The level of salaries of civil servants always arouses interest among the broad masses of the people. The population believes that “servants of the people” should not have large allowances, which are paid to them from the budget. After all, most of the country's budget is replenished by ordinary citizens. Consequently, civil servants must protect the interests of ordinary citizens and then payments to them will be logical and justified.
Who is a civil servant
The public sector of the Russian Federation is a vast area of activity in which a huge number of people are involved. Based on the data of all-knowing statistics at the beginning of the year 5.4 million Russian citizens fell under the term “civil servant”.
A civil servant is an employee employed to perform certain duties in the public service. All activities of such an employee fall under the provisions of the Federal Law “On the Fundamentals of the Civil Service of the Russian Federation” of 1995.
According to changes made to this legislative act in 2001, this employee is primarily must be faithful to the interests of society and the state, direct your actions to serve them.
This employee must correspond to the position held in terms of personal qualities and professional data. His duties are fixed in a service contract, and remuneration is paid in accordance with the established procedure from the appropriate budget.
A civil servant must strictly follow all restrictions associated with his position and adhere to the current regulations. For failure to perform or improper performance of official duties, he must be punished.
Occupying various positions and acting in various directions, civil servants ensure the stable functioning of the state. The place where efforts are applied is determined based on the interests of the country, so the areas of activity are very multifaceted.
Civil servants represented in tax and judicial authorities, foreign intelligence, in the field of health protection and scientific developments. Employees of the migration service, the presidential apparatus, ministries, the prosecutor's office, and municipalities are also in the public service. Representatives of law enforcement agencies, border services and special authorities belong to this category of persons.
Only citizens of the Russian Federation are accepted for civil service.
They represent the interests of the state and citizens in the following bodies:
- Judicial;
- Executive;
- Representative;
- Others.
In simple terms it can be determined that a civil servant is a person whose work is provided by the state.
Situation today
In accordance with government moratorium since 2014 on increasing wages for employees, being in the public service was not carried out.
In May 2017, a number of decrees were issued, signed by the president of the country, which reflect a significant upward change in the salaries of civil servants. The amounts are not disclosed, which arouses genuine interest among both ordinary Russian citizens and interested parties.
The press caused a stir with the statement of Alexei Kudrin (former head of the Ministry of Finance) that the country’s budget would not be able to find the amounts for the declared salary indexation. The current sanctions, the unstable situation in all economic spheres, and the instability of the exchange rate do not allow such an increase.
Currently, the country's budget has not yet been approved, so it is difficult to say whether changes will be included in its consumables on the salaries of civil servants or not.
Perhaps the necessary funds are planned to be found in regional budgets. But then this may negatively affect planned spending on repairs of children's educational institutions and hospitals. Kudrin argues that it is impossible not to completely comply with the instructions of the head of the country, therefore his orders regarding civil servants will be partially carried out.
According to Rosstat based on the results of data processing for 2018, the average salary of an official is almost 100,000 rubles. It varies greatly depending on the field of activity.
The highest paid are employees of the presidential apparatus, their salaries are more than 200,000 rubles per month. More than 1,700 people are involved in this area.
The most low-paid employees are archivists with an income of about 53,000 rubles per month. Even the smallest wage far exceeds the country's minimum subsistence level.
Not everything is simple with the implementation of the moratorium on salary indexation. Based on Roskomtat data, the level of income of the state apparatus increased in 2018 compared to 2017. This happened in both regional and central departments. This fact does not indicate a violation of the instructions of the head of state. There was a small gap in the moratorium, which made it possible to apply an increment to individual employees.
There will be an increase or indexation of wages in 2019
By its decrees the government guaranteed to approve an increase in official salaries of civil servants in 2018 by 4%.
This innovation will affect:
- senators;
- deputies;
- ministry employees;
- employees of audit departments;
- prosecutors;
- other government employees.
If the situation in the economy stabilizes, the bill proposes doubling funding for the state apparatus. The exact date of such a change in payments is not indicated.
According to the state program, 380 billion rubles will be allocated to stimulate the activities of civil servants. It is not clear now how the quality portion of the salary will be calculated. Such a change in the structure of officials’ salaries will almost double payments due to the incentive portion.
It is expected that this innovation will not cover all categories of civil servants. This is due to the large difference between the salaries of senior and lower officials. Therefore, it is planned to encourage young employees so that they do not look for additional income “on the side.”
According to the new program, the proportion between the salaries of senior and junior specialists must be maintained - 1 to 10. In the future, the difference will be reduced to 1 to 5.
