Analysis of the implementation of merit system at the Ministry of Youth and Sports

Law Number 5 of 2014 concerning State Civil Apparatus mandates that all Government Agencies must implement Merit System-based in HR Management. However, even though Ministry of Youth and Sports received predicate "Good” in Merit System evaluation in 2021, but Ministry of Youth and Sports ranked 29th out of 33 Ministries (within bottom 5). From the results of this evaluation, there were at least 2 (two) aspects that received the lowest scores, career development aspect (40.38%) and promotion and transfer aspect (31.25%). This research aims to: 1) analyzing the implementation of the Merit System in employee placement at the Ministry of Youth and Sports; and 2) determining the strategy that must be implemented by the Ministry of Youth and Sports to optimize the implementation of the Merit System, especially in the employee placement process. The research methodology used is descriptive research with a qualitative approach. The analysis was carried out using 3 (three) main placement factors based on the Merit System, namely qualifications, competence and performance as well as placement factors according to Saydam (2000), namely employee interest. The results of the research are that the implementation of the Merit System in employee placement at the Ministry of Youth and Sports has not been optimal yet, which is caused by several factors including: 1) Regulations related to the Merit System have not been established; 2) Placement is influenced by leadership subjectivity and intervention; and 3) Placement factors such as qualifications, competencies, performance, and employee interests have not been fully considered. For this reason, the strategies that need to be implemented by the Ministry of Youth and Sports are: 1) accelerating the establishment of Merit System regulations; 2) Minimizing leadership subjectivity and intervention by filling or placing employees using methods such as open selection and/or Talent Management; and 3) Redistributing employees by adjusting employee qualifications, competencies, performance and interests with job qualifications and competencies.