TIRANA, Oct 9 /ATA/ Minister of State for Public Administration and Anti-Corruption Adea Pirdeni today attended the presentation of the “Merit Scale” reform, which aims to overhaul the public administration’s performance appraisal and career development system.
In her remarks, Pirdeni stressed the need for a mechanism that identifies individual contributions, assesses performance and ensures that career advancement is based on merit.
Pirdeni said that “one of the main challenges facing public administration remains the fair assessment of employees’ work and the timely identification of their potential”.
“Very good work often goes unrecognised, failing to be distinguished from average or even poor performance. Assessments do not always lead to consequences, whether positive or negative, while employees’ potential often goes unidentified in time or is rewarded too late,” Pirdeni said.
Pirdeni said the reform aims to address employees’ concerns about performance assessments by introducing a system that recognises individual contributions and links career advancement in public administration to merit.
She added that a proposal for a national testing system is expected to be submitted to the Council of Ministers this month, under which candidates seeking to join the public administration would receive a test certificate valid for four years.
Pirdeni said another key element of the reform concerns employee performance assessments, which are currently conducted every six months. She explained that digitising the system would make evaluations more objective and meaningful, helping distinguish between very good, good and poor performance, identify inflated ratings and discrepancies, and require managers to justify and substantiate the assessments they give their subordinates.
Pirdeni said the reform would introduce 360-degree performance assessments for public administration managers, with a pilot involving around 300 managers expected to begin this year. The process will be overseen by an independent external body and incorporate feedback from superiors, subordinates, colleagues and collaborators to assess leadership quality rather than popularity.
She added that a national catalogue of positions and competencies would define the professional profiles and skills required for each role, supporting recruitment, talent development and the identification of skills gaps in public administration. Pirdeni also announced plans to transform the “Puna për Shqipërinë” portal into a national talent register.
“Through this portal, citizens will be able to create personal accounts, upload their CV details and professional interests, and receive real-time information about vacancies matching their profiles. The portal also aims to establish a direct communication channel with the diaspora, enabling Albanians living abroad to contribute to the public administration. Another tool will be a national digital examination system, developed through the digitisation of question banks in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and international partners. The aim is to prevent interference and abuse in recruitment competitions for public-sector positions,” Pirdeni stressed.
According to her, data generated by these systems will be analysed through the “Meritë AI” tool, which will help measure results and monitor the implementation of the reform.
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