Among the main innovations regarding civil servants are the following:
- the final salary for the month will be calculated based on the benefit brought to the state by the employee;
- a double increase in salaries for certain categories of officials is expected;
- the law regulating the activities of civil servants will be replenished with new sections by the end of the year;
- In 2018, a massive release of officials from their positions is planned.
At the moment, the final remuneration of an official is formed by the following elements:
- Job salary.
- Salary in accordance with category and rank.
- Long service bonus.
- Additional incentives. Depending on the complexity of the conditions, the additional payment can vary from 60% to 200% of the official salary.
The new program plans to maintain salaries and remove allowances, incentives and bonuses. For this purpose, contracts will be signed with each employee. It will reflect the requirements and standards that the official must fulfill. According to these criteria the effectiveness of its activities at the end of the reporting period will be assessed.
If the employee will be able to provide evidence of his productivity in his position, he is entitled to a bonus for the quality of work. If there are no supporting facts, then he will receive a reduced remuneration without any bonuses or allowances.
The innovation is necessary and useful, but how it will actually work is not yet clear.
Will there be a reduction in civil servants?
Due to the complicated economic situation in the state the authorities are trying to optimize the costs of maintaining employees receiving wages from various budgets.
It should be assumed that if an upcoming increase in the salaries of officials is announced at the official level, and there are no extra funds in the state treasury, then they will be obtained by reducing the number of employees.
The bill, adopted back in 2014, it was planned to gradually reduce the number of government employees. The process was supposed to begin in 2015 and end by 2018. The exact number of officials to be cut was not specified. Vague data were given about the need for reform, optimization of the work process, and the like.
In fact, citizens who entered the service without the appropriate specialized education or the necessary qualifications could be laid off.
To these requirements in 2018, certification will be added on the following points:
- Knowledge of regulatory documents accepted for action on the territory of the Russian Federation.
- Knowledge of Russian language.
- Accurate understanding and knowledge of all points of anti-corruption legislation.
It is difficult to accurately answer the question of how many civil servants will be laid off in 2018. The estimated figure ranges from 5% to 10%. It is assumed that after reducing the number of civil service employees, the activities of the remaining apparatus will be more efficient.
The bulk of layoffs will take place in the regions, since it is believed that the central apparatus is staffed in accordance with the standards for the normal functioning of public services.
The authorities do not provide precise information about the proposed reductions. The Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation constantly makes statements about the need to monitor the work of various services and departments. Many organs duplicate each other's work. As a result, the same activity is paid for from the budget several times.
Therefore in 2018 The staffing table will be completely changed in each government agency. As a result, officials will not be able to invent any tasks for themselves in order to simulate hectic activity.
It is currently difficult to judge the positive or negative aspects of the proposed innovations. Getting officials to do quality work is a key point in the proposed reform. It is not known whether wage incentives will help cope with corruption in the bureaucracy. The main thing is that the reform started on January 1, 2018. And we will evaluate its results at the end of the calendar year.
Civil servants are waiting for their financial situation to improve. We will soon find out what increase in labor benefits our officials expect by 2018. The Russian government is preparing a number of innovations to increase salaries for civil servants.
7 key news about salary increases for civil servants in 2018
- State labor remuneration employees will directly depend on the performance of their immediate duties;
- Estimated salary growth will increase by 38% in 2018;
- According to Rosstat, the average salary of an official is 208,000 rubles;
- Labor compensation for a low-paid specialist varies around 26,000 rubles;
- The Federal Law “On Civil Service” will be supplemented with amendments and additions by the end of 2017;
- In the future, new employment agreements (contracts) are envisaged with prescribed criteria, the indicators of which must be met.
- 2018 - massive layoffs of federal employees from government agencies are planned.
Salary increase for federal civil servants in Russia - latest news of 2018
The size of the increase in salaries of federal civil servants in Russia in 2018
The Russian government has announced that by 2018, wages for officials are expected to increase. But, as it turned out, they were talking about increasing only part of the salary, which directly depends on the high performance of each individual municipal employee.
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Increase in military salaries in 2018
What do employees need to do to stay in their positions and keep their salaries? An event is planned in Russia to improve the civil service. The action plan is limited to a two-year period, where it has been calculated: the increase in salaries for civil servants in 2018 will be thirty-eight percent.
Finance experts say this measure is necessary—the salaries of this category of workers have not been indexed since 2014.
The performance of a civil servant is an important criterion for a salary increase in 2018
Increase in salaries for officials - compensation for inflation in 2018
The average remuneration of municipal employees in Russia as of 2016 was 99,900 (ninety-nine thousand nine hundred) rubles. A project has been adopted where wage growth will not exceed thirty-eight percent.
