Distortions of incentive to performance and reduction of motivation in the federal public service in Brazil

In the current structure of careers in the Brazilian Federal Government, public officials who do not hold a DAS position have two predominant ways of reaching a higher salary level: years of service and passing a written examination for a higher paid public service career. We argue in this paper that these pathways affect in a negative way public service motivation. First, they shift incentives of early career public officials from job performance towards preparing for higher paid career exams, while depriving officials in middle and later stages of their careers of any advancement opportunities. They also cause salary inequity between careers, demotivating officials with similar responsibilities in lower paid careers. Through statistical analyses of data from an original survey with 2,800 public servants in 14 federal government institutions in Brazil, our findings point to the importance of reducing incentive distortions in Brazil's public service.