Return to Article: FEATURES Freedom To Manage
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50495
NSPS takes away senior employee salary and distributes it to junior management. As the 02 workforce ages they will end up at the highest pay band. However 40% of their base salary raise every year will be taken and they no longer can get it back as the pay band caps their raise at 60 percent. This has nothing to do with the performance of the employee. It is the NSPS structure.
This money is then put into a the pay pool that can give full salary increases to junior management 03s like your supervisor but not senior employees 02s like you.
For someone in their mid 40s, this can be over 250K lost salary for career and retirement. The cash bonus that must be given per year to break even is over 15K which no one will ever get.
The NSPS system is fatally flawed because the paybands are being capped at 60% of a base salary raise and not 100% of what has been authorized by congress. If you are a senior employee at the top of a pay band your performance is irrelevent, you'll get the same salary increase as a two. You may get a bonus but your salary growth is restricted where your supervisors is most likely not.
Whomever decided to cap pay bands at 60% instead of 100% should get a one rating. A two should get 60% but 3-5 is supposed to get 100%. Citing a payband cap and taking someones money because they are senior is no way to incentivize a workforce.
The only way to get the congressionally mandated salary increase back is to leave DoD or become a manager in DoD.
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42525
* This system is/was obviously planned with only a top-down vision vice recognition of bottom-up outcomes.
* Re the comment above about the buy out: if it hasn't already been said, PAY ATTENTION: the buy out is based on 2008 salary tables. This means those whose next WGI would have happened in 2009 or 2010 have been robbed of thousands of dollars we would have received for the rest of our federal career because the WGI pay off (aka hush money) was not calculated on current, not future salary.
* The NSPS system encourages nepotism and cronyism; it 'legalizes' actions to force personnel out of their jobs to make room for and/or promote favorites and/or buddies.
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42424
Sounds like a lot of people still don't understand NSPS. I actually feel sorry for some of you naysayers. We just received our pay figures for this year and my salary increase is more than double what it would have been had I still been under the GS system AND it came with a substantial bonus as well. Under the GS system our organization never saw any bonuses. It was always spent on overtime instead. NSPS forces the organization to set aside the bonus money and the pay raise was superb.
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42372
As a prior GS-5 (and Wing-level and ACC-level award recipient) interested in progressing in my Federal Civil Service career, I applied for a GS-6 equivalent position that was converted to NSPS. I was awarded a "reassignment" with a 5% increase. On my NSPS appraisal, my supervisor gave me a 4 on all objectives but downgraded it to an overall 3 because I was "new". My initiative or eagerness to learn were not taken into consideration. The overall rating of 3 entitled me to 1 pathetic share which equated to $482. After the IRS mandated tax on bonsuses, I received $301. Now I earn less than a GS-06, step 1. Also, another NSPS employee who earns more than I received a 3 with one share, but that person's share is worth more because it's based on salary. Why is that persons effort and eagerness to learn worth more than mine? Please tell me how this is a fair "pay-for-performance" system!
Not only do I believe that I am not being compensated fairly, it sickens me to realize how much I'm losing out in my TSP match and retirement. Long term, the loss is great.
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42075
"Ah, I see."; said the Blind Man.
Brittany, I may not agree with all the statement in this article BUT it is a HUGE improvement over the other "New Defense personnel system frees managers".
Looking back, I think it was the title that was so inflamatory, at least to those of us who care.
Thanks for at least taking a more in-depth look.
My sister-in-law worked for a union and I was definitely anti-union, until this system came along. There are now many in my section/division who feel the same.
By the way, I STILL think NSPS reeks for both the people and the government. Only profiteers? The Bean Counters.
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42063
I'm a level 3 valued employee however I did not receive any pay raise for pay for performance. I got 1.5% pay raise from Congress, the locality pay, and a net 1,100 cash bonus for 1 share. My salary is 1200 less than the equivalent GS. Is this fair? I dont think so!
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41872
This entire article sounds like these people are trying to justify themselves. There is nothing good about the NSPS--the 60-40% split is less than the govt workers recieved before. The good performers are not being rated as such; the same ole stuff is still going on. The managers pick who they like and they are the ones with the higher ratings regardless of their performance. The intent of the NSPS may have been good; however, it has not fixed anything. The morale is going down and will continue to with this new system.
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41868
NSPS has turned into the absolute nightmare that everyone feared. It is a system built for butt-kissers instead of people who are getting the hard work done. I give this think another year before the wheels come completely off. DOD folks are looking to retire or go to other Federal Agnecies in droves. Maybe you could do an article from the real people in this system to understand the discontent this "system" is already causing for front-line management and employees.
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41764
Congress and the President APPROVED DOD employees a 3.5% cost of living pay raise just like they have for my 40 plus years of active duty and civil service. DOD then takes away 40% of that 3.5% cost of living raise and uses it to fund the "Pay for Performance" NSPS because congress wouldn't approve funds for it. Why are DOD employees so accepting of the idea that when DOD takes away 40% of their annual cost of living pay raise then returns it to them as "Pay for Performance" that the DOD really gave them something. The only thing we received was already given to us by the congress and the president. Just think about it; ALL YOU RECEIVED WAS ALREADY YOURS!
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41654
NSPS is an affront to workers and a debacle for those who initiated and implemented it and for the taxpayers who pay for its ill-use.
The way it has been designed, this system actually hides performance, stifles accountability and opens the door for widespread mismanagement and fraud.
Bad enough that NSPS is based on "pay for performance" yet the supervisors who work directly with you are not allowed to tell you what they rated you or how they actually view your performance. Instead, you are ultimately rated by a board that can choose to change your supervisor's rating for any reason and without any support or documented reasoning.
What is far worse, though, is it that an agency can set its program up so that the agency head establishes his/her own board composed soley of internal personnel, and that he/she is the final adjudicating authority for any grievances. Thus, if the agency head and board members themselves stand to reap higher monetary bonuses by rating others lower or punish those that speak out, so be it under NSPS. Any managers who refuse to play the game can be excluded from the board, without recourse. There is no accountability. Instead pay for performance becomes pay for power and personal gain.
Interestingly, under NSPS employees are supposed to be given periodic reviews so they are not surprised by their end ratings. But, this has yet to happen in our organization. NSPS is anything but transparent and can apparently be set up to allow unethical senior managers to be hidden from view. This opacity can and IS effectively used to try to silence those that would be whistleblowers of inefficient processes -- or worse. I make these comments based on my first-hand experience with this system.
While some of these problems can also happen under the GS system, at least the GS system is more transparent and equitable, and there was some protection for employees. The way the NSPS has been designed, it opens the door to ever grander performance manipulations that are effectively closed to scrutiny.
While "pay for performance" sounds good at face value, NSPS has missed the boat and just ended up being a system that will undermine morale, foster fear and resentment, and squash those who would speak out or work against harmful agency practices or policies, all while adding a powerful tool to the arsenal of the unethical.
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41579
As a supervisor in NSPS, I got one of my employees a fair and honest eval, and a score of 4. When the pay pool saw it, they adjusted it to a 3 without giving any reasons why. I'm not allowed to tell my employee that I rated him higher. Now a highly motivated employee is looking for another job. Way to got NSPS! The freedom to manage, cough, cough.