Hence the conclusion: labor remuneration, taking into account indexation, will be 140,000 (one hundred and forty thousand) rubles. However, only part of the salary will increase, and an increase in the entire salary was not discussed at all. But I wonder what kind of profitability the increased share will receive.
The head of the Agency for Communication Policy and Economics, D. Orlov, put forward an opinion: to increase the salaries of officials by paying compensation due to the inflation that has occurred.
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In general, many politicians agree with him that it is not worth putting all performers on the same line: some receive small rewards for their work, others are “rowing with a shovel.”
Rosstat provided data on how specialists from the presidential apparatus received money. Thus, it turns out: the average salary for an employee is 208,000 (two hundred eight thousand) rubles.
However, the labor income of young high-category specialists fluctuates around 26,000 (twenty-six thousand) rubles. With today's rising prices, it is quite difficult for young professionals to survive on their own and support their families.
To solve this problem, low-paid workers get out of the situation by obtaining additional income “from the outside.” Thus, a decision is made to increase wages for low-paid specialists.
Municipal workers had high wages in 2014, and then, due to the current economic situation in the state, their remuneration decreased by twenty percent.
Latest news on civil servants' salaries - video
Dependence of salary increases on the performance of a civil servant in 2018
To receive full payment, including additional payments, in 2018, an employee of a state-owned enterprise will need to regularly follow the relevant job descriptions. Thus, it turns out: the remuneration of an official should directly depend on the quality and quantity of the result of his activities.
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Salaries of state employees of the Russian Federation will increase by 15% in 2018
The Government of the Russian Federation proposed to prepare additions and amendments to the Federal Law “On the State Civil Service” by the end of 2017.
These additions provide for the drawing up of an employment agreement (contract) with officials, which outlines the criteria that require the employee to master them within a certain period of time. The contract will also indicate individual performance indicators of its activities.
The increase in the salary of an individual civil servant directly depends on the quality of implementation of the clauses of the employment contract. Funds will be issued either in full upon fulfillment of all terms of the contract, or not.
Since we are talking about the growth of monetary remuneration for government officials, in order to motivate employees to perform their work duties with all professionalism and zeal, a clause will also be written in the law providing for bonuses for their conscientious work.
To many experts on economic activity, this proposal seems more acceptable in order to provide an incentive for the official to work responsibly.
Today the remuneration for government work. employee has several components:
- salary as an official;
- salary as an official (divided by class);
- increase in length of service;
- special conditions for performing civil service;
- working with secret cases;
- allowances, supplements, bonuses;
- bonuses, other payments.
The decline in incomes of people in the public service is not only due to the budget deficit. The implementation of planned administrative reforms announced by Putin was postponed until the next presidential term. Reform is in full swing only in the government apparatus, the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Tax Service - the salaries of civil servants of these departments will be calculated according to the new rules, and in 2018 their size will increase.
Contract system and staff reductions
The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection plans to amend the existing law on civil service in the Russian Federation and link earnings to the effectiveness of the work performed by the employee. In other words, remuneration for work will directly depend on productivity - how much you work, how much you receive. The implementation of the contract system should occur at the beginning of next year, immediately after the release of the relevant document.
The contract will be a regular employment agreement, which clearly states productivity criteria, authority and final indicators. The amount of salary, including allowances and bonuses, depends on what the latter become. This contract implies not only effective work, but also an increase in salary. The government considers such a move to be the only acceptable and correct decision in conditions of economic instability.
There is no doubt that the transition to the new system will entail staff reductions - this is also the government’s goal and will allow the elimination of duplicative functions of government agencies. Often Russian employees are not interested in the results of their work, because in any case they are guaranteed a fixed remuneration. According to legislators, the innovation will help change the situation and ensure that wages grow in line with the pace of economic growth.
What awaits civil servants in 2018
Indexation is a necessary measure and a real chance for an employee to improve their financial situation. It is carried out annually in order to reduce losses from inflation and maintain living standards. According to the Central Bank’s forecast, inflation in the coming years will not rise above 4%, which means that salaries will be recalculated taking this indicator into account. Good news is also the availability of funds in the state treasury intended for payments to public sector employees.
Treasury officials are confident that the period of austerity is coming to an end and it will be appropriate to resume wage increases in the coming year. Doctors will receive a salary increase of 200% of the regional average, and this increase will take place in every city. Doctors from both capitals and northern regions are also included in the list. Teachers' salaries will be increased by the end of 2018, on the day of their professional holiday.
