DHS personnel system attacked, lauded
Several officials tell Senate subcommittee that extensive training is needed if overhaul of system is to succeed.
A congressional subcommittee heard both praise and sharp criticism Thursday for the Homeland Security Department's new personnel regulations.
The new system, which was described in detail late last month, has drawn sharp criticism from unions and Democratic lawmakers. That criticism continued apace during a hearing Thursday of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia.
The new system should "be both fair and perceived as fair," said Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, the subcommittee's ranking member. "I believe the Homeland Security regulations fall short of this goal."
When Congress established DHS in 2002, officials were given the power to build their own personnel system. Agency officials are planning to limit the scope of union bargaining, make it easier for managers to discipline poor performers and dismantle the General Schedule pay system.
"We believe that we have succeeded in striking a better balance between union and employee interests on one hand, and the department's mission imperatives on the other," said Ron Sanders, OPM's associate director for strategic human resources policy.
Union leaders and some lawmakers, however, said the new personnel system will damage employee morale and weaken the agency.
"The notion that collective bargaining rights somehow threaten homeland security, I find offensive," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J. "Beating people down … is not going to create the DHS workforce with the morale we need."
Union officials were even more vocal with their displeasure. National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley said the personnel regulations violate the congressional statutes that authorized them in the first place. American Federation of Government Employees President John Gage said the system itself was unnecessary.
"This isn't flexible, this isn't modern, this isn't even credible," Gage told the subcommittee. He said the performance pay system could lead to a "zero-sum game" in which one security officer's gain is another's loss.
"This makes a mockery of the kind of teamwork that is essential for successful law enforcement," Gage said.
There was a spirit of consensus, however, running through the hearing. Almost all witnesses agreed that the system will not succeed without a comprehensive training program and effective communication with DHS employees.
"A key implementation step for DHS is to assure an effective ongoing two-way communication effort that creates shared expectations," the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Thursday.
Federal Managers Association Vice President Darryl Perkinson said that without training, "the system is doomed to failure from the start."
"As every federal employee knows, the first item to get cut when budgets get tight is training," he said.
Ronald James, the chief human capital officer at DHS, appealed to Subcommittee Chairman Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, to ensure that training funds are provided in future years. James said that "training and communication are at the very core of what we need to be about."
Voinovich emphasized his support for the new system, although he said he welcomed the union criticism.