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41543
I've been under DOD's NSPS for 2 years now. I was rated a 3 the first year and a 4 the next. I was paid $400.00 below the GS scale the first year. Now I'm $1,000.00 below the GS Scale. Damn! I'm one motived dude...NOT!
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41526
Why can't our leaders just admit that NSPS is another dismal failure in our government pay system. We are doing disjustice to tax payers by introducing an absolute cash cow hogging up more valueable tax dollars with no benefits. How much money have we spent executing this pay system with also keeping our traditional GS system alive, let alone figthing the unions in the courts. If the government was a private business all the executives pushing NSPS would have been fired by now. I fail to see how NSPS is a measurable performance based evaluation. Has anyone ever read the lame objectives we use for NSPS? They are vague with no substance allowing the supervisors the same latitude to give whatever ratings they wish to give an employee just like the GS system with the exception of creating pages of BS. Its mind boggling that 10 days before my first NSPS pay raise pay check and no one can tell me what my or anyone's raise in my office will be. We can't even find out what the new pay bands will be for this year. How incompetent can the government get. When will they learn that you don't put a product out until it is good, ready and tested? Obviously they have not learned from Defense Travel System (DTS) lessons learned that you don't force employees to use a system before its tested. Fortunately I fully believe that NSPS will be abolished in 2-3 years as folks will finally wise up and realize what a failure NSPS has become.
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41479
I can move from pay band N to pay band N+1 after a year, can't I? No? What happened? Why not? I must have a year of GS-14 experience before I may apply for a job equal to a GS-15 under pay banding? So, a N band equivalent to GS-13 does not qualify me? What? That means that NOBODY in DoD in a GS-13 equivalent pay band may apply for the GS-14-15 pay band job that has been identified as equal to GS-15? I thought one point of NSPS was to expedite promotions for qualified individuals and expand the applicant pool. So, nobody who used to be a GS-14 will be >promoted< when they move into the job? All promotees must be from somewhere outside of DoD and the NSPS? What? Why? What happened?
...........Vacancy Announcement Number: EUHR08343120-1 ...........
"NSPS QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS: This position is equivalent to the GS-15 level. In order to receive consideration for this position, candidates must possess 1 year of specialized experience. In order to be creditable, this experience must be equivalent to the GS-14 level..."
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41475
It really is astonishing, that a system (i.e. NSPS) that is so "great" of a system, is not implemented Government wide. I would be much more comfortable if Senators, Congressperson, etc. were relegated to a "pay for performance"! In litigation for 2 years, and the powers that be would rather press on than admit this was a mistake! Those who "love" NSPS are a portion of the population whose pay will not be restricted, regardless of performance. Honestly, how can management justify anything other that a 3 or LOWER, if they have ANY individual under them that receives a 3 or lower...think about that! Since you don't actually perform any work (being so high and mighty that you manage worker bees) your only metric would be your workers. NSPS is supposed to be about national security and the only security is the fact that there is so much secrecy intertwined within NSPS and its "implement 'em as you create 'em" rules, the DOD will ultimately lose. We will soon find out the true "costs" of NSPS (early retirement, transfers, low recruitment, etc.)...and it will not be pretty.
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41456
NSPS is another "management tool" so they (management) can avoid doing their job- SUPERVISE EMPLOYEES. And, for what it's worth, Ms Waldron is NOT a manager of several people in several pay bands. In fact, she's not even a manager. Please check your facts before listing to another Corporate Cheerleader!!!
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41435
In response to Smiley. The pay pool required our managers to sign non-disclosure statements. So I can't tell my employees how I rated them. In fact, there is no point in the manager putting a rating and suggested share payout down at all in the system the way is being implemented. The pay pool is the sole determining body.
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41389
Early research on radial keratotomy resulted in many blind people. What do NSPS's early 'adopters' have to say about NSPS? Please exclude personnellists' comments. "I have worked under NSPS for two years and I love it!" Is there anybody as enthusiastic as the late Cy Sperling under NSPS?
If the General Schedule were the answer, nobody would try to impose NSPS upon us. I just hope someone is reevaluating the questions to ensure they remain valid and making sure that the answers NSPS provides actually match up with those questions.
OKAY! That is enough doom and gloom. THERE IS GREAT NEWS! With personnel, benefits and pay issues now Web based, the support costs per Department of Defense employee have dropped dramatically and are at a never-before-seen low. It is now actually less costly to employ Government civilians than contract workers. Rejoice! Jobs, jobs and more jobs are on the way, as contracts expire and DoD civilians replace defense contractors. Contracting Officers' workloads will drop dramatically as contracts are cancelled, saving still money on expensive KOs, CORs and ACOs! Really! No, this time I mean it!
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41388
I may be wrong, but I have the impression that the National Security Personnel System was designed by personnellists. Personnellists deliver all of the classroom training on NSPS. They read and work with evaluations all the time. I work with something completely different and I know personnellist are generally under qualified to do what I do. Personnellists, managers, the PPP, Congress, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense and the President can probably identify with that. I may be well equipped to do my job but poorly equipped to write a 'winning essay' for the PPP. Personnellists, on the other hand, have it made. Of course, they are proponents.
A Valued Performer from a high performing organization, after working for a time in a sub-par organization, should expect to receive a greater number of shares for their relatively superior contribution. In an extremely high performing organization, it may be impossible to stand out. There is a 'JoeBob Community College' versus Massachusetts Institute of Technology, sort of, demographic at work.
NSPS keeps 'evolving.' In Software, it would be labeled spaghetti code.
The Pay Panel Pool decides the fate of pay shares. Is one of a Pay Panel Pool members' performance standards based upon Pay Pool money saved? I hope all shares must be obligated. I admit suspicion that the more shares left over when the PPP has disbanded the greater the size of the shares remaining to divide among employees at their level. Maybe I just need more PPP training the better to understand how they work.
Show me two comparable organizations A and B with A using the General Schedule and organization B under NSPS. What is the relative pay increase over two years for each organization? Do employees in organization B fare better when compared to employees of organization A? Has productivity in organization B improved over that in organization A? I would be delighted to discover both answers are, "Yes." It would be even better if that were the rule rather than a special case or an exception. In fact, COMPLETELY RANDOM samplings of equivalent employees might work even better.
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41305
The label "Valued Performer" on a numeric score is insignificant. Only the failure to rate at the top of the range is meaningful.
There was this decree that government employee pay should catch up with industry. Is that happening where you work? Has that happened anywhere?
Why are the Pay Pool Panel's deliberations secret? ANY affected employee should be allowed to sit in and take notes. Employees should be able to read their scores, write-ups, and eventual pay adjustment as well as those of all the other employees in the office. That WOULD be government transparency in action. They should not discuss National Secrets or make derogatory statements during deliberations. There should only be a 'did/did not discussion in 'problem/not person' terms. If an audience can observe surgeons, while watching their Ps and Qs, in the operating theater we should have the right to observe how our pay panel pool dissects our evaluations.
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41244
Quote from PERSEC: Just got my 5 year certificate as a GS employee for the Army. Never ever recieved less than a perfect evaluation and always got the maximum bonus I could have been awarded.
