United Nations ICSC/73/R.1 International Civil Service Commission Distr.: Restricted 13 May 2011 Original: English Seventy-third session Paris, 18-29 July 2011 Annotated provisional agenda Provisional agenda 1. Opening of the session. 2. Report of the Chair on activities since the seventy-second session of the Commission. 3. Adoption of the agenda. ICSC/73/R.1 4. Conditions of service applicable to both categories of staff: (a) Performance management; (b) Hazard/danger pay; (c) Standards of conduct; (d) Education grant methodology: minimum eligibility age for the receipt of the grant. ICSC/73/R.2 ICSC/73/R.3 ICSC/73/R.4 ICSC/73/R.5 5. Conditions of service of the Professional and higher categories: (a) Base/floor salary scale and review of staff assessment rates used in conjunction with gross salaries; (b) Evolution of the United Nations/United States net remuneration margin; ICSC/73/R.6 ICSC/73/R.7 (c) Mobility/hardship scheme: (i) Review of the methodology: cost implications; ICSC/73/R.8 (ii) Review of the level; ICSC/73/R.9 (d) Survey and report on diversity in the United Nations common system; ICSC/73/R.10 (E) 200511 *1133690*
(e) Proposed agenda for the thirty-fourth session of the Advisory Committee on Post Adjustment Questions. ICSC/73/R.11 6. Conditions of service in the field: harmonization of the conditions of service for staff serving in non-family duty stations in the common system: (a) Rest and recuperation framework; (b) Establishing unified special operations living allowance rates. 7. Monitoring of implementation of decisions and recommendations of the International Civil Service Commission by organizations of the United Nations common system. ICSC/73/R.12 ICSC/73/R.13 ICSC/73/R.14 8. Other business. 9. Adoption of the sessional and annual reports. Annotations 2. Report of the Chair on activities since the seventy-second session of the Commission The report of the Chair on activities since the seventy-second session of the Commission (March/April 2011) will be made available to the participants as a conference room paper. 4. Conditions of service applicable to both categories of staff (a) Performance management The General Assembly, in its resolution 63/251, stressed the importance of developing mechanisms for better differentiating levels of performance and requested the Commission to work closely with organizations to identify workable means of rewarding performance and to submit an updated performance management framework to the Assembly. In 2010, the Commission considered document ICSC/71/R.3, which set out the elements for an updated framework, together with a proposed framework for recognition, incentives and rewards. The Commission requested the secretariat to fine-tune the framework and to conduct further studies on the use of step increments within the organizations of the common system. These are set out in document ICSC/73/R.2. Reference documents: A/63/30, paras. 26-35; A/65/30 paras. 28-47; General Assembly resolution 63/251; ICSC/66/R.13, paras. 32-40; and ICSC/67/R.12. (b) Hazard/danger pay In 2005, the Commission decided that hazard pay amounts should be reviewed on the same three-year cycle as, and simultaneously with, the review of the allowances for mobility, hardship and non-removal. Furthermore, at its seventy-second session, the Commission decided to discontinue hazard pay and introduce danger pay on the 2
basis of the revised criteria, effective 1 January 2012. Document ICSC/73/R.3 contains a proposal for establishing and adjusting the amounts payable for danger, and related financial implications. Reference documents: A/63/30; ICSC/67/R.16; and ICSC/72/CRP.4/Add.2. (c) (d) Standards of conduct In 2001, the Commission adopted the updated version of the standards of conduct for the international civil service and recommended them to the General Assembly and to the legislative organs of participating organizations. At its sixty-ninth session, after reviewing the implementation status of the Standards of conduct for the international civil service (revised booklet, 2001), new ethical challenges and the recent developments in the organizations of the United Nations common system, the Commission decided to request its secretariat to work with organizations and representatives of staff federations to undertake a review of the standards of conduct to ensure that they continued to meet the needs of the organizations and to define areas that might need updating. In order to conduct the review, the Commission established a working group, comprising representatives of the Commission, its secretariat, the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) Human Resources Network, organizations and staff. Document ICSC/73/R.4 contains the report of the working group. Reference documents: A/64/30 and Corr.2; ICSC/69/R.3; and Standards of conduct for the international civil service (2001). Education grant methodology: minimum eligibility age for the receipt of the grant At the conclusion of the most recent review of the methodology of the education grant in 2010, the Commission recommended that the General Assembly