Welcome to the MSF Rewards Review website. On this site you will find information about this movement-wide priority initiative and be able to follow the changes to how MSF rewards its staff. 

Comprehensive Overview of the MSF Rewards Review 

The MSF Rewards Review is a critical initiative addressing longstanding issues in how the organisation rewards its staff. This comprehensive review aims to create a more equitable, transparent, and consistent approach to rewards across the entire MSF movement. 

Background and context

MSF's workforce is evolving, with more locally hired staff (LHS) taking on senior positions and internationally mobile staff (IMS) coming from a wider range of countries. Simultaneously, MSF's operational models are changing, with new support structures, increased intersectional activities, and a growth in entities hosting staff from other countries. These changes have highlighted and exacerbated the differences in rewards between staff groups that our current policies generate.

Key challenges

• Inconsistent job grading: Functions are graded differently between programmes and offices, leading to tensions and perceived inequalities. 
• Outdated reward structures: Current rewards do not adequately support new organisational configurations such as regional hubs and staff hosting arrangements 
• Inequitable treatment: Existing HR infrastructure supports some staff groups more than others, resulting in differences in pay and benefits that are increasingly seen as evidence of discrimination. 
• Operational difficulties: The current system creates challenges in attracting and retaining staff, leading to higher turnover and staffing gaps in key positions.

Proposed solutions

To address these issues, MSF's executive leadership (the Full ExCom) directed a rewards review to ensure MSF has the global workforce it needs to meet the humanitarian challenges of the future.  The rewards review resulted in the following proposed changes: 

• Global Grading Framework: This will ensure MSF jobs are graded consistently across the organisation which will promote equity and improve career path clarity. 
• New Staff Groups: Implementing a proposed model for new staff groups consisting of 'mobile positions' and 'country-based positions' that will replace the current outdated staff groups.  including a single mobile salary grid and relocated packages. 
• Core standards for pay including improved attractiveness of pay, a consistent benchmarking approach, a single mobile salary grid for all mobile positions, and individual pay policies.  
• Core Benefits: Implementing minimum core benefits such as paid leave, health care, and coverage for death and disability for all MSF staff.

Implementation and future outlook

The changes are broad and complex, necessitating a multi-year implementation process. MSF's leadership emphasizes that this is a collective responsibility.  It is important that all staff stay informed and engaged as rewards policy changes are designed, planned, and implemented. This Rewards Review is developing rewards policies and tools that contribute toward a more equitable, transparent, and consistent approach to rewarding staff.   

Townhalls: 

MSF's executive leadership (the Full ExCom) has taken decisions to implement major changes to address the problems the Rewards Review identified.  These changes include:

In November and December 2024 MSF conducted a series of global Town Hall meetings accessible to all MSF staff.  The purpose of these town hall meetings was to ensure all MSF staff are updated and informed on the progress of Rewards implementation. 

The recording of the Town Hall meeting in English can be found here.  For the Town Hall meeting recordings in French and Spanish, please change the language of this page.  

Frequently asked question: 

More information can be found in Frequently Asked Questions.

Glossary: 

The Rewards Review and the implementation of rewards involve many new terms and acronyms. This glossary will provide you with definitions of the significance of these terms and the common terms used to describe the different aspects of the review.