How would you feel if your salary was slashed by ten percent overnight - if you were getting, say, 15,000 kroons on Friday but come Monday 1500 kroons of that had simply disappeared? You haven't been slacking off or skiving; you're simply getting paid less for doing the same job you've always done. Well, it seems such a scheme is to be implemented right here in Estonia: rumour has it that the ten percent bonus paid to state workers with Master's degrees is set for the chop.Ms Grün-Ots gets the hard word straight from the horse's mouth:
“The Public Service Act needs to be reviewed and some changes introduced in terms of qualifications,” explains Sille Uusna, an adviser with the Ministry of Education and Research. The solution she proposes may come to many as an unpleasant surprise: “Doing away with bonuses like these has been in the pipeline for years, so it's likely that if amendments are made it will lead to a reduction in the number of people eligible for such payments. It may be the case that people with Master's degrees are no longer rewarded for it.”
However, this shocking concept is not necessarily one that will be warmly embraced:
Paying people less than they're already getting is not something most state authorities would want to risk. In the Office of the Parliament, for example, there are 23 employees with Master's qualifications. Jana Sedrik from the Personnel Department says that if the proposed changes are made to the law and the bonuses are no more, the office's salary system will have to be reviewed and decisions made as to whether and which positions are worthy of the payment in the first place.
In the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, meanwhile, there are 30 members of staff with Master's degrees. Anne Marjapuu, deputy director of the ministry's Personnel Department, says that anyone with such qualifications is informed of their right to a bonus as soon as they take up their post. If anybody already working there completes a degree and submits their diploma, they too are immediately signed up for a bonus. Marjapuu admits that if these perks disappear, as has been rumoured for several years, they too at the ministry will have to look at the way they pay people so that they don't end up worse off.
But it's not all bad news - a lucky few in the public service will find that they are not affected by the potential cut in wages in the slightest, as confirmed (for example) by Marika Lepikult, director of personnel at City Hall:
“The City of Tallinn has never rewarded its workers for their academic achievements, language skills or long service.”
This little article should tell you a thing or two about the importance that is placed on higher education in Estonia. Answers on the back of a postcard though to the question: where's the logic in getting rid of the bonus system - presumably in a move to save money - if everyone is then simply going to up salaries to cover the difference?
http://www.arileht.ee/artikkel/400399
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