\n<\/p>\n
Indeed, I believe that the public will pay greater attention in the future to individual minister\u2019s performance as their salaries increase over the years.<\/p>\n
There is nothing wrong with this demand and the government should respond to it by devising meaningful performance indicators and implementing it in a transparent and rigorous way.<\/p>\n
Mr Wong himself acknowledged this saying: \u201cSo beyond what we have already shared, I will consider whether more information can be disclosed,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we should also be careful not to turn ministerial assessment into a public popularity contest \u2013 and then start comparing and ranking individuals year by year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not going to be productive, and that’s not how I want the Cabinet to operate.\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact, revamping the targets is an opportunity to reset.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
If ever it decides to act decisively to up ministerial salaries that might produce concrete results, and not do so incrementally, it should accompany the move with an equally bold plan to tie these increases to a more challenging set of KPIs that is directly related to a minister\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n
This should be paid as a variable bonus.<\/p>\n
Linking pay to performance will become more important if the current difficulty with getting top people in the private and public sector continues.<\/p>\n
If the ruling party ends up missing out on the best candidates, the quality of leadership will suffer and there will be questions raised about whether those who answer the call deserve their remuneration.<\/p>\n
Linking pay with performance is the best way to answer detractors.<\/p>\n