invite the organizations of the common system to harmonize their education grant eligibility criteria, inter alia, the minimum age eligibility requirement which specified that, in order to receive the grant, the child should be in full-time attendance at a primary institution and 5 years of age or older at the beginning of the school year or reach the age of 5 within three months of the beginning of the school year. In addition, the Commission requested its secretariat to expand its review of the methodology and report to it in 2012. A review of the grant was not scheduled for 2011; however, a request from CEB has been received asking that a review of the minimum age eligibility requirement be conducted on an urgent basis for staff in the Geneva-based organizations in the light of legislative changes relating to primary education in Switzerland, whereby the mandatory age for enrolment in primary education was changed from 5 to 4 effective as at the beginning of the 2011/12 school year. Document ICSC/73/R.5 presents supporting information and arguments for requesting the change in the education grant methodology relating only to the minimum age eligibility requirement. Reference document: A/65/30, paras. 62 (a) (i) and 83 (h). 3
5. Conditions of service of the Professional and higher categories (a) Base/floor salary scale and review of staff assessment rates used in conjunction with gross salaries In its resolution 44/198, section I.H, paragraph 1, the General Assembly approved the Commission s recommendation concerning the establishment of a floor net salary level for staff in the Professional and higher categories by reference to the corresponding net base salary levels of officials in comparable positions in the United States federal civil service. Document ICSC/73/R.6 provides a comparison of the reference net base salary levels in the United Nations common system and in the United States federal civil service and, on this basis, proposes an adjustment to the United Nations base/floor salary levels in order to bring them into line with those of the comparator as at 1 January 2012. In response to a request received from the United Nations Secretariat to reduce the staff assessment by 15 per cent in order to address the imbalance recorded in the Tax Equalization Fund, the document also proposes an adjustment to the staff assessment rates used in conjunction with gross salaries, which is necessary to address this problem. The Commission will be invited to make its recommendations to the General Assembly with respect to the base/floor salary scale and revised rates of staff assessment used in conjunction with gross salaries of the Professional and higher categories. (b) (c) (i) Evolution of the United Nations/United States net remuneration margin Under a standing mandate, the Commission annually reports to the General Assembly on the net remuneration margin, which is the relative difference between the net remuneration of United Nations staff in the Professional category in New York and that of officials in comparable positions in the United States federal civil service in Washington, D.C. Document ICSC/73/R.7 provides an estimate of the margin for the calendar year 2011 and of the average level of the margin over a five-year period (2007-2011). The estimate will be updated as necessary by the Chair of the Commission when he introduces its thirty-seventh annual report (A/66/30) to the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth session. Mobility/hardship scheme Review of the methodology: cost implications At its seventy-second session, the Commission adopted the recommendations of its working group on the review of the mobility and hardship scheme. At that time, it requested its secretariat to provide a report on the estimated financial implications of the approved changes to the hardship classification system and decided to request its secretariat to provide an updated report on the comparison of the benefits packages payable to staff in field locations for the United Nations and the comparator civil service, respectively. Document ICSC/73/R.8 presents the cost implications of the approved changes to the hardship scheme, while the comparison of the United Nations/United States benefits in field locations will be presented in a separate conference room paper. 4
Reference documents: A/63/30; General Assembly resolution 63/251; ICSC/69/R.10; and ICSC/72/CRP.4/Add.2. (ii) (d) (e) Review of the level In accordance with the decisions of the Commission (see A/60/30 and Corr.1) as approved by the General Assembly in its resolution 61/239, the amounts payable under the mobility and hardship scheme are to be revised every three years by reference to three factors: (a) the average movement of net base salary plus post adjustment in the eight headquarters locations of the United Nations system; (b) the movement of the out-of-area index used for post adjustment based on inflation factors in 21 countries; and (c) the movement of the base/floor salary scale. In 2008, the amounts were reviewed for the first time under the revised scheme, they