Need to get real, and I don't think you have attained that in a 5 year career. There should be no "perfect" evaluation. Everyone should have room for growth. In reality it is a cop-out from poor managers to say you are perfect when it costs them nothing, and you can both feel good. Under our old TAPES system, we had over 90% receiving the highest rating (but the only real discriminator was if you got a QSI or performance award - you might get a 1 year after year, but no cash). Now rating must correlate to reward.
As to getting the maximum bonus, I doubt that you are aware of what the maximum bonus was.
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41230
For the advocates of NSPS, please explain?
First, if the fereral government did away with the old GM system (that was pay-for performance system for GM-13 - 15), because it was unmanagable for a small group, why do you believe this will work in the long run?
Second, Why do DOD employees deserve less than a full cost-of-living increase every year like the rest of the federal government? If DOD can't management pay for performance without denying full COLA, then it is a flawed system.
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41220
I have an overwhelming sense of disappointment. My particular organization is supposed to spriral next month and all the training is not going to get myself or my fellow employees anywhere since we are considered too small and have to major organinations overseeing our Human Resources operations. We have WG, WL, GS and contractors and now will have NSPS also, but still cannot get people in to fill our positions, so what if the pay system changes! If the Human Resource way of doing things does not, the workforce will still be struggling to regular business. Get "Qualified" people hired faster!
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41200
I don't disagree with the concept of better tying pay to performance--in fact, I'm all in favor of it. NSPS allows me to rate my staff more appropriately so that everyone doesn't get the same rating as usually occurred under the old system. This variation--although small--sends a clear message to staff where they need to apply efforts in order to achieve a better rating in the futue. Done right, the objections and the interium assessment should make it clear to folks what is going well and what needs work. However, as is pointed out in the article, much work is required by all to write good objectives and buy-in across the organization is required in order to be fair to others. I have great concern about consistency across the organization as well as the ability and time required to write good objectives, SAs and supervisor assessments.
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41199
I have gone from spending 20 - 30 minutes for a semi annual reviews on a 2 page document with my employees to a 5 page document every quarter...where is the value added? I am not a "Dr Phil" I could care less how he feels about the job. I give a honest eval to all nine of my people. Some are good, some are average, and 2 are outstanding. I am retiring in a year not because I want to, it is because I am tire of people not knowing what they are doing making decisions that affect me!! That contractor job is looking better all the time.
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41193
NSPS migt work in a perfect world. However, nothing is perfect. Most managers today are there not because they have good people skills, but becasue they were rewarded for something somebody else did for them. Managers periodically get there hands slapped for stuff that I'd probably be fired for, and I'll bet they will still get their entire pay raise no matter what they do. This only will increase favoritism as the managers can now "coach" their favorite employees more than the other less liked employees. Or maybe a scenario similar to what happened to me almost 30 years ago when a performance system based on a numerical rating was tried. The magic number for an outstanding rating was like 4.2 and I rated out to a 6.4. Did I get an outstanding rating? No, I was told the work I did was too easy. So what is stopping that garbage from happening under NSPS? I'll bet the final rating is at the supervisor's discretion and their "favorites" for various and sundry reasons will still make out while the person that does their work but doesn't get their nose brown will continue to get less. Especially now when the lower level management has now become upper level management and ensure that these practices will continue. NAPS will no way change the culture, onlt entrench it more.
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41190
Government employees don't TRUST their managers to look after anyone but themselves.
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41187
I have attend two training sessions on NSPS given by the some of the same cronies who are cheerleading this extremely flawed system as a win-win for DoD employees who want to move up the ladder. Guess what? These people don't understand the NSPS system or how to implement it. Each training session, when we got to the quesiton and answer part, these people could not answer about 70 percent of the questions. I heard a lot of "I don't know" or "I don't have an answer for that" responses.
You know what the real kicker of the two training sessions I went to? There was a slide used in both sessions. The slide showed six employees, two who make six figures, two making between 50K and 70K, and two making around 30. Guess who got the highest ratings and shares? The 100K+ folks. Who got the lowest? The 30Ks. IN fact, every example these cronies used during each training presentation always gave the folks that are already making the big bucks the hightest rating and shares. The workers on the lower end of the food change got hurt. What a way to promote confidence in a pay and promotion system that is being shoved down our throats. If the majority of the DoD work force, up and down the chain of command, are against the NSPS system, then it should be done away with.
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41111
And here I am wondering why there are 700,000 civilians in DoD, regardless of what pay system they use. 700,000? Seriously? That doesn't even count the contractors that probably number at least in the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. According to Wikipedia, the US military had 2.3 million total soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen in 2005. Arguing over a pay system seems silly when overall staffing and function appear completely out of whack.
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41109
Gary in DC:
There are some NSPS advocates, including yourself, and organizational toadies who too often opportunistically align themselves whenever so-called 'managers' attempt to desribe something as beautiful and novel what in really is a nothing more than a lipstick smeared pig that is anything but new or promising. And don't confuse fear witn anger and outrage. There are many of us who are driven by justifyable outrage as we identify the preposterous groupthink-driven manner in which the NSPS was 'developed' by these sycophantic charlatons (or better put literally copied and pasted for its ugly twin sister HR system in DHS). Toadies who have and are continuing to mischaracterize and lie about the NSPS to the American public about abonimation that is NSPS. No, Gary in DC, there are many caring, thinking and reasoned persons who care and argue more for the future of the DoD workforce, including many of us who are current and prior staffers, managers and executives, who choose to look beyond merely ourselves and our latest pay check increase or decrease (as is the principle contention within your submission).
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41097
Gary in DC - The 60/40 split between salary and bonus was because Congress intervened. NSPS allows the Secretary of Defense to set pay. However, Congress was the entity that passed a law that told the SecDef what the split is going to be this year. Originally DOD was going to do 50/50 split and the share payouts were going to be different. Congress forced DOD to change its payout distribution. Don't count on that happening every year. The system is designed to reduce retirement payout over the long run. PFP is going to be managed as a budget line item with an emphasis on keeping ratings down. Too many HR specialist are screaming about this system for us to ignore the complaints.
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41082
Looks like the NSPS opponents and nay sayers were WRONG again. The facts are now clear with the release of the GS and NSPS payouts for 2007. An average employee who got 1 or 2 shares under the New NSPS system - equal to that of a 3 or 5 under the oldGS system made out BETTER than they would have if they stayed in GS pay scale. Not only did a share turn out to be about 2.5% of base pay increase (for our DOD agency) but 60% of that went to salary vs bonus - which all of it was a bonus under the antiquated GS system. In fact my personal salary increased just over $5k without the COLA added. This was on top of the MINI-Step increase you receive when you go into NSPS. So don't tell me I'm losing out cause I don't get the auto-step increase every few years. Bottom line all my employees made out better when I compare them against the just released GS pay scales. So don't fear the unknown. Even the most ardent opoonent in our office just admitted this year was "better than I ever thought", but added "it probably won't be that way next year." There's just no convincing some people.
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41067
Where is it 'written' that Supervisor are barred from telling employee what their original rating was ??? Yes, this is what the NSPS indoctrination instructors are saying, but I cann't find it written on any NSPS websites or Fedral Registry.
