“Capable and Deserving”. Measuring and Evaluating Merit in Public Administrations

The selection of public employees must follow criteria of impartiality, pursuant to Article 97 of the Constitution. This not only to satisfy the principles of equal treatment and equality and fair choice, avoiding favouritism or privileges, but also to select the best, or specifically, the most suitable. How can the candidates to be recruited and awarded be identified? Those who excel in a field or discipline or, on the other hand, those who possess qualities, attitudes and the disposition required to carry out certain activities? And how are these characteristics measured? This article examines these aspects, critically analysing both recruitment tools and internal evaluations for promotion or demotion purposes. It then focuses on recent innovative reforms in the sector, as well as on models adopted in the United Kingdom, in order to propose methods to improve the selection of candidates. In addition to the crucial role of measurement, emphasis is placed on the fact that merit must be considered and applied through the filter of efficiency, so as to choose the most suitable candidates, without discrimination, and to reduce the divisive and exclusionary charge that the meritocratic criterion itself imports, thereby making it consistent with the principle of equality.