came into effect on 1 January 2009. Document ICSC/73/R.9 contains the results of the second periodic review of the amounts, which will become effective in 2012. References documents: A/63/30, and ICSC/67/R.4. Survey and report on diversity in the United Nations common system In its resolution 64/231, the General Assembly requested the Commission to review measures taken by common system organizations in respect of the implementation of paragraph 3 of Article 101 of the Charter of the United Nations 1 and to report its findings, as appropriate. Document ICSC/73/R.10 provides information on applicable diversity policies as well as specific information related to policies towards equitable geographical and regional balance in the common system. Reference documents: A/64/30 and Corr.2; General Assembly resolution 64/231; and ICSC/71/R.12. Proposed agenda for the thirty-fourth session of the Advisory Committee on Post Adjustment Questions The proposed agenda for the thirty-fourth session of the Advisory Committee on Post Adjustment Questions, scheduled to be held in May 2012, will be submitted to the Commission for its approval. Information on the topics proposed for consideration by the Advisory Committee will be provided and will cover methodological issues pertaining to the next round of place-to-place surveys. 6. Conditions of service in the field: harmonization of the conditions of service for staff serving in non-family duty stations in the common system (a) Rest and recuperation framework At its seventy-first session, the Commission considered a report on harmonization of conditions of service for staff serving in non-family duty stations in the common system, which included a proposed framework for rest and recuperation. The Commission endorsed, with effect from 1 July 2011, a harmonized common system rest and recuperation scheme, consisting of four elements: (a) time off, not charged 1 Para. 3 states: The paramount consideration in the employment of the staff and in the determination of the conditions of service shall be the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Due regard shall be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible (emphasis added). 5
to annual leave; (b) travel time; (c) contribution towards accommodation at a designated place of rest and recuperation; and (d) paid travel from the place of duty to a designated place of rest and recuperation. The General Assembly, in its resolution 65/248, requested the Commission to submit to the Assembly at its sixtyseventh session recommendations concerning the United Nations common system harmonized subsistence allowance or lump sum during rest and recuperation. In addition, it decided that the organizations of the United Nations common system should cover only the travel costs of the rest and recuperation framework, until a further decision of the General Assembly on this issue was taken at its sixty-seventh session. Furthermore, the Assembly decided that the rest and recuperation framework should be regulated by the Commission, effective 1 July 2011. Document ICSC/73/R.12 contains details regarding the criteria and frequency of rest and recuperation travel as currently exercised by the organizations, as a point of departure for the Commission s regulation of the rest and recuperation framework. The document also provides for benchmarking against the practices of Member States that have agreed to share their rest and recuperation practices with the Commission. Reference documents: A/65/30; General Assembly resolution 65/248; and ICSC/71/R.16. (b) Establishing unified special operations living allowance rates As a first step towards achieving harmonization of conditions of service in non-family duty stations, it was decided that location-specific special operations living allowance amounts would be harmonized by the Commission at a unified rate for each duty station currently designated as an administrative place of assignment. Document ICSC/73/R.13 provides an outline of the proposed methodology for arriving at unified special operations living allowance rates, and recommends that the final decision on the amounts be delegated to the Chair of the Commission in order to ensure that the unified rates are available for implementation by 1 January 2012. 7. Monitoring of implementation of decisions and recommendations of the International Civil Service Commission by organizations of the United Nations common system Under article 17 of its statute, the Commission is required to submit, as part of its annual report, information on the implementation of its decisions and recommendations by the organizations participating in the common system. Under the cycle established for reporting, the secretariat will present a report on the implementation of decisions and recommendations of the Commission for the period from 2008 to 2010. Document ICSC/73/R.14 includes responses from the organizations on the implementation of contractual arrangements, inter-agency mobility, the job evaluation standard and gender balance. Reference documents: A/63/30; A/64/30 and Corr.2; and A/65/30. 6