Let me see if I have this straight. I first come up with goals that my supervisor and I agree upon. Then after a year, I sit down with him to hear how well I performed according to our goals/agreement. He then submits my performance rating to people who don't know me, yet deligate how much of a share I will receive. So again, why is it my supervisor is unable to tell me how well I performed toward our commonly agreed upon goals? How amd I going to improve if I don't know what is broken?
If it's pay for performance then why don't they pay me for my performance per my chain of commands suggestion? Not some inpersonal Pay pool.
Where is it written that a supervisor is unable to provide the employee with what the orginal 'share' was?
A relationship that is first built on an agreement but quickly degrades to suspission and mistrust. Then followed by distrust and hatred.
Where are all the lovely folks that are so happy with the NSPS system? How come all of the NSPS message boards have 98% hate mail with a 2% favorable rating?
Could we do this with our Senators and Congress folks? They get to vote on their own pay raises. - no conflict of interest of course.
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41025
I've been under some of the worst managers of all times. I saved the government thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars for going above and beyond the call of duty and what did I get from these managers? With all 5's I was told that I was unpromotable. When I asked for more training I was told NO because that would make me promotable. EVERY analyst I worked for loved me but the top manager had it out for me and there was nothing I could do.
Several times I have heard of the DEAD WOOD being eliminated but there was an OPM report that was pulled and I haven't seen it since and in it the report stated that 10% of managers were considered DEAD WOOD and that they were often the problem that caused other employees to look bad or become "BAD" employees. I think THIS needs to be addressed but all I ever see is people trying to get rid of those who are below manager level.
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41013
Until leadership admits that NSPS is horrible and takes a stand against it, we are stuck with it. NSPS is driving good people away--I bet everyone has an example of that. I've worked in a pay for performance system (retail) that was a much better. The difference is that management was held accountable in that system--and we were actually rewarded for exceeding performance standards. It's sickening when NSPS supporters praise it. My 2007 NSPS rating is a joke--it's an insult. I believe it was awarded on a curve so the pay pool could award money as they saw fit, not a "Pay for Performance" concept. That's my opinion and my leadership will hear it. I (we) can challenge the rating and the pool can change it without changing the shares. What a crock--I wish leadership had the courage to stand against NSPS--they know it's a bad system. I'm tired of hearing people say a three is a good rating. It's horrible and especially when you work your butt off to exceed your standards. When this all started, I told myself, no worries, I'll work hard--I can make more money this way, what a fool. Anyone who thinks NSPS is a good system, needs to attend the training again.
LEADERSHIP - Take the right stand!
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41007
o The DOD implementation of NSPS was flawed from the beginning. All GS13s in NAVSEA were transitioned to PBII, journey level band. Level III is the expert PB, yet, every GS13 in the acq field is required by mandate to be certified in their career field at DAWIA level III, subject matter expert. o Capping the PB II at the GS13/10 eliminates those who were at that level from particpation in NSPS for they cannot receive pay higher than that regardless of performance. They can receive a bonus but that does not apply to their retirement dollars. Additionally, those at this level are most likely over the age of 40 -- this capping lends itself to a discriminatory practice. o Rating process shrowded in secrecy. Supv rates employee and forwards to Pay Pool Panel (PPP). PPP has discretionary authority to change rating and does so, most often, downward. ppp members are not in employees chain and have no first hand knowledge of actual performance. Supervisor can appeal PPP decision, but, more than likely, accepts and passes rating to employee. Supervisor is barred from telling employee what his original rating was. Employee has no idea of how he is actually performing. Note, the PPP managers share the very same PP dollars as all employees -- the perception is that they would want to conserve PP dollars for their own awards o JOb assignments. Some employees are not given the opportunity to excel due to assignment of duties. Performance of signifcant program duties correlates to ratings. oAppeals. Of all those employees who appealed the PPP decisions of last year's ratings, 40% won their appeal. That tells me that there are extreme errors in the PPP determinations. From all that I have seen and heard, the overall impact on NSPS has resulted in a decline in the morale within NAVSEA. I think this is evident in those who no longer volunteer for collateral assignments, no longer perform duties that are not specificallly annotated in their objectives, and even noted in the CFC campaign efforts.
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40987
If you screaming liberal Democrats think that Bush is the only one here with dirt on his hands, I've got some ocean front property in Kansas to sell you. Just tell me, how many Democratic Senators or Congressmen have you heard screaming about NSPS? How many have made an issue about this? None. They are just as much a player in this horrid program as Bush and even if a Democrat is elected president...do you really think things will change? If you believe they will, you're a fool...what did the king of the Democratic Party Bill Clinton do for civil servants? He wasn't a friend of ours...do you think Billary will be any better? She has nothing but disdain for governement employees. What about Obama-rama? He won't even wear a flag on his lapel or put his hand on his heart during the national anthem...how can you expect him to be good for government employees or the military? Me thinks you Democrats need to quit dreaming and come back to reality...it's all the politicians...not just Republicans.
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40951
The NSPS vice GS salary comparison is not an easy one to make. In general it appears that if you get one share you should wind up with approximately the same increase as GS (depending on your ratio of "Salary Increase" to "Bonus"). However, NSPS does not have the 1, 2 or 3 year salary step increases (this money is added to the pool) so to really keep up over time the NSPS yearly increase needs to slightly exceed the GS increase.
The one thing I appreciate about the NSPS "shares system" is that an equal evaluation yields a more or less equal reward. With the Army Civilian Appraisal system in the past Managers in my organization gave vastly different awards for equal ratings. Also, in my organization we did have some 1 & 2 ratings (finally the dead weight got recognized) so those shares of the pay increase went into the paypool for everyone who got 3 or higher to share.
I am not a great fan of NSPS (definitely not worth the effort and resources) but at least for this year it doesn't seem to screwing us too bad. As several people have stated hopefully the next Administration will take action to either scrap NSPS or correct the flaws to make it more transparent and fair.
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40946
To H-man, You seem to have a lot of hate built up. I suggest that you get help. Anyone who can be so angry (and voice that anger) at people he's never met may need some anger management. Then again, I don't know you. Maybe you're having a bad week. This forum is for people to voice their opinions, not to bash those who make their voice heard. Please be respectful.
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40944
I work for a major Aerospace/Defense contractor, one who uses a pay for performance evaluation system that seems to work reasonably well, mostly because most of the manager's are well trained in the process. We are graded 1-4 with one being the best and 4 not meeting requirements. Yes, some do have favorite employees who get treated better than others even though they may not perform as well. The one main critique of the process here are the quotas. You can have a stellar dept. with top notch workers all "consistently exceeding requirements" yet you, as a manager, are still only allowed a couple top performers (1's) and must also identify some marginal performers even if you really have none. The only was a system like this really works is if there is a measureable performance plan and the employee is measured and compensated farily against this plan with no quotas and no-biases. We all know that ain't gonna happen yet pay for performance is certainly works better overall than creating a level playing field where everyone gets the same merit increases regardless of performance, dedication, ethics, etc.
