## How to Set Compensation for Government Employees

_IMF How To Notes, April 4, 2024_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [How to Set Compensation for Government Employees](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/imf-how-to-notes/issues/2024/04/04/how-to-set-compensation-for-government-employees-547046)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/en/publications/imf-how-to-notes/issues/2024/04/04/how-to-set-compensation-for-government-employees-547046/index.md)
- [Structured JSON version](/en/publications/imf-how-to-notes/issues/2024/04/04/how-to-set-compensation-for-government-employees-547046/index.json)
- [Bundle manifest](/en/publications/imf-how-to-notes/issues/2024/04/04/how-to-set-compensation-for-government-employees-547046/bundle-manifest.json)

## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Celine Thevenot, Sébastien Walker
- Published: April 4, 2024
- Series: IMF How To Notes
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400272653.061

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### Summary
- Government compensation-setting should be informed by the monitoring of trends in recruitment and retention and benchmarking against the private sector.
- Unduly high compensation is an inefficient use of resources, while insufficient compensation can hinder efforts to recruit, retain, and motivate the workforce needed to deliver adequate public services.
- Analyzing these factors at a granular level, for example, by occupation or position, can help to identify specific challenges.

### Key findings and themes
- Recruitment and retention trends are central to effective compensation-setting.
- Benchmarking against the private sector is necessary to evaluate the competitiveness of government compensation.
- Both excessively high and insufficient compensation carry costs: inefficiency versus impaired service delivery capacity.
- Granular analysis (by occupation or position) improves the ability to identify and address specific compensation challenges.

### Policy implications and recommendations
- Monitor trends in recruitment and retention systematically to inform compensation policy.
- Use private-sector benchmarks to assess the adequacy and competitiveness of government pay and non-wage benefits.
- Avoid unduly high compensation as it constitutes an inefficient use of scarce public resources.
- Address insufficient compensation to prevent recruitment and retention shortfalls that undermine public service delivery.
- Conduct granular, occupation- or position-level analysis to tailor compensation responses to specific challenges.

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## Content in this bundle

- **How to Set Compensation for Government Employees**
  - [How to Set Compensation for Government Employees (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/howtonotes/2024/english/htnea2024003.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"}
  - [How to Set Compensation for Government Employees (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/howtonotes/2024/english/htnea2024003.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"}

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/imf-how-to-notes/issues/2024/04/04/how-to-set-compensation-for-government-employees-547046_