Return to Article: Arbitrator rules against SEC pay for performance system
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43553
After attending the NSPS class- It is way too time consuming, the rewardsa are only as good as the Command budget allows, getting a fair shake on the NSPS evaluation system is all about the good old boy system. For those that may be a gifted writer, but poor performers and hob knob with the raters will do well with NSPS. NSPS needs to disappear.
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32839
How much negative feedback do the great minds which supposedly created the NSPS need as evidence the Pay for Performance is not working? I agree with T-Bone: If it isn't broken; don't fix it. The General Schedule Pay Scale is the most fair and accepted by civilians. Even the Senior Executives do not want it! It seems each agency has their own interpretation of how the NSPS is suppose to work.
Don't forget with a mass exodus of Baby Boomers retiring and frustrated with the NSPS, the corporate knowledge will walk out the door with them.
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32811
If it ain't broke don't fix it. Managers have always had the ability to reward or not reward employees. NSPS is not the answer, it's a system destine to fail, and create more grievances than ever before. I see management being required to spend more time writing up justifications as to why someone does or does not deserve a performance award. It's back to the good old boy days again....if you're not part of the click forget about getting a performance award.
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32802
While I disagree with Tom's conclusions and think it abhorrent that anyone be discriminated against; I still cringe when I perceive what may be the R card being played. Regardless, I'm thankful that this injustice is coming to light and sometimes it just takes a more visual minority to prove a point.
Like Deb, I've long felt that without substantial checks against abuse, this PFP will merely serve as a budgetary control, with any rewards being given to the select few and mere dregs to the general population. But, let us consider whom the "select few" are, as they vary from office to office. I've seen the Good-old-boys, I've seen the New Breed, and I've seen the anti-military versus the pro-military. Some folks reward, without regard to performance, those most like themselves. Some reward the office entertainment. Some folks grant unreasonable performance leeway due to past persecutions and injustices. And, yes, many just give it their best shot, which often includes the savior of the latest crisis without looking at the overall picture. Managing is difficult under the best of circumstances, but particularly since most of our supervisors are project managers first and supervisors second.
Mostly what I've seen is the potential for abuse and the cutting of the budget. As long as the available funds must be legislated each year and there are politicians to be elected, someone will want to prove they are pro-fiscal restraints and chop our livelihood and retirement. Putting these into the hands of folks who make their living based on the vagaries of public opinion polls is a recipe for metronomic swings and a personnel management disaster.
If we were to make our case for a professional, goal oriented, and deserving civil service population under such conditions, we will have to do so annually; and it would not be long before the population tires of hearing our need and begins to resent us.
As stated before, cases such as these bring the NSPS' potential for abuse to light. In this case, I am thankful it is easier to view demographics that are already being checked statistically. The vast majority of us will be struggling against inflation and each other, for the measly scraps Congress will throw us. It will only be the very tip of the bureaucracy that will flourish, not the entire plant.
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32774
This is regarding the comment by n.wolfson, are you saying that former military folks aren't capable of making good decisions?
I think you're way off base there. That's a ridiculous assumtion and a lot of former military are some of the best and loyal employees you'll ever see.
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32744
It's a easy way to legally discriminate against anyone that the manager(s) want to discriminate against. Yes there are some workers who are slackers that deserve to be fired, but to their credit, they are only slackers because of poor leadership. I think that Pay for Performance should be held to high level government workers only that can demonstrate they have good leadership skills by how well their worker perform, or at least attached the awards to performance of the team and not the person.
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32722
I agree that many Federal employees are slackers, which is more likely why they didn't receive high marks or bonuses. Of course, the upper-level managers are usually the least capable of making good decisions, especially if they're from the military. I've seen too many people "kicked upstairs" to believe that upper-level management will ever improve. NSPS is no different from the GS system; it's simply more work for the same result.
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32719
sniority? I see why you're ONLY a contractor. Slackers only? Then why can't you get a real job? No one is willing to take you on long term? Be enraged all you like, those lazy government workers you're referring to probably make a lot more than you and they pay taxes just like you. And no, I'm not a government employee, I'm an attorney. Grow up Steve.
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32699
NSPS is to GS as FERS is to CSRS.