-
40942
I think that it is important to remember that managers did not choose to move to NSPS. Managers are also hesitant and skeptical of this new system. Regardless of the system, managers should be accurately reviewing the performance of employees and responding accordingly. I realize that this is the case in a perfect world but often fails in the real one. I have seen NSPS work the way it was intended, rewarding high performers. We also need to get over a rating of "3". It is NOT a mediocre rating; it is a "valued performer". The tendency is to assume that the middle rating is "average" but that is not the case with NSPS. They are assuming that most employees are ABOVE AVERAGE (the "3" rating) and award accordingly. Getting to know the NSPS system will calm the nerves of many as will accepting change instead of fearing it.
-
40939
For JMark - you obviously are one of those who helped sell this system to the Rumsfeld era. One of my co-workers was an intern, GS-9 with a full performance level of GS-12, when converted to NSPS. He was due a career ladder promotion in the old system, which he did not get once converted. He was doing the same work as the GS-12s around him, at about $20,000 less per year. It took management 3 reassignments of 5% pay increases over the course of 1 year to get his salary to where he would have been in the GS system within 60 days - had he not converted. Sounds like a "good" system to me - Very morale boosting, to say the least.
-
40927
And there you have it! The reason that I'm leaving 31 Jan after 32+ years with the government. The new lie. Just like FERS, NSPS isn't good for the employees, it's good for the government. Unfortunately, there are still those that have not figured out how disappointed they are going to be when they get ready to retire. They still think they will get the payout that us old timers (who didn't bite the bait) will receive under CSRS. Good luck to you all. I'll be sitting at home when they spiral us in on 3 Feb.
-
40922
After over 20 years in the Federal Civil Service I am very grateful that I should be able to finish my remaining time outside NSPS. Too many times I have seen the top rating (5) go to the supervisor's favorites basically for just showing up for work - same rating system I saw in the Air Force. I simply don't trust the vast majority of middle and even some of the top managers to rate performance over personal relationships; once they decide they like some people and dislike others, the only option for those in the second category is to abandon ship. In one organization I worked for most of the best did just that - and that was even before NSPS.
-
40914
J Mark you are a liar and although you clearly don't - can't - or won't understand the harm NSPS does to moral you will you silly buffoon get it when it comes time for you to retire and you take a look at where you would be if you had remained in GS and where you stand under NSPS and realize that you can't retire because your making 30% less than your GS counterparts. You are a shill for a system you don't understand, you need to get your head out of your butt and back in the game. Think before you write and bare in mind that sucking up to your supervisor through this forum will still only get you 60% of the pay raise other GS employees are getting. Thanks for playing but unfortunately you loose.
-
40903
As an addendum to my prior comment, when I worked at GTE I was promoted 4 times in 3 years, given over 40% in raises in that same timeframe... This NSPS system is supposed to more closely mirror private industry in performance rated increases... those increases I got at GTE were all performance related... so does NSPS allow this level of performance increase? No, it mirrors the manner in which one can chastise an employee, but not the level in which and employee can be praised in the only meaningful manner, their paycheck.
Smoke and mirrors people, smoke and mirrors.
Any manager want to comment on that?
I thought not.
-
40902
Hmmm, As a physicist working for the navy, hired less than 6 years aog after having worked almost 20 years in private industry, I can honestly say that the caliber of engineer/scientist I work with here at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) is significantly higher than anywhere I have worked at prior, to include MIT's Lincoln Labs. As such, the statement that just because you are rated a 5 one year does not mean you will be rated a 5 in subsequent years, while true in a general sense, is probably NOT true in a specific instance. DoD scientists and Engineers I have worked with are ALL HIGH PERFORMERS. This system (NSPS) however seems to presume that the federal government hires mediocre employees at the same rate that it does stellar employees. NOT TRUE. At the NSWCDD, they do not hire anyone whose GPA was less than a 3.0, require constant training to keep up with current advances in technology, rate us yearly on our performance, and move us around to try to get the best value for the Navy for our work.
I see the NSPS as a move by Congress (and the DoD) to try and justify fewer raises at the lower GS levels while more and larger 'bonuses' go to the GS-14's and above.
Here at Dahlgren if you get as much as $1600 worth of bonuses in one year you are an extreme rarity, however they claim to reserve 40% for bonuses? Then those must be going to someone other than the Engineers and Scientists doing the work.
-
40897
Highly recommend you write an article outlining each and every change brought about by NSPS: Changes to transfer of function rules, discontinuation of health benefits for employees who refuse to transfer with function, January pay-pool payout (if you leave on 2 Jan, you get NADA), "forced" Feb retirement dates (if you want to get 50% of the pay raise, etc etc etc.
We have about 100 employees under NSPS. It cost about $200-300K to administer--results were basically the same as before. Favorites got the best appraisals and most $$$, rest got the same as they would have under the former system. BTW, all pay-pool members fared rather well--at least, that's the rumor since nothing is published as to ratings. I was told I got a bonus because one pay-pool member "thought" I was already earning enough in salary. I find this to be rather subjective--don't you?
Do the article and recommend DOD conduct a survey to determine what the workforce really thinks---
-
40890
For KD - In an attempt to clarify: First, there is no such thing as a "Cost of Living increase" for the federal employees outside of those employed in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, etc. Federal employees receive a General Pay Increase which is more aptly characterized as the "Cost of Labor." Second, there is nothing in the NSPS enabling legislation or in the implementing issuances about a cap of 5% on annual increases from performance payouts or aggregate compensation. Third, step increases are a maximum of 3.33% (step 1 to step 2) and a minimum of 2.63% (step 9 to step 10). Keeping in mind that increases to steps 5, 6 and 7 require 2 years and to 8, 9 and 10 require three years, the annualized increases are approximately 1.5% and 0.9%. And considering the fact that most employees converting to NSPS are at their full performance level there is never any guarantee of a GS promotion. Feel free to opine as you must, but you and your readers would be well served to ensure you have a sound factual basis for any/all conclusions and arguments; but I've noticed this general analytic tenet has not been a show-stopper for most of the NSPS nay-sayers. Lastly, if in your organization, there is confusion as to who is in charge, you've got serious problems no matter what management system you're under. As for a "Payroll Reduction Initiative," the big concern in our organization is our salary growth outpacing our manpower budgets to the extent that we may not be able to afford to fill vacant positions. In short, our employees' salaries are growing faster than under GS.
For DoD Intern - Under NSPS, in the Professional/Analytical pay schedules (YA, YD) there are indeed three "levels" (the correct term is pay bands). But they are Entry/Developmental, Full Performance and Expert (not Supervisory). Promotions between pay bands are required to be a minimum of 6%. As far as increases to compensation are concerned, there are many opportunities under NSPS. For intern in Pay Band 1, there is the Accelerated Compensation for Developmental Positions. There are Reassignments (no more than 5% in any one year). And the biggie: Annual Performance Payouts. In short, no need to move around.
-
40883
NSPS only makes sense if you look at it from a cost savings standpoint; it saves the government tons of money every year. Many government employees I know are glad they are retiring.
