Material Incentives for Public Servants: Features, Methods and Problems

Improving the efficiency of professional activity of employees is one of the key management issues for any modern organization and, in particular, for public authorities, as the competence of civil servants, their effectiveness and efficiency certainly are reflected in the socio-economic development of the whole country. That is why the increase of effectiveness of the activities of employees is one of the most important areas of modern civil service reform and management of public bodies’ personnel. One way to achieve higher rates is the increase of employees’ interest through well-chosen and implemented incentive systems. The modern state in accordance with the best practices of major international organizations has developed various mechanisms to encourage civil servants, among which are basically material (monetary and non-monetary) and intangible incentive systems. And today in Russia the most effective are monetary incentives due to legal restrictions and prohibitions for public officials on the possibility of external revenues. In the present study the author reveals the concept of material incentives system and its main components, analyzes the current Russian system. The author also discusses the main issues reflecting the specific material incentives in the civil service, analyzes the importance of monetary stimulus, and explains the need to reform the current system, in particular, on the basis of the results of the interviews with civil servants. Keywords: financial incentives, civil servants, monetary maintenance, human resource management.