Employees will soon discover they will fall behind their GS counterparts and this will result in a large scale break-down in morale and job performance--
I've said this before and I'll say it again. Good managers can do anything required using the existing GS system---it just takes a little bit of work on their part in concert with their HR specialist.
NSPS has too much subjectivity built into the system----and, it's proving to be too labor entensive. Plus, pay pool differences will be the focus for emmployee dissatifaction and increased litigation.
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32691
I'm not sure how many of these posts are from Government employees, but I have only this to say: "Welcome to the Real World". You all have been coddled and provided with mandatory raises while management hires temps and contractors to do your work for you, since you have no skills, and are there just because you have a little sniority and it's just too darned hard to get rid of you (Slackers only).
That's 50% of the problem. the other 50% is that managers in the Government got there strictly through seniority. Most government managers at the installation level have no supervisory skills, no leadership skills, and an apalling lack of management skills. NSPS WIL fail because of the shortcomings of the Managers and Supervisors htroughout the Federal Government.
Yes, I'm a contracotr, and I am regularly enraged at seeing my tax dollars paying for some of these people. Indeed, if I were king for a day, I'd fire at least 50% of all Government employees. Good luck, have fun with NSPS.
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32648
Does anyone think that the reason that A-Americans and employees over the age of 40 generally receive lower pay increases is because they are more likely to not be given the chance to work on highly visible projects? Moreover, having great communication skills, advanced degrees, and cultural influences that demand that you do your best is still not enough when the manager that you are working for does not have the same credentials but will always remind you that he/she is in charge of the current situation.
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32639
I completely agree with Greg D's comment regarding the fact that the GS system favors seniority, and much to heavily in my opinion. It is disheartening to know that my colleagues that don't contribute a fraction of what I do will always be paid more than me. I received the highest performance rating this year and got a $5K bonus, but that doesn't even begin to close the gap considering my colleagues all make 10-20K more than I do. Where is the fairness here? These people all make six figure salaries and put forth VERY little effort, never want to take initiative, and couldn't think outside the box to save their lives. Yet they have been rewarded simply because they showed up for work everyday!
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32636
While I agree that some changes were needed so the Govt can retain good employees and more easily get rid of poor ones, I am alarmed as I learn more about the NSPS system, and feel sorry for my fellow employees, who I will leave behind since I am eligible for retirement. I think the DOD will find that the voluntary exodus of very competent employees who are eligible for retirement will snowball with implementation of NSPS. The DOD is calling this "performance-based pay" but it really will be budget-based pay to the extreme, with the opportunity only to reward the very select few, while providing no incentive for the majority of workers. My dream for my fellow workers is that this system will either be stopped or revised drastically so it is more fair to all. Thank God I am going to escape before it affects me.
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32634
I always find it amazing that employees have vaste access to their fellow employees' work data.
For example, Tom states: "Why isn't it possible that A-Americans and older employees don't work as hard as others at the SEC? At my Agency, that's how it is."
So at your Agency you review the work of everyone, or are you just making the statement based on perceptions?
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32628
Pay for Performance (PFP) probably got as much research put into it as the No Child Left Behind Act did, before being forced into "implementation." Preliminary signs already indicate PFP might work (as much as the NCLBA has)... but has a long way to go if it's going to be implemented correctly, fairly and in a way that the employees will trust.
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32621
Pay for Performance is all smoke and mirors show that takes away the amount of money the rank and file earns. The average Within Grade Increase is around 3% of your pay. Then your bonus is on top of that and that refelcts how well you worked the previos year. Average "share" under NSPS for my old organization 1.2 percent. if i would of been lucky enough to get 2 shares i would of recieved 2.2% and thats including the bonus. And because of paybanding it would take 5 years to achieve a 13 which i am elegible for in two months in the GS system. Its not pay for perfomrance its less pay for more work! I left and went to an agency that is GS pay scale. They were saorry to see me go but I come to work to make as much money as i can not donate as much of my time to the Bush and Company Fiasco. Good employees will leave imdeiatly as they are always in demand. DoD will be left with the poor perrformers in the end because they cant move and the less employees you have the smaller the pay pools and the less employees will get. NAVSEA paid out .98 percent per share last year. Wake up and get out of PfP before we have nothing but poor performers.