-
40881
As a long-term DoD HR employee (noted in other's comments as an old fart), I definitely plan to vote this year - not that republican or democrat makes a difference in NSPS. It's all about saving money. But from where I sit each day, I only see the billions being spent on a system that will eventually fail. The dollars wasted on implementing NSPS have been astronomical and across the board, employees are disgruntled. Yes - I am one of them. I have always been an above average performer and my salary kept in line in the GS system. Now I will be making less than my old GS position. My performance this year was well above the "valued performer", but writing (bragging) about what you do, and having the pay pool see the same things, is a totally different story. There are quotas - they won't convince me there isn't. So if an organization has made leaps and strides in the performance of their duties, they will still only be a Level 3. SO - where is the pay for performance in this system. Attitudes have changed in my activity - Level 3 employees are only going to give level 3 work - why kill ourselves for the measly amount of dollars we know we will get in the long run. AND that is probably why my co-workers are leaving for GS positions by the droves!!!! If anyone knows where the picket-line is or where we can voice our concerns and be heard, please let all of us know. Maybe our elected officials will go into NSPS since it is such a wonderful system . . . . yeah, right!
-
40879
I am ready to "retire" early. I had a conversation with the "head" of our organization who describes a high performer as someone who goes outside their "box" to help others. Yes, this person is seem all over the post and everyone knows her, but does she do her assigned duties? No, she is too busy doing nice things for those in power. According to the "head" she is demonstrating outstanding attitude and performance because everyone knows her. So I guess you could she will be getting paid for performance, but not necessairly for performing the duties she was hired to do. Someone else has to pick up the slack, but they are not seen or heard all over the post, so they will be considered doing a satisfacatory job. Let me out of here.
-
40872
I recently retired after 3 decades of Federal Human Resource service. The last office I worked for, the Naval Acquisition Career Center which managed the Naval Acquisition Intern Program for ASN (RD&A) DACM, made an edict to rate all interns level 3 and none above that. The Director advised the few staff employees with which he shared the thought to keep it internal as it violated regulation. This model was not scrapepd after he left and was replaced by a new Director. Based upon evidence I have seen, it is my opinion that this was but one of numerous illegal actions taken by managers of this organization. What I have seen as poor management in the field and in Washington played a major role in my decision to retire. My level of stress has greatly decreased with retirement as I no longer have to dodge questions and dance around lies and misinformation.
These are the supervisors and managers tasked with implementation of NSPS. How well do you really think it will work? These same managers failed to successfully implement amuch simpler and less time consuming pass-fail system. I fail to understand who in their right mind would think they could successfully implement NSPS.
-
40871
I worked for Navy and have known Pat Tamburinno for many years. NAVSEA's implementation of NSPS is like deja vu all over again. Years ago NAVSEA Headquarters opted into the AcqDemo paybanding project, similar to NSPS in many ways. The following years they made headlines in Washington newspapers as implementing a system that provided the most inaccurate performance appraisals and lowest morale that anyone working there could remember - it was a total flop. I also left DoD primarily because of the lies I was told directly by Pat Adams, Head of DoD HRO and her refusal to answer any questions that did not fit the agenda of promoting hte upcoming NSPS system. Now that it has been implemented, I can share some of the new flexibilities managment has begun to use. No. 1: The ability to promote an employee from one pay band to another without any competition whatsoever. This overturns the concept of competition for all promotions established by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1974 which was implemented to radically change a corrupt Civil Service System. No. 2: The performance appraisals are still written without logic and managers still muddle through the performance appraisal process as they always have. They decide who to reward, then skew the write ups to match. No. 3: Managers recruit family members, superiors' family members, conduct targeted recruitment events called "Family and Friends" events open only to relatives and friends of the employees of the activity. This violates the Fair and Open competition provisions of US Code still on the books. No. 4: Managers openly refuse to consider veterans for civil service position in direct violation of Federal law. This and so many more flexibilities are being utilized today by Naval Sea Systems Command, other Navy commands, and by some other, not all, Federal agencies.
-
40869
Does anyone have anything Positive to say about the NSPS? I'm going under the NSPS March '08 and this article is shaking my confidence. I'll bet that after this '08 spiral conversion there will be many DOD gov job opening and fast promotions for those that stay. Many of the good employees are going to bail out for actual pay-performance non gov jobs. I'm interviewing with other agencies because I've heard nothing good about the NSPS.
FACT: The supervisor is unable to tell you how well you rated (thus unable to tell you how much they put you in for)
FACT: The paypool could knock down whatever your supervisor puts in. Thus it's not a true pay for performance but pay for buget.
FACT: The 2007 payout was 60% salary and 40% bonus, thus not having to pay a higher retirement and greatly affecting your high-3.
FACT: NSPS has a perception problem on their hands and they need a public relation image change.
FACT: +/- 95% of the comments on any message board regarding the NSPS are negative.
Question: If this is pay for performance then why cann't your supervisor tell you how well your past years 'performance' was?
I guess it's time for another job in an agency that is not going to NSPS.
-
40850
This is my first full year under NSPS. I will wait until the NSPS payouts are finalized and I actually receive my full appraisal report before I form a comprehensive opinion. That said, here are some interim observations that cause me (and presumably the masses) significant concern.
1 - Since converting to NSPS as part of Spiral 1.2 in November 2006 (15 months ago), I still have not seen my written performance appraisal. So much for timely and effective communication and feedback.
2 - From the perspective of employees, pay is probably the most significant factor. Since converting into NSPS 15 months ago, pay pool funding was initially established and in place for the rating period that ended on Sep 30, 2007. But in mid Sep 2007, the Deputy SECDEF changed the formula significantly...WITH ONLY WEEKS LEFT in the appraisal period. Now in early Jan 08, the pay formula was AGAIN changed for the rating period that ended 3 months ago. If DoD expects to gain employee buy-in, they must stop this game of bait-and-switch, especially ex post facto. As of now, NSPS employees have no idea what their new salaries will be.
3 - The true cost of NSPS implementation is abominable and if ever accurately determined, would shock the conscience of the American taxpayers and Congress. DoD will admit the direct costs (establishment and operation of PEO-NSPS, development and operation of the Performance Appraisal Application system, etc), but the indirect costs (not acknowledged by DoD) are exponentially higher -- Mandatory training classes for employees, supervisors, and pay pool members; hundreds of thoudsands man-days spent entering data into the PAA, mock pay pools, pay pools, etc; and the hiring of additional federal and contractor employees to fulfill NSPS overhead functions.
Despite NSPS' noble endeavors, DoD appears to have an uphill battle showing a positive return on investment with NSPS.
More to follow.
-
40844
Rumsfield was a total waste and got booted out because of incompetence. We trust him enough to market this pay for performance charade that NSPS is? I think not. I got out on deferred retirement, thankfully I was financially able to do so. I worked for a Rumsfield clone, totally incompetent. What a total waste of taxpayers money and a blow to the hard working civil servant who is being screwed out of future earnings and retirement benefits. The government should just be contracted out, starting at the highest level!
-
40832
After reading all the replies....GOVEXEC....are you going to investigate this subject further? Your readers want to know!!!