The salary increase for other categories of civil servants is still in question, but indexation by 4% in 2018 will still take place. If you believe the statements of politicians and officials, before the presidential elections all promises will be fulfilled, and the income of civil servants will certainly increase. This was confirmed by Deputy Prime Minister Golodets and Finance Minister Siluanov, although with the caveat that the increase will be “smooth” and “gradual.” According to the head of the Accounts Chamber Golikova, salaries of public sector employees will increase by the end of 2017.
The May decrees were signed by Putin to improve the well-being of workers; several years were allotted for implementation - from 2012 to 2018. The last stage is ending, and the final deadline for increasing salaries for civil servants is the second half of 2018.
In 2014, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation adopted a new project concerning the basic functioning of the updated budget policy, which contained information that the salaries of civil servants should increase to an average of 60,000 rubles by 2018. The government should have allocated more than 400 billion rubles for the implementation of planned activities, but the crisis has slightly changed the planned payments, so the question of whether there will be an increase in salaries for federal civil servants in 2018 is especially relevant today.
What is the crux of the matter?
Today, the authorities rightly believe that it is simply impossible to do without the necessary increase in the salaries of federal civil servants, because in the past this category of civil servants was subject to the bill on the temporary abolition of indexation, because the country did not have the funds to carry out this event. And this takes into account the fact that federal employees are direct representatives of state power, and therefore perform work that is extremely important for the country, which means that their level of material allowance should be appropriate, and today not everyone can boast of such an advantage.
Increase in salaries of civil servants
When discussing the question of what will happen to the salary of a federal civil servant, it must be said that the government plan aimed at increasing the guaranteed part of the salary of representatives of this profession is spelled out in the program for the development of the civil service of the Russian Federation for the period from 2016 to 2018. It is planned that the income of this category of public sector employees will increase by approximately 38%, and no one is going to deviate from the planned plan, because the last increase was carried out back in 2014.
However, it is necessary to discuss the information that the income of federal civil servants is quite large, because, according to statistics, in 2016 the average salary in this area of government activity was about 100,000 rubles. Accordingly, if this amount increases by 38%, 100,000 will turn into 140,000 rubles monthly. Naturally, today you don’t even need to understand economics to understand that the state treasury does not have the funds for this kind of salary increase, so if there is an increase, it will definitely not be that large.
When discussing a possible increase in the salary of federal civil servants in 2018 in Russia, it must be said that experts recommend paying attention to the fact that it is impossible to fit all civil servants under one “line”, because among the representatives of this profession there are those people who earn much more given amount, and there are those who receive much less. It must be said that, for example, specialists of the first category who live in Moscow receive only about 30,000 rubles, and it’s not even worth talking about supporting a family of three people. In general, senior and lower-level specialists receive very different salaries, which can differ from each other by ten (and sometimes more) times.
However, the authorities today have taken care of this issue, because they have passed a law according to which the salaries of representatives of the highest and lowest in the public sector today cannot differ from each other by more than 10 times (the optimal option is a ratio of 1:5) .
"Effective contracts" in action
It is impossible not to talk about the peculiarities of the functioning of “effective” contracts,” which directly relate to increasing wages for federal employees; the latest news on this issue suggests that today the income of representatives of this profession will directly depend on how much they “earn” on their own. Simply put, in order to receive a full salary, a person will have to perform all his professional duties efficiently and in a timely manner. Otherwise, he will not only not be able to count on receiving bonuses, but will also be fired from his job (contracts significantly facilitate the process of laying off budget employees).
The contract itself will resemble a standard employment contract, but in order to increase the salary, the federal civil servant will have to comply with a number of work requirements specified in it. Naturally, the requirements are regulated by law and do not go beyond the scope of authority, but it is compliance with them that will be assessed when determining the productivity of a civil servant. At the same time, the employee’s income increases not due to the working salary, but due to compensation payments and bonuses, which today is especially important information, because experts believe that in the current state of the economic system, this solution is the only correct one.
Should we expect a raise?
The official rate of a federal civil servant for 2018 in the Russian Federation (civil servant) consists of the actual salary part, additional payment for rank and additional (bonus) payments, which include length of service (bonuses for it are accrued monthly), bonuses for working conditions, as well as for preservation of state secrets (bonuses for working with secrets are extremely large, because they can reach 65% of the basic salary).
Initially (before the financial crisis began in the country), the authorities planned to increase the working salary of each employee, because it is the fundamental value for each salary, but then it became clear that the authorities would not be able to increase the salary, so they would just have to increase the size of bonuses and allowances.
An additional means will be the indexation of salaries of federal civil servants in 2018 in Russia, because this event will allow salaries to be multiplied by the inflation rate. Previously, the authorities had to abandon indexing because they did not have the funds to implement it (especially when the inflation rate reached 12%). However, today indexation is planned entirely at the level of forecast inflation, so we can say that the indexation coefficient will be approximately 4.5%.
