At Thursday's government's press conference, Prime Minister Kristen Michal presented a bill approved by the government that would allow performance bonuses to be paid for carrying out major reforms.

Taavi Kotka told ERR that media coverage of the topic shifted the focus toward the idea that civil servants could in the future receive bonuses of €50,000. This, however, is a mistaken conclusion, as no civil servant accomplishes such changes alone; major reforms are typically carried out by teams of dozens of people.

The bill would create the possibility of paying up to €500,000 to the team that successfully implements an agreed reform, with the amount divided among officials according to their contribution.

"They divide up to half a million, but no more than €50,000 per civil servant," Kotka explained.

He noted that such a model is common in the private sector: a goal is agreed upon in advance and if it is successfully achieved by the deadline, those who accomplished it receive a performance bonus or stock options. In the public sector, however, things have so far worked the other way around — if there is money left in the budget, civil servants are paid a 13th salary.

"That's not a goal-oriented motivation plan," Kotka said. "What matters is agreeing in advance, not afterward. If the goal isn't achieved, no one gets anything — it's not that we pay half. If we achieve it, we get it; if there is no result, then it's zero."

Kotka, who has spent most of his career in the private sector and four years in the public sector, said it was difficult to get people to generate ideas while working in government.

"How do you get people to come up with something like e-residency? We haven't had a single radical idea, because civil servants get nothing if they come up with a great idea — only criticism," Kotka said. "You get beaten up in the media, maybe later you get a medal. And then we wonder why the tiger is asleep. No ideas are coming, but maybe we should pay for ideas when they appear."

Asked whether the new way of motivating civil servants would prove effective in the public sector, Kotka said that if it is never tried, it can never be known.

Under the draft amendments to the Civil Service Act, the projects that would qualify for performance bonuses would be selected by an independent commission including representatives from various sectors of society, including the media.

Kotka said he is not exactly sure how that representative would be chosen, but he considers involving the media to be extremely important.

"Since we agree on the goal in advance, there must also be a public discussion about whether it is even worth half a million euros," Kotka said, citing school closures as an example: first there must be debate about whether a team that manages to find a workable solution to the problem deserves recognition.

According to Kotka, such matters should not be decided hastily. If a topic is taken up — for example, automating tax declarations for businesses, which remains only partially solved — it could be debated in the media and on social media whether it is even necessary and what the deadline should be.

"This instrument makes it possible to have that discussion and then agree that there are three years to get it done and if it's achieved the team shares half a million euros," Kotka said.

The government approved the draft amendments to the Public Service Act on Thursday, and the bill will now move to the Riigikogu for debate.

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