The Civil and Public Service Union has proposed "gainsharing" as an alternative to special pay awards, local bargaining, and even some of the percentage increases under partnership agreements.
The union makes the proposal in the context of the new partnership negotiations, and is consulting other public service unions with a view to a joint approach.
Introducing the consultants' report on this new model, the union's general secretary, Mr Blair Horan, said it should be applicable to all public servants, irrespective of salary or years of service, and therefore would help to bridge the gap between high and low-paid public service workers.
He said the union was conscious of the criticism of public service pay determination, and that this was its contribution to linking improved productivity to rewards.
Research showed that rewarding groups or teams was far more productive than rewarding individuals, he said.
The union commissioned the feasibility study from management consultants Farrell Grant Sparks.
The study points out that while economic growth had exceeded expectations, the gap between the returns to capital and to labour had grown, along with the gap between the returns to higher-paid and lower-paid workers.
For example, between 1987 and 1996, the profit share on capital had increased from 25.1 per cent to 34.8 per cent, while the proportion going to labour declined from 74.9 per cent to 65.2 per cent.
"The time has, therefore, come to arrest the tendencies towards unequal reward and to accord low-paid workers parity of esteem with that of capital and with more highly paid workers," says the study.
Mr Horan said the public service provided the framework for economic growth, and therefore public service workers deserved a proportion of its benefits.
Various indicators, such as growth in GNP, could be used to measure overall growth, he said.
Alternatively, a proportion of the public service pay bill could be set aside for investment in a fund which would benefit public service workers.
Access to the benefits of this fund would be on the basis of improved performance within a given group or sector. This could be measured by various criteria, to be agreed by joint union-management committees.
The committees would measure such elements as outputs, outcomes, financial results, service quality, and client surveys of customer satisfaction. The usual tax breaks applicable to employee share options would apply to benefits from funds.
Mr Horan said the funds would be invested for a minimum of three years. He hoped the Government would agree at least to a pilot initiative in this area as part of the new partnership negotiations.
Mr Liam Hennessy of Farrell Grant Sparks, one of the authors of the study, said international studies had shown that productivity increased when workers had a sense of ownership of their companies. The challenge arose in applying this to areas where profit was not the bottom line.