Will there be layoffs or not?
In conclusion, we need to discuss the question of whether there will be a reduction in federal civil servants in 2018, because the wave of optimization that began during the crisis has not yet ended, which means there is a risk of job loss among federal civil servants.
Regarding reductions in this category of public sector employees, the authorities do not provide particularly accurate information, but the media are discussing data that the authorities are planning to change the powers of state organizations in order to eliminate duplicating functions, and this will undoubtedly entail a reduction in the number of employees. More detailed information regarding the possible reduction of civil servants can be obtained from official sources (on the websites of government organizations), because today there are no accurate data on this issue.
Officials and other government officials are looking forward to 2018 with hope and anxiety, because it is this year that their salaries are planned to change. And this concerns almost a third of the working population of our country, more than 30 million people. The Government of the Russian Federation is planning to carry out reforms regarding the remuneration of civil servants. But the system of increasing salaries is not as simple as citizens in the service of the state would like. Let's consider exactly how the reform will be carried out.
Official sources about the upcoming increase
The latest news regarding salary increases for civil servants in 2018 in Russia often contradict each other. The media do not provide a unified interpretation of the Presidential Decree of August 11, 2016. No. 403 “On the main directions of development of the state civil service of the Russian Federation for 2016 – 2018.” Let's try to follow the red thread of this document and predict whether the wages of Russian civil servants will be increased.
The Decree literally states: “...to complete measures to improve the system of material incentives for civil servants, as well as the structure of their pay.” The decree clearly informs that a direct increase in wages in a certain percentage is not expected. It is planned to increase the role of the factor of material motivation of workers. The Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation has been entrusted with developing a system of incentive measures.
After the publication of the Decree, discussions arose in the media about “who will live well in Rus'” and even cited exact figures for the increase in earnings - 38%. The excitement over salary increases did not leave the government of the Russian Federation indifferent: on November 8, 2016, the Cabinet of Ministers made a statement about the incorrect interpretation of Presidential Decree No. 403 by the media. In this statement, the government made it clear that 38% is the total total increase in the salaries of civil servants over several years , starting in 2012.
Until 2015, salaries increased by 10% on average. In 2015, this indicator was frozen. And, according to the government, it is unlikely, even in total terms, to reach the 38% level at the beginning of 2019.
The media suggest that increasing the salary of Russian civil servants will be nothing more than indexing earnings by the inflation coefficient. Officially, this information is not confirmed; on the contrary, the Ministry of Finance in October 2016 made a proposal to cancel the regular recalculation of public sector employees’ earnings, and the State Duma accepted this proposal and extended the moratorium on indexation until the beginning of next year.
Thus, the salaries of civil servants in Russia in 2018 will depend on the filling of the state budget and the decision to end the moratorium.
Methodology of a differentiated approach
In the process of implementing the provisions prescribed in Presidential Decree 403, officials plan to improve the system of material incentives for federal employees by introducing an “effective contract” into the relationship between the state and the employee. What is the essence of this innovation?
Let's look at the innovations planned by the Ministry of Labor:
- division of an employee’s salary into 2 conditional parts: salary (position and for grade) and a bonus component. If possible, only the salary will be increased; other payments will remain at the same level;
- inclusion in the employment contract of a number of duties that the employee must perform for a certain time in order to receive a full salary and additional payments;
- determination of criteria that the results of a civil servant’s work must meet.
It is worth noting that with the introduction of the above innovations, the employee will receive a salary either in full or in a reduced amount. The amount of payments will be directly dependent on the fulfillment of the indicators specified in the contract. For each type of activity, they will develop their own list of labor efficiency assessments.
Where do the firewood come from?
Financing for salary increases, even the smallest ones, must have its own sources. The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation is engaged in their research. One of the sources of financing to stimulate the material interest of employees is personnel reductions. For example, reducing the number of civil servants in 2012-2013 by 20% allowed the budget to save about 18 billion rubles. Moreover, the reductions this time affected mainly senior employees.
Half of the saved funds were used to improve the material motivation of civil servants. It is planned that this practice will continue to be carried out by redistributing functions and eliminating their duplication.
Over the past years, 200 billion rubles have been spent on increasing wages from the state treasury and 900 billion came from the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
In addition to reducing the number, there is another source of financing - taxes. Increasing taxes, in particular the value added tax from 18 to 22%, and reducing insurance payments from 32 to 22%, will allow federal budgetary organizations to save money and use it to increase salaries. If we talk about the monetary equivalent, it is about 230 billion rubles per year.
