• Completed and signed Appointment form
• Contract document
• Copy of Treasury concurrence
• Completed Assumption of duty form/ minute (original)
• Civil Service Commission Referral letter (original)
• Police Clearance forms (original)
• Method of pay advice form (original)
• Completed medical examination report (original) on one sheet
• Birth certificate (certified copy)
• National I.D. card (certified copy)
• Relevant qualifications (certified copies)
• Marriage certificate (certified copy where applicable)
• For junior grades (A and B), a National Employment Services
• Department Card should be attached

The movement of a member within the grade or from one grade to another higher grade after having satisfied conditions laid down in the relevant advancement procedures. The conditions are as follows: relevant qualifications, experience, satisfactory performance and the Public Service Commission Approval

The Public Service Commission in its minute dated 11 March 2013 suspended the processing of performance advancements service-wide. The Commission in its minute dated 29 September 2022 re-activated the processing of advancements with effect from 2012 and placed the members on correct grades effective 1 January 2023.

The member is paid the annual difference between the maximum salary step and the step immediately below the maximum.

The member has to perform satisfactory and advance through the advancement grades up to the highest level.

Yes, to qualify for promotion one should be in the relevant grade immediately below the promotional grade. Such a grade is reached through movements brought about by performance advancements.

Relevant qualifications, experience and exceptional performance.

There is what is known as Promotion Probation and this is where a member’s performance will be assessed. After successfully completing this period the member will retain the position to which they would have been promoted.

Up to one year

A member would have reached the maximum salary step of his/her grade immediately below the promotional grade, has successfully completed a year of service on the ceiling and has shown exceptional work performance. The member is then allowed to enjoy the salary and allowances of the next promotional grade except for promotional allowances.

Once the senior teacher is in E1, he or she will progress by moving step by step to the maximum notch. When the senior teacher gets to the maximum salary step of E1 and completes one year , upon exceptional performance of the member may be advanced through parallel progression to the next higher promotional grade of the deputy headmaster (E2).

NB: Parallel progression needs express authority from the Public Service Commission. Its provision is there in the Principal Procedures but the green light to implement has not been given by the Commission.

Yes, Every advancement comes with an upward salary movement except for members who are on the ceiling of their advancement grades. However, such members are awarded a once off performance allowance equivalent to the difference between the maximum annual salary step of that grade and the annual salary step immediately below the maximum salary step. A ceiling is the highest salary step of the highest advancement grade which is below the promotional grade.

The member is advanced step by step after completion of one year within the grade until he or she gets to the ceiling.

The member is advanced within or to the next higher grade.

A grade is a pay level for a job e.g., D1 for a diploma holder and D3 for degree holder.

A sub-grade is a performance grade. For example, A senior teacher diploma holder in D2 has performance sub-grades D3 and D4.

A band is a pay range created for similar roles. PSC uses Paterson job grading system as a method of evaluating jobs. All employees within these jobs reside in the same salary band. Salary bands rank job pay by experience, education, level of responsibility and decision-making requirements. The system analyses decision making in tasks and categorizes jobs into six groups( Bands A to F).

The grades vary from one profession to the other e.g., for a Teacher Diploma holder there are two grades and two sub grades.

There are five notches within a grade.

A member who has reached the ceiling of the highest performance advancement grade may be advanced to the bottom salary step of the next highest grade which is parallel to the promotional grade when he/she has successfully completed a year’s service on the ceiling and has shown exceptional work performance.

No, advancement can only be considered after determination of the case.

Yes this is true because the members would have reached their ceiling by 2012.

Advancement is an acknowledgement of an employee’s satisfactory performance by the employer. It rewards the employee for their efforts and hard work.

It encourages a culture of high performance which is results oriented. It also inculcates motivation amongst staff.

Advancement rewards employees’ satisfactory performance. The employees’ performance will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the government’s internal operations and administration thereby leading to the achievement of Vision 2023 goals e.g., enhanced public service delivery. Advancing employees to higher salaries have the effect of increasing their disposable income. Extreme poverty is reduced through improved access to better social services.

Relevant qualifications, experience and satisfactory performance (ratings) and the Public Service Commission Approval.

