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Return to Article: Pentagon unveils new rating standards for some jobs

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  You got to find humor in all this dysfunction just to make it through the day working for the federal government, especially DoD. There was a day, in the mid 80's when we had a five level performance rating appraisal system. We used to receive yearly performance awards based upon 1 to 10 percent of our gross wages. It was DoD or OPM that changed this rating system to a "Pass/Fail" rating system. We never got the true word on why it changed. Just based upon our perception of management it may have been to "intensive" for them to comprehend to rate their subordinates. So now DoD has to create a new system just to re-implement the five level rating system. This new rating system is much more complex then the one we had in the 80's. Management has gone 10-15 years with a more simplistic rating system. How long will it take to train them up to speed?

  What happens in NSPS when the agency is incapable of budgeting yearly performance raises? Our agency can't budget for this item now, who is to say, they will do it then? What is their punishment for violating the NSPS "pay" for performance rules? It will be an easy out for the agency, management will be instructed not to rate anyone to the level that qualifies for a raise, or then again, it will just be the chosen few (management) that will receive the yearly raises.

  The people who designed the system and the rules for NSPS, what spiral to they fall under?

  HR Assistant Posted January 30, 2006 6:46 PM
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  Let's start at the top! Critical thinking? Resource management? If airhead and his friends were any good at that, we wouldn't be looking at the kind of messes we are. "Communication" has been mostly attempts at deception. They've achieved results, all right, but not positive ones. I won't bother with the rest - the picture is pretty clear.

  GovExec.com reader Posted December 28, 2005 6:54 PM
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  Hey Deputy Secretary England: Here's some comments from the vocal minority that thinks NSPS is flawed. I suggest you read the Mailbag comments for the past couple years, re-read the 58,000 comments sent in by interested employees, and next time you visit a DoD worksite -- stop by the union office and ask one of the union representatives to escort you around and show you what really happens.

  Mark Gibson Posted December 15, 2005 10:27 PM
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  Our concerns about the subjectivity of the new standards may be further compounded by the coming Supreme Court ruling in Garcetti v. Ceballos. The question in that case is whether anything we say or write in the course of our work as public servants is considered protected speech.

  If the Supreme Court rules that we as public employees at the federal, state and local levels are not entitled to such protection, then that ruling along the new NSPS standards may likely be the last nail in the coffin of the 60-year old professional bureaucracy. The fears of a 120-year throwback to pre-Civil Service Commission days (read patronage) will be realized in many areas.

  F.K.Hall Posted December 15, 2005 8:28 AM
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  The NSPS system is designed to fail so the pet contractors can be used without competition.

  Government Employee Posted December 15, 2005 2:56 AM
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  Oh boy, this system will now require supervisors to really perform the assessments that they've stumbled through for years. Many very deserving individuals go unnoticed because their boss doesn't take or have the time to actually document their exceptional performance. What's going to change? Currently, most employees I know actually write up their own performance documentation. I hope I'll still get that chance or I'll be singing the blues come raise time.

  GovExec.com reader Posted December 14, 2005 8:39 AM
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  Sounds like they have taken the old GM system for managers and given it to the general population, which could be good. The reason I say "could be" is that the senior military members and even the crony senior managers will never fund the system to pay the awards. In the GM system they took a part of all raises and placed it in a pot. But guess what: the pot was always gone by the time it got to the GS-13 and GS-14s. The SES and GS-15s received excellent bonuses though.

  Not only did they slack on their obligation to fund the awards system but they also set up arbitrary guidelines for how many personnel could be rated at given levels. This in its self was demoralizing to the managers as even if you worked your tail off it came down to who the boss liked the most and if his boss agreed.

  There is a great injustice here, which will soon work its way out to the open. The problem is that the Pentagon, the White House and the Congress will never step up and say they have really screwed up.

  The merit system under the general schedule was fair and could have been repaired to do what they desired, but in their zeal to drop back to "buddy management," the whole system will fail.

  Terry Stone Posted December 13, 2005 8:33 AM
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  After looking at the paybands, it appears my GS-9s will have a better chance to earn more money than me. As a supervisor (GS-11), that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. After attending the briefing this morning on base, I don't feel anymore confident. I would really like to know who's going to pay for a career plan, or if I pay, will there be tax incentives or no penalties for taking time off for classes? I'm skeptical of those willing to cross-train and move, seeing as I've done that several times since 2001 without a lot of changes.

  Thanks for letting me gripe.

  GovExec.com reader Posted December 13, 2005 1:25 AM
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  And what happens if you are an expert in your field and some idiot in Human Resources decides to move you to some program where your skill set doesn't even come close to what is needed? Do you suddenly become incompetent as you once again crawl up some learning curve? How fair is this?

  GovExec.com reader Posted December 12, 2005 5:20 PM
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  Instead of employees providing a good day of work, we will be doing one-half a day of work and the other one-half of the day gathering "metrics" to ensure that our one-half of a day of work is fully captured for kissing-up purposes. Believe me -- if my base pay is on the line, I am going to be preparing charts, graphs, PowerPoint presentations, and talking points to spell out my glorious one-half of day of work! Now, I have to get going to learn all about the hobbies, interests and personal likes and dislikes of my supervisor, pay pool panel and pay manager. So much for the other half of a day of work.

  GovExec.com reader Posted December 12, 2005 3:13 PM
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  The only sure statistic that will come from the NSPS, is that it will inform the bean counters how many professional butt kissers the federal government employs.

  Patricia Posted December 12, 2005 1:43 PM
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  And, it will all be "managed" by those wonderful folks in HR, which in my organization stands for Help Rejected. When our HR folks moved to another office, they refused to put out an email telling the masses that they were now located in another office. For almost a year, people kept coming in and asking us HR-related questions. That certainly kept the workload down in HR. Be afraid, people. Be very afraid.

  GovExec.com reader Posted December 12, 2005 12:43 PM
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  Great! My supervisor has no idea of my technical proficiency or critical thinking ability. To evaluate either of those would require that the supervisor have the same proficiency and critical thinking ability - he does not! This entire process is a joke designed to allow political appointees to give those that foster their policies big pay raises and others nothing. This will make all government politically-oriented and give the executive branch extreme powers that fall way beyond those of the elected representatives in Congress. This system never should be accepted by Congress or the American public. They get what they ask for and this is not what either Congress or the public wants! This serves to make the President a dictator that controls all aspects of operations through pay increases and allows the purchasing power of those that oppose him to erode until they have to move out of government and give way to those that foster the President's programs - not those that do what is best for the country or even what Congress wants to do!

  This system is a very big mistake for the American public. It is not even important if civil servants think they will be unfairly judged.

  Taxpayer Posted December 12, 2005 7:34 AM
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  So how does this system impact on those of us retards who can no longer do the bun hugging for a raise? Will our past performance ratings have an impact?

  Jacques Bakke Posted December 12, 2005 2:07 AM
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  This whole system can be defined in a couple of words - Kiss butt.

  Charlie Posted December 10, 2005 7:06 PM
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  Resource Management? Woohoo, let the games begin. Most of this garbage doesn't even sound as if it applies to my job. As always, the trash that comes out of DoD is as clear as mud. Gee, I can hardly wait.

  GovExec.com reader Posted December 9, 2005 6:44 PM