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32619
To add to Tom G, management goals are often in conflict with the principles to effectively employ any PFP system. A portion of management evaluations is a focus on keeping personnel costs down. This automatically eliminates any incentive raise that managers could present as rewards for superior performance because it is one of the only components of PFP and personnel costs that they have total control over. Managers simply want to pass the responsibility for raises upward where organization-wide implementations do not affect their own evaluations and, by extension their own raises/promotions. The tools within PFP are often very good, but poor implementation control and contrary management goals sabotage the whole thing. The net result is often the same as a GS plan where seniority is the sole determinant for pay, but with substantially larger splits based on tenure (sometimes orders of magnitude). Newer employees often have less of an incentive to perform above the bare minimums because they are already being paid relatively poorly compared to others who have been around longer yet hold exactly the same job and same level of responsibility, and no amount of productivity or innovation will be recognized through PFP in any meaningful way to close that gap.
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32614
What do you expect when the SEC's own HR office is so mismanaged? Three years ago, all of the professionals in their Employee/Labor Relations office, who were over 40, were either forced out or found other jobs in a four month period. The next year, one of the remaining professionals was given a performance award by the Chairman of the SEC, but the Head of Human Resources decided that her performance was not worthy of any Performance Increase.
If the folks who are supposed to enforce SEC's PFP program play fast and loose with the rules, what can you expect from the agency as a whole?
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32591
The attempts at pay-for-performance systems have only eliminated the GS progression by time-in-grade through the steps. Otherwise I have seen only the relaxing of supervisors' responsibilities to document employee performance. In my observations high-performing employees could be rewarded even in the GS system with a quality step increase and other performance awards. Pay-band has proved to be boon to the employees by accelerating their pay to the top of the pay-bands. The failure of all the so-called pay-for-performance systems rests squarely on the shoulders of management for 2 reasons. The first is the near impossibility of developing a fair and equitable pay system (non-discriminatory) that discriminates according to performance. The second is the lack of discipline in implementing an objective performance rating system. Too much time and effort is placed on developing new pay-for-performance systems and too little on proper implementation.
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32582
I work for the DOD. They put in pay-for- performance 3 to four years, ago.And I have not progessed any place. I have a degree,Black and looking for retirement with really nothing. discrimination is a under atatement. My supervisor do not like. And the lowest percentage raise has been given by her. Please do away with pay-for- performance It's not fair and help kill the American Dream for most of us. I appreicate your hard work.
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32579
I stated early in the request for opinions, that this system does NOT eliminate the biases which alraedy exists in our employment system. I also knew early on that the people recieving the higher awards dollar would continue to do so. I agree that in the evaluation process there is nothing concrete to justify or contradict monies/raises given. This appears to be an even more massive way to exploit, bring about anger and to promote those who "know someone" in lieu of those that do their job. When the government rushes to do things of this nature regardless of what it's loyal employees think, it backfires and very well should. I do agree also that the system in place allows the same discord, but there are some checks and balances and avenues one is privy to if they are not in agreement. This system is prejudiced by the emplementors. I would like to no the ratios of the races who voted that this is the system to beat all systems?
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32547
All of these pay for performance systems such as NSPS are designed to pander to abusive management power and cut salaries for the working rank and file. As one of Bush's political appointees stated, implementing NSPS puts Civil Service at the "Tipping Point". No doubt employees resisting pay for performance are just a few "dead enders". I suspect that the Bush administration will do to Civil Service just what his boneheaded policies have done for Iraq. In order to save it it, it had to be destroyed.
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32543
Why isn't it possible that A-Americans and older employees don't work as hard as others at the SEC? At my Agency, that's how it is. Looking at a situation quantitatively does not guarantee the full picture. A qualitative analysis might reveal lower motivation, education, and communication skills for these groups that are alleging discrimination. I'm so sick of re-engineering every process for those slackers who refuse to step it up.
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32509
Yes, I'm sure they had in mind "How can we get over on black and old people?" Apparently, once again, there are only two races working for the federal government. Of course it must be racial because there is no way cultural influences affect job performance, right?
Perhaps next time this "mediator" will use the scientific method to arrive at his conclusions.
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