Pay Level Survey for the Civil Service

Civil Service Bureau (CSB) is developing an improved pay adjustment mechanism for long-term adoption in the civil service. The conduct of periodic pay level surveys will be an integral part of the improved mechanism to ascertain whether civil service pay is broadly comparable with private sector pay.

Following the preparatory and consultation work in the past few months, the survey consultant will soon embark on the survey field work. The immediate task of the consultant is to carry out a job inspection process to collect up-to-date information (including job content, work nature, level of responsibility and typical requirements on qualification and experience) on the civil service benchmark jobs included in the survey field. On the basis of the detailed information collected, the consultant will match civil service jobs with broadly comparable private sector jobs and collect relevant private sector pay data. The consultant will then consolidate and analyse the data collected in accordance with the pre-determined survey methodology.

The job inspection process is a crucial step of the pay level survey. CSB looks forward to the active participation and cooperation of both management and colleagues to make this process a success.


1. How will civil service jobs be matched with private sector jobs?

Reply:

The job matching will be made based on the specific content of the respective civil service jobs and private sector jobs and not on job titles. For this purpose, a job inspection process will be carried out for the civil service benchmark jobs to ensure proper job matching based on detailed information of these jobs.

Reply:

The Government will consider how the survey results should be applied when the pay level survey results are available, and will consult staff before taking a decision. If the pay level survey results indicate that civil service pay is higher than private sector pay, the Government's current proposal is to freeze the pay of the serving staff at the prevailing level until it is caught up by the private sector pay level.

3. Will the pay level survey results be used for adjusting the pay of individual grades?

Reply:

The purpose of the pay level survey is to compare civil service pay with private sector pay on a broad level, rather than to compare the pay of individual jobs. The survey results will therefore be used for considering adjustments to the civil service pay scales, rather than the pay of individual grades/ranks.

4. Can staff participate in the work of the pay level survey?

Reply:

Given the importance of the pay level survey to civil servants, CSB has established a dedicated Consultative Group on Civil Service Pay Adjustment Mechanism to facilitate consultation with the four central consultative councils and the four major service-wide staff unions on a regular basis throughout the entire exercise. In the process of designing the survey methodology, we had already taken on board many of the valuable views of the staff side members. In the upcoming survey field work, staff bodies and representatives will continue to have ample opportunities to express their views either directly or through their representatives at various stages. The degree of staff's participation in the current survey is, by industry standard, very intensive, both in terms of breadth and depth.

5. Which civil service grades/ranks will be covered in the pay level survey? What role will I be expected to play if I am nominated as a post-holder representative?

Reply:

The consultant has selected about 60 civil service grades involving about 200 ranks that may have reasonable counterparts in the private sector for inclusion in the survey field. The grade/departmental management concerned will, in accordance with the nomination criteria and having regard to nominations from staff bodies/associations, invite nominated post-holder representatives to job inspection interviews conducted by the consultant. The consultant will in due course provide relevant background information and briefings to prepare post-holder representatives for participation in the interviews.

6. Can the pay level survey adequately reflect the diversity and uniqueness of civil service jobs?

Reply:

Through the job inspection process, the consultant will collect comprehensive job-related information on the civil service benchmark jobs, including the common and unique responsibilities of these jobs. The consultant will also ascertain such information through interviewing with post-holder representatives. During the process, apart from providing inputs to such information, staff bodies and representatives may also nominate post-holder representatives to meet with the consultant to ensure that the latter would fully understand the diversity and uniqueness of the civil service jobs concerned.

7. There are inherent differences between civil service jobs and private sector jobs. For example, some civil service jobs involve regulatory or law enforcement duties while many private sector jobs emphasise on profit-making. How will such inherent differences be dealt with in the survey?

Reply:

The pay level survey seeks to compare the pay of broadly comparable jobs. As such, civil service jobs whose duties are vastly different from those of the private sector, e.g. disciplined services jobs, have not been included in the survey field. In view of the inherent differences between civil service jobs and private sector jobs, the consultant will take the extra step of identifying and noting these inherent differences through the job inspection process. This information will serve as a relevant factor, together with others, for the Government's consideration of any necessary adjustment to civil service pay following the pay level survey.

8. When will the survey be completed?

Reply:

The completion date of the survey depends largely on the work progress of the survey field work. Judging from the current progress, the consultant projects that the survey will be completed around the first half of the next year.

9. How to make further enquiry?

Reply:

You may approach your Departmental Secretaries or send email to csbpl@csb.gov.hk for enquiry.

Civil Service Bureau
December 2005

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