditions of employment: e.g. must be willing to travel; must be prepared to work overtime, etc. 73 A statement that a background check will be made before employment commitment will be made. Evaluation Methods / Procedures (referred to in above sample policy section) Method A 27 The ad hoc subject matter expert(s) on the selection panel will define three levels for rating (grading) KSAO´s that are identified in the job vacancy announcement. Superior Satisfactory Minimally acceptable Each level is assigned a certain number of points (point values). For example, Superior = 5; satisfactory = 3; minimally acceptable = 1. If the subject matter experts decide that the KSAO´s are not of equal importance, they will weight each factor in the crediting plan. If, for example, the selective factors are also used as rating factors, it would be appropriate to double the value of the rating for this KSAO. The best qualified group is determined by the following factors: Panel members will use the crediting plan developed by the ad hoc subject matter expert(s) to individually rate each applicant´s package. A single point value will be assigned to each KSAO. Once the individual rating is done for each KSAO, each panel member will add the point value assigned to each KSAO and get a total score of KSAO´s for that individual applicant. The panel members then evaluate all of the promotion candidates and then the panel members discuss the point values with each other. The discussion is to ensure there is not a wide disparity between panel members´ point value assigned. Refer to the Annex on Job Analysis and Developing a Crediting Plan to see three KSAO´s for a vacancy announcement. Let´s suppose the three panel members come out with the following score for an applicant: Member 1 scores = 3, 1, 3. Total 7 Member 2 scores = 5, 5, 5 Total 15 Member 3 scores = 3, 3, 1 Total 7 Note that Member 2 scored the applicant at “5-superior” for factors 2 and 3, while member 1 scored the same factor 2 at “1-minimally acceptable” and member 3 scored the same factor 3 at “1-minimally acceptable”. 27 The Performance Appraisal component needs to review this section with the RSTP component. The methods used here represent pretty standard ways of going about this type of merit-based appraisal and, as such, what is recommended here should not be expected to undergo much modification in order to fit SONAPI needs. 74 The discrepancies are too large, so the members should discuss this to ensure everybody understood the ratings, etc. and that the discrepancies are technically reconciled, if at all possible. After the panel has rated all the candidates and completed their reconciliation process, the Chairman of the panel will add up the scores for each of the Members (already shown above). As an example: if the reconciliation process resulted in Member #2 changing his scores to 3, for each of the three KSAO´s , then the total scores would look like this: Member #1: Total rating score = 7 Member #2: Total rating score = 9 Member #3: Total rating score = 7 Add the totals together to get a new total of 23. This is the overall rating. Divide the overall rating score by the total number of members, this being 3, and get an average which is 7.6. (when above .5, score may be rounded up to next whole number). The averaged score is 8 for this applicant. Do same for rating each applicant. Record the average scores on the final rating sheet. The applicant´s averaged score will be used to determine “best qualified” candidates. The “best qualified” group will be determined by a natural breakpoint. This is defined as a division in number which will clearly separate the “best qualified” group from the “qualified” group and provide 10 or fewer applicants to certify and submit to the selection official. An example of a natural breakpoint: if there are 2 applicants with 15; one with 13; one with 11; and one with 7, then we can see 2-point intervals with the scores down to 11, then there is a jump downward of 4 points, (from 11 to 7). So the natural breakpoint is 11. The score of 11 therefore is the breakpoint which separates “Best Qualified” from “Qualified”. It could be that the breakpoint is not clearly defined. The Chairman should discuss this issue with the facilitator and they should make the determination concerning what the Natural Breakpoint will be. Method B This method is recommended for the times when there are 5 qualified applicants or fewer. Deciding on when the candidate is “basically qualified”. This is done by the human resources department personnel. Evaluating the candidates: in using this Method B, a selection panel of experts is not required. A personnel expert may carry out the evaluation for determining basic skills. However, it is still necessary to evaluate the candidates against KSAO´s, but it is not required to apply the rating 75 schedule. If the personnel specialist cannot decide if the experience, education, or training relates to the evaluation criteria, he/she should get technical advice from a subject matter expert. If this is done, the promotion record should reflect that this was the method used to evaluate the criteria. Best qualified under Method B: in order to have their names forwarded for consideration, the applicants must have the following: A summary performance record stating “fully successful” or higher. Related experience, education, or training in all of the evaluation criteria (KSAO´s). This determination should be made through a review of the candidate´s application and response to the KSAO´s. If it is determined that an applicant does not possess a particular KSAO, the file should note this and explain how the determination was made. Any candidate not meeting the above will not be considered as “Best Qualified”. Job Analysis 28 A job analysis is a structured approach that analyzes the primary knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics (KSAO´s) that are required to successfully perform a job. A Job Analysis is performed before preparing a job vacancy announcement, since the information from the analysis is used for writing the announcement. There are 6 steps involved in the job analysis process/procedure. As follows: Identify the major (vital) duties, usually 4 or 5. To ensure that you have identified duties that represent vital and/or large segments on the work, estimate the time spent on these duties. The total of the times estimated should come to about 100% of the total job position. For each major or vital duty identified, conduct a task inventory to identify what actions are necessary in accomplishing the duty. For each task identified and stated, assess its importance in terms of the following three aspects: Percentage of the time each task takes in relation to the overall duties. Importance in terms of the consequences that would be had if errors were committed; e.g. if the task is not being performed successfully. Difficulty of the task (e.g. the level of knowledge, skill, or ability to carry it out). Combine similar tasks that appear significant enough to be considered KSAO´s. Identify potential KSAOs. Assess each potential KSAO for the following three factors: Is the factor able to be rated? Be careful to ask if the applicant´s package will be able to present information that will make the KSAO´s evident and will they be measurable? If the factor is a 28 Requires expertise in job and task evaluation to carry out the job analysis correctly. Strong inputs from subject matter experts and strong analytical skills from HR personnel also required. 76 personal characteristic, then it is preferable to not include it in the crediting plan. Job-related personal characteristics can be obtained during the interview process. For example: ability to deal with stressful situations; self-starter or team player, etc. These appreciations can then be used to help rate the “Best Qualified” candidates. Is the factor measurable? That is, can one measure the level to which the candidate possesses a particular KSAO? The application form that the candidate fills out should indicate how the particular KSA factors will be measured. The latest Performance Appraisal should contain information on the specific KSA´s that are to be measured. And the candidate him/herself should be informed of what KSAO´s will be measured so that the information can be provided in the application. If the KSAO´s cannot be measured, they should not be used. Is the factor needed for entry into the position? Generally speaking, if a KSAO can be learned within 90 days of time on the job, then it should not be used as a KSAO for the crediting plan. Once these analyses are completed, then the vacancy announcement, with the KSAO´s to be used as evaluating criteria, can be prepared and posted.