It is a result of the job evaluation exercise adapted in July 2003(Paterson grading system). Jobs are evaluated based on predetermined criteria. The system analyses decision-making in job tasks and categorizes jobs into six groups (A to F) that are graded and grouped into one to two sub-grades. Band A is for the unskilled group e.g.., domestic workers, B for the semi-skilled, for example, drivers, and C and D for the various kinds of skilled workers e.g.., nurses and teachers. B and E are for deputy directors and F is for Directors. These bands are further broken into sub-grades e.g..,B1-B5,C1-C5, D1-D5 and E1-E5. There are five sub-grades per band e.g..,D1,D2,D3,D4,D5

• Civil Service Commission vacancy announcements
• Ministry internal vacancy notices where applicable
• National press

• Member of Commission Secretariat
• Human Resources Director / Deputy Director HR or delegated authority
• Two other confirmed members whose grades are higher than the post being considered.
• Minuting secretary from the Human Resources department

• People with a criminal record
• People with an adverse medical report
• People below the age of 18

• Member applies to ministry/department of choice.
• Ministry/department assesses member’s suitability.
• Ministry/Department advises applicant on their interest
• The receiving Ministry writes to the member’s Head of Ministry for concurrence.
• If the member’s Head of Ministry concurs to the transfer, he/she approaches the Public Service Commission for approval.
• PSC approves transfer in writing and copies the relevant ministries
• Own ministries releases applicant to receiving ministry
• Applicant assumes duty at receiving ministry
• PSC is copied the applicant’s assumption of duty to facilitate appointment process

A member cannot be transferred if he/she:

• Has pending disciplinary case
• Is on probation
• Is on manpower development

• A member cannot jump grades unless approved by the Public Service Commission.
• A member cannot be promoted while on Manpower Development Leave for three or more months.
• A member cannot be promoted while on probation, secondment or while he or she has pending disciplinary case.
• A member cannot be promoted without the relevant qualifications and experience.
• A member cannot be promoted if he or she does not have knowledge about the task to be performed and ability to perform it.
• Promotion is based on merit. There is no discrimination on grounds of race, tribe, and place of origin, political opinions, colour, creed, gender or physical disability.
• For every promotional post one third of the candidates should be women in line with the Public Service Gender Policy which aims at promoting equal opportunities for women and men.
• A member should have a positive performance rating.
• Selection is undertaken by the appropriate Staff Advisory committee in the case of promotional posts delegated by the Commission to Heads of Ministry.

• A probationary period of not less than one year shall be served by:
  1. All new appointees engaged on pensionable conditions of service or
  2. those promoted
• Failure to perform to expectations during the probation period will result in
  1. discharge or
  2. probationary period being extended by not more than six months,
• Failure to improve performance amounts to dismissal.

When a Civil Servant dies, the Public Service Commission pays out money to assist with the member’s burial.

Currently, members of the Civil Service who pass away are entitled to funeral assistance of US$700.00 The Civil Service Commission reviews upwards, the amount paid out as Funeral assistance from time to time.

• Surviving spouse
• Eldest child
• A close relative

• Copy of completed Funeral assistance Application Form (obtained from
• Ministry where member used to work);
• Burial Order/Death Certificate.
• Recent copy of payslip of the deceased member.
• National Identity Card of claimant
• Marriage certificate or affidavit of claimant
• Birth Certificate if beneficiary is under 16 years.

• Claimants should go to the district offices of the Ministry or Department where the deceased was employed to fill in necessary forms and provide requisite documents.
• Once the forms are filled, claimants should immediately go to the Civil Service Commission’s district offices where they will be assisted to access the funeral assistance money.

Manpower development leave, also referred to as “Study Leave” means time off granted to a member to engage in study or training for purposes of enhancing the efficiency, effectiveness and motivation of such a member.

The Public Service Commission grants MDL in respect of –

• Courses at the doctorate level,
• Courses at Masters degree level undertaken outside Zimbabwe;
• Courses of study or training of more than three months’ duration undertaken outside Zimbabwe.

The salary and allowances of a member on Manpower Development Leave shall be paid:

• in full, if the leave does not exceed three months,
• at three-quarters of the full rate from the commencement of the leave, if the leave exceeds three months but not twelve months, the employee shall be paid at half the full rate from the commencement of the leave if the leave exceeds twelve months

Any member who goes on manpower development leave, whether continuously or on a part-time basis, for a period:

• of three months or less, shall not be bonded unless the Commission considers this essential in the circumstances,
• exceeding three months but not exceeding one year, shall be bonded for one year, and
• exceeding one year shall be bonded for period equal to the period of manpower development leave.

• A member may not accrue vacation leave during any period of manpower development leave.
• A member on manpower development leave for a period in excess of three months shall not be considered for promotion during the period of such leave.
• A member who applies unsuccessfully to a head of Ministry for manpower development leave..……may appeal against the decision of the Head of Ministry to the Commission.
• A member on manpower development leave only receives one allowance, that is Housing Allowance.

The Public Service Commission has come up with a way to assist its members to access drugs conveniently. In conjunction with PSMAS and the National Aids Council (NAC), the Commission has come up with the drugs at your doorstep programme.