The Secretary-General’s vision for a more effective and accountable organization has at its core a strengthened performance management cycle. For the most recent performance management cycle (2017-18) e-Performance for 90% of staff in the global Secretariat was completed by the extended deadline of 31 July 2018. This is the second cycle in a row in which 90 per cent compliance was reached after several years of steady improvement.
Here is what our performance management data from 2017-18 reveals:
- Field operations (peacekeeping missions and special political missions) had the highest compliance rate of 92%, followed by Offices Away from Headquarters/Regional Commissions/Tribunals (88%) and UNHQ-NY departments/offices (86%).
- Two entities, ESCAP and OLA, achieved a 100 per cent compliance rate. Ten entities had between 98 and 100 per cent compliance and 23 entities achieved compliance rates within the range of 90 – 97%. Entities that increased their rates of compliance in comparison with the prior cycle (2016-17) include: DM (19% increase), UN-Habitat (16%), RSCE (16%) ODA (16%) and MINURSO (14%).
- The compliance rate for Professional staff was at 85% and both the Field Service and General Service categories had a compliance rate of 92%.
- Compliance for male staff was 91% compared to 87% for female staff.
- Sixty-six per cent of staff received the “meets expectations” rating and 33% received “exceeds expectations.” Less than 1% of staff received either “does not meet expectations” or “partially meets expectations”.
- Thirty-nine percent of female staff members received “exceeds expectations” rating compared to 31% of male staff members. Both male and female supervisors rated a relatively higher percentage of female staff members as “exceeds expectations”.
- Directors received the highest number of “exceeds expectations” ratings at 58%. Professional and Field Service staff received “exceeds expectations” between 39 and 47% while General Service staff received the lowest number of “exceeds expectations” ratings at 25%.
- A large majority of managers – 94% - have ten or fewer direct reports, which is in line with best practice. A small minority of managers have 11 or more direct reports, and most of them are in field operations.
The full report with more detailed information about compliance and ratings, including new gender-oriented data, information on “span of control” (FRO and direct report ratios), rebuttals and training is available here to read.
A reminder to explore performance management learning options on inspira – including the mandatory performance management programme that all managers must take. Once you log in, go to My Learning and search for “performance management.”