Presentation by Friederike Schwarzendorfer, Austria, for the 12th Annual Meeting on Performance and Results held at the OECD, Paris, on 24-25 November 2016

1. Incentivising good performance
Friederike Schwarzendorfer
Federal Ministry of Finance Austria
Date/place:
OECD 12th annual meeting of the OECD Senior Budget Officials
Performance and Results Network
24th-25th November 2016

2. Types of rewards in Austria
 Individuals: Annual staff appraisal interviews are anchored
in the Federal Civil Service Law. They should be carried out
at least once a year (normally at the beginning of the
year). The aim of the staff appraisal interviews is also to
talk about the employee’s past performance and future
objectives. Performance-related pay is not regulated by law,
but ministries are free to reward good performance by
granting a bonus.
 Financial rewards are classified as personnel expenditure.
They are additional to regular salaries.
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3. Types of rewards in Austria
 Organisation-wide: The Organic Budget Law contains a
provision (see Sec. 83) that line ministries can grant civil
servants a bonus if the objectives in the performance
contracts at detail budget level were met and there are
sufficient resources to pay the bonus out of the current
budget.
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4. Types of rewards in Austria
 There are no team-based performance related-pay schemes
in place. As mentioned above performance-related pay is
not regulated by law, but some ministries have
performance-related bonus schemes in place (e.g. the
Ministry of Finance).
The aim is to reward good performance and to motivate
employees to perform as good or even better in the future.
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5. Accountability
 Ministers are accountable to Parliament. A performance
report which contains detailed information on the
achievement of objectives at budget chapter and global
budget level is submitted each year to the Budget
Committee by October 31.
 Senior civil servants (e.g. General Directors) are appointed
for a fixed time period only (the may be reappointed in
case of good performance).
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6. Consequences
 There are no penalties by law, but results of ministries are
made public (“naming and shaming”). Ministers may have
to explain to Parliament and the public why they did not
achieve an objective.
 For individuals: bad performance may have consequences
in bonus decisions and may reduce career prospects.
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7. Evaluation of Results
 Evaluation of the performance of employees is done within
the staff appraisal interviews.
 In the MoF also when deciding on the individual bonus (tool
to evaluate the performance of each civil servant).
 Drivers of success:
 payments and bonuses just help for a short time
 On the long run soft facts are more important:
managerial autonomy, independent and autonomous
work, good working atmosphere, time flexibility
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8. Evaluation of Results
 Therefore:
It should be taken into account that employees in general
and civil servants are not only motivated by financial
incentives (“intrinsic motivation”) and that nonfinancial
recognition and appreciation plays an important role too.
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Thank you for your attention!
Contact address:
Friederike Schwarzendorfer
Deputy Director General
Directorate for Budget and Public Finance
Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance
Tel: +43 1 514 33 50 2200