-
40831
In response to Bob's comment, "Quit your whining about NSPS. I just left the military where we were rated in a similar manner like NSPS in relation to performance." Either he does not understand NSPS or the Military or both. The military officer pay system is similar to the GS system. Military annual pay raises are automatic and they receive the full amount of the annual Congressionally authorized amount, unlike the GS "rest of the US' reduced annual pay raises. The military pay system is based upon longevity with automatic increased pay based upon time in grade. Yes, there is competition for promotions, but unlike civil service promotion opportunities are automatic based upon longevity. In the lower ranks promotion rates are close to 100%, by the time there is real competition for promotions most officers are eligible to retire. The military pay system could easily be converted to NSPS with lets say, a Junior Officer, Field Grade Officer, and Senior Officer pay bands. Future officer pay raises could be put in a pay pool and they could fight it out over who gets paid what just like NSPS. What do you think the chances are of an NSPS system being imposed on the military, who sit in judgment over civilian pay pools? Probably about zero, military leadership knows NSPS it for what it is: A cleverly marketed plan to hold down payroll costs.
-
40826
The current system works. Employees can and are rated and provided for performance based increases - when managers do thier jobs.
Dead beats, poor performers, and employees with conduct problems can and are disciplined and fired - when managers do their jobs.
Step increases while based on longevity, assume acceptable performance. These increases can and are withheld - when managers do their jobs.
And by all legitimate and conservative estimates, federal employees are not paid more than their federal sector counterparts. While the percentage varies, it ranges from 17 to 30%.
Fire the poor managers and the designers of NSPS.
-
40825
I spent over 6 years under the Acquisition Demonstration pay system, and after a short break-in period, loved it -- now THAT was pay-4-performance! Up until this year (and NSPS), I was ahead of where I would have been in the old GS system and very happy. Our supervisors gave us feedback, and we all understood what our contribution to the mission was, and why it was important. Now, under NSPS, I feel like "the child who was left behind". The DoD is talking out of both sides of its mouth at the same time. It's not about P4P -- it's about saving money. It's not about what is expected of me -- my supervisor said I am doing a great job, but he can't tell me what the paperwork means, just that I have to sign it and I have 10 days to file a grievance (which you can't do for a satisfactory rating, of course). Even the dollars are wrong, because Congress and the President couldn't reach agreement on a budget! Was anyone out there scored anything besides "3" and get anything besides "1 share" and a pittance of a bonus? I am highly insulted, and so is my supervisor, because that's what he is expecting as well (they made him give his subordinates their paperwork -- note I don't say "feedback" because there was none -- before he got his). Guess Rumsfeld got his revenge after all, didn't he???
-
40817
The issues I see with NSPS:
- There are only three levels for workers developmental, full-performance, and supervisory. -Promotions between grades average about 20%, but the two promotions you can receive under NSPS cap pay raises at 6%. - The comment that the GS system rewards longevity indicates that step increases should be eliminated not promotions. - NSPS seems like it will require employees to move around more to get any form of pay raise.
I could go on...
-
40813
I was in Army HR and I was one of the first that converted to NSPS. I was also an instructor for managers, employees and pay pools. I now work for another non-DoD agency, because DoD and CHRA (Army HR Headquarters) lied to us. When teaching the pay pool mechanics, it became very clear that it isn't pay-for-performance, rather pay-for budget! I had to instruct pay pool managers to stay within their pay pool budget and if that meant reducing ratings of employees to meet that budget so be it. Further, all documents related to the pay pool process were to be destroyed so the union could not have access to them.
Many seasoned HR professionals have left DoD because they no longer believe in NSPS and are tired of pushing a system that is corrupt. I would have to agree with the above postings. If NSPS is so great why are people leaving DoD and why are the higher ups listening to the employees? I guess this November their voices will be heard.
-
40805
In response to J Mark, while your numbers appear to be accurate they are a bit misleading. The 60/40 split that Congress just mandated (against the wishes of the current administration) applies only to the Cost of Living increase. Annual total increases are still capped at 5%. So by the same logic no matter how well I perform, I can only get a 2 or 3 percent increase over the usual Cost of Living increase per year. Under the GS system, Within Grade Increases (step raises) are 5 to 10 percent every 1,2 or 3 years. And grade increase are usually about 10 to 20 percent depending on your current step. If someone only gets one or two grade increases in their entire career, it would still take over 20 straight years of maximum increases under NSPS just to keep up with the GS system.
If NSPS is so great why isn't the military adopting it? This system is custom made for the military who are already divided into a three band system. Enlisted personnel are identified as Junior enlisted, Non-commisioned Officers and Senior NCOs. Officers ranks are Company Grade, Field Grade and General Officers. The argument that the military needs those other ranks to know who is in charge just doesn't hold water since the same can be said of DoD civilian ranks. We work hand in hand on a daily basis with our military counterparts. And there is already a lot of confusion since we'll have one YC-02 supervising other YC-02s, who supervise other YC-02. So when 20 YC-02 walk into a room, who's in charge? Guess what, it's the one filling the "GS-14 equivalent position". We naturally identify with rank/pay grade, not positional authority like the NSPS system.
People, including the writers from Gov Exec, really need to be honest with DoD employees and call this what it is. NSPS is not pay for performance. NSPS is a Payroll Reduction Initiative and nothing else.
-
40794
Freedom to Cream the Pay Pool would be a better description of the benefit senior managers have in their sights with NSPS. Prior to joining the government 6 years ago, I had spent my entire career working under pay for performance systems and enjoyed the opportunities those systems offered. Yet the more training I've attended for NSPS the clearer it becomes that this system is designed for lots of purposes but definitely not to foster high performance. With multiple levels of supervisors and managers included in the same pay pool with subordinates, it's pretty easy to see where the pay increases will go. Also consider that the system encourages control points within the broad pay bands. At this location, those control points are step 10 of our preconversion GS grade. So long term employees have no room to increase their salaries and could potentially not even receive the COLA they would have received under GS. Ultimately, this system is predicated on a non-existant foundation of trust.
-
40787
I also wonder why it takes a new personnel system to have bosses mentor, coach, counsel, assign work, and set organizational goals for workers. It would have saved alot of time, money, and frustration if the legacy GS system had been rejuvenated. Less than 3 percent of DoD NSPS employees rated below a 3; hardly worth spending billions in development, training, fielding, and litigation.
The NSPS software is not user-friendly and support personnel are rare due to manning cuts. We have great difficulty filling NSPS positions because GS system personnel are not applying -- they are NOT attracted to the minimal pay increase combined with the risk of NO future pay increases due to the subjective pay pool process. NSPS is just another waste of taxpayers money.
-
40785
In response to Brooke Allen, you need to review more "documentation." All NSPS employees (excluding those who failed one or more of their performance objectives) will automatically receive 60% of the base pay increases that other federal employees receive. The remaining 40% goes into the pay pool to fund performance payouts. Per DoD regulations, this 40% must be given out in the form of salary increase, not bonus. Each NSPS employee then receives the identical locality adjustment as other federal employees. Our organization has an additional stipulation that any employee who receives at least a 3.0 average rating will be guaranteed to receive a total pay increase (automatic plus performance pay) that meets or exceeds the full value of the government-wide increase. Those with an average rating less than that did not perform at an acceptable level and therefore may not get the same pay raise as a GS peer. But, that's the whole premise of P4P. Additionally, there are the other funding sources for the pay pool which are being distributed as well. In short, in at least one organization, NSPS employees are making out better than GS peers. And to AJ, I didn't realize that being "due to compete for a higher graded position" was the same as being promoted. And your manager does have the means to match your level of compensation to your position. Comparing what you might be making had you stayed in GS and gotten a promotion with what you are currently making under NSPS is faulty analysis. In every honest comparison I have made, even with nominal payouts, NSPS employees, over the long haul, make more than GS peers. Remember, the WGIs slow to every 2 years and then to every three years and then they stop. And they never start up again. And promotions are not guaranteed in the federal service, and if in your organization they are promised/delivered as you imply, sounds like we need a different system. NSPS anyone?
-
40780
Now that you've written an article from the spinmisters at the top, why don't you interview the actual employees and find out what's really happening. Supervisors aren't alowed to spend 25% or even 10% of their time on employees because they are expected to do a full job to meet their performance objectives. Employees only get 50% of the Congressional pay raise at level 3. Pay pools don't really know what employees do so they don't like the objectives and give lower ratings. Management doesn't know the capabilities, skills or expertise of their employees (and have never tried to find out), so they just randomly shuffle bodies whether a person knows how to do that job or not. And the automated system is so unfriendly that everything is printed out for review so it can be understood and fixed. and there still are (unofficial) quotas of how many can be rated a 4 or 5. Pay for performance is a good idea, but NSPS has been done with little thought except to make it look good to management and give that impression to the press. Do some good investigative journalism. Where's 60 minutes?
-
40777
"Quit your whining about NSPS. I just left the military where we were rated in a similar manner like NSPS in relation to performance. I loved it as it was spot on and not inflated. You knew where you stood in the performance of your duties and you busted your tail to get that high rating."
What branch of the military was this guy serving under? In the Air Force, all enlisted are 5s out of 1-5 unless you screw up. You can see under EPR scoring for promotion that everyone has something like 134.95 points for EPRs based on 135 so he sure does'nt speak for the Air Force. I can say that at my location NSPS is based on the "good old boy system" where it is who you know and drink with that gets you one of the 4s since there were no 5s giving out. They told us going into this that 80% would be 3s and that is what they did. Makes you wonder, that at a base, that there are no civilians at all performing at the 5 level. No forced distributions here, right.
-
40776
NSPS is just the good ol boy system under a new name. The only difference is now the good ol boys have the regulations to back them up. Any system can work in a world where supervisors always give their employees fair appraisals. However we don't live in a perfect world and NSPS will be subject to favoritism, incompetence, revenge and just plain lazy supervisors. If you want to get ahead better get close to your boss and keep the chapstick handy.
-
40775
You have decades of people being promoted to supervisor not necessarily on merit but more for filling quotas. A good portion can't write complete sentences let alone compiling well prepared appraisals. I worked in an office where we had to have a fellow employee write our annual appraisals because the supervisor couldn't do it. This maybe fine for GS-12s and above but the lower levels don't need this mess they call NSPS
-
40770
Okay let's face it, NSPS is supported and touted by a small group of individuals who are not effected by it - and they have no buy-in for NSPS to succeed. And succeed it will not. Results so far from my small segment seem to indicate that NSPS has failed every objective, EVERY OBJECTIVE!!! Let's see: 1) Estimated Cost to implement in first year over $1M - training, time spent by both rater and ratee attempting to figure how the Army software works (or rather doesn't), evaluations and re-evaluations. 2) Saving by rewarding performance, none. Since NSPS impacts on those old farts (aka step 10s) it's now costing the Gov't more in salary assuming the supervisory workforce is just adequate (3 rating) and should the supervisor be more than just plain adequate, well that could add an additional 15-percent to salaries. 3) Morale sucks as a result of NSPS. Those part of NSPS believe they are getting screwed. Those under GS know they are getting screwed. Management spends more than 30 days a year trying to sort things out and those non-supervisors (also for the most part old farts, are falling behind in salary and they're being rating highly successful by supervisors who are rated adequate. So it goes. NSPS is a total failure from any perspective with the exception of those who have no ownership of the system or the consequeses.
-
40768
I was converted to NSPS retroactively (one-month late) and wasn't aware of it until I saw my Leave and Earning Statement. Then, I had to contact Personnel to make them give me retro 'conversion' pay (half of a step increase). That made me feel really comfortable about this new controversial system - NOT!! There's more...I didn't even receive the proper training required by regulation. At rating time, my immediate supervisor showed me my rating of a "5" that he submitted to our HQTS (when I wasn't supposed to see it). I received a final rating of a "3" with 1 share from my Pay Pool consisting of 250 employees of 'unlike occupations'. Now, no one can explain why this rating was changed. I've saved the Gov't $7.5 million during my rating period, and this performance was clearly documented in my rating. They 'reward' me with $10.00 a pay period before taxes!! Oh yes - I must add....my health insurance went up $10.00 per pay period. Even a monetary suggestion award can be 10% of what you save the Gov't. Give me only 5% of this savings, and I'll retire early. I'd also like to join that Class Action Law suit discussed in this forum. Where do I sign up ????
-
40766
60 hours? Mentoring? Involved managers? My manager showed me the form stating the raise, the rating, the shares, and where to sign and date. Said I had ten days to reply, if necessary. The verbage suppporting the rating was not available for discussion or viewing. This is not the exception. World-class tripe.
-
40765
Our managers were told to plan on spending 80% of their time on NSPS. The evaluation process takes up a great deal of time on the part of managers and employees (13 page form). Just because some managers in the past shirked their responsibilities where performance evaulations were concerned doesn't mean the entire system was a waste. How many millions of dollars are being spent to complicate an evaluation process. How many hours are spent writing evaluations to promote yoour worth to an organization. What happens to your assigned workload while you are maketing yourself in order to get a larger pay raise. Not to mention the fact that after the immediate supervisor rates an employee there are pay pool panels of managers, who don't have first hand knowledge about an employee or their work, who can raise or lower an individuals rating based solely on the written evaluation provided to them. Who is taking on the workload of the managers to compensate for time now spent on NSPS. We've lost good people because the hiring process is so poorly executed. There are better ways to use scare resources than this. What a waste. Please don't publish my name I can't afford to retire.
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40759
Ahh, the NSPS,... enjoy those two promotions in a lifetime of employment along with those 5% caps. A true promotion only comes with a move from one pay band to the next, right? Another reason for those in interns to take the training and run far, far away. I will say that I appreciate that someone in this article recognizes supervisors should devote at least some of their time to supervising. Imagine that!
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40756
I am new under NSPS. From all the training I have received I have not been able to see any benefit to the system. Almost without exception everything that is claimed for NSPS was available under the old system. The managers and HR people wouldn't do their jobs with the old system and we have the same people running the new system. Why should we think it will be different. I do see a lot of problems with the system. There is a very narrow window during the year when you can hire someone from within the government. That should make things a lot better. (Sarcasm) When I was hired with the old system it was one week from when I heard about the job until I was a brand new government employee. One week from the street to the workplace. Let's see NSPS do that. The problem with the old system was that managers and HