Employment Incentive Framework – DAKSHYATA – Agriculture and Farmer’s Empowerment Department, Odisha

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Case Study

Department of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment

Problems:

Lack of consistency in establishing roles and tasks, as well as quantifiable targets for staff appraisal. Because there is no uniformity in defining performance standards, there is a higher probability of subjectivity in writing appraisals. There is no distinction between average and good achievers, thus there is no drive for outstanding performance. The lack of a framework for taking prompt action against weak performers increases the possibility of mediocrity in individual and organizational performance.

Solutions:

The Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment has conceptualized an Employee Incentive Framework (EIF) named DAKSHYATA which enhances the performance of its employees.

The framework outlines the major responsibilities and actions that government employees must do in accordance with the departmental programme implementation guidelines. It includes a quantitative metric that will be used to assess the success of the essential tasks and activities completed. Furthermore, it contains the data system that will be utilized to correctly measure the Key Performance Indicators for each task or activity completed. It also ensured the timely and transparent implementation of various departmental schemes in an efficient manner.

The department is felicitating the top performing employees (Monthly and Annually) through an appreciation letter along with other incentives which are enhancing their performance as well as the good achievement of the departmental schemes.

Outcomes:

A comprehensive framework has been developed to assist and support employees in achieving their highest professional and personal goals. The framework has been designed to clearly identify quantifiable targets for staff in department priority areas. Through data-backed eligibility and selection criteria, a merit-based strategy was used to inspire and recognize great workers. The department has decided to recognize the top performing staff (monthly and annually) with an appreciation letter and additional incentives.

The incentive framework DAKSHYATA clearly outlines the employee’s roles and responsibilities in accomplishing the department’s priority areas, and maps the qualitative roles and responsibilities into quantitative key performance indicators and measurement tools that will be utilized to measure the targets and successes. It then divides the department’s priority areas into appraisal components, which will serve as the appraisal parameters for each cadre. Each cadre employee’s performance scorecard is carefully created with the employee cadre’s areas of duty in mind. Through data-backed eligibility and selection criteria, a merit-based strategy was used to inspire and recognize great workers.

Challenges:

The challenges include not having specifics on how to define the roles and responsibilities and how to measure their performance.  There is a wide range of standards that can be applied in writing appraisals, so it is harder to define performance.  Lack of motivation for exceptional performers is also one of the issues since there is no distinction between average and good performers.

Innovations:

The Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment’s (DAFE) objective is to provide its employees with a competitive and professionally gratifying workplace where the emphasis is on achieving high-performance standards. The department intends to include all government employees in the new employee incentive system. To that end, the department has carefully phased out the installation of the incentive system based on the various duties and responsibilities performed by each cadre employee. Among the many service cadres, emphasis has been placed on developing the performance framework for Group-B and Group-C government personnel who are directly involved in the delivery of departmental programmes and services to residents. It has been recognised that improving the performance and motivation of Group-B and Group-C cadre employees is critical to the department’s overall performance.

Opportunities:

After the success of this initiative, the scheme has the potential for replication, and other officials in this department may be covered by this performance appraisal system.

For more information, please contact:
Mr Suresh Kumar Vashishth, Commissioner cum Secretary at adapt.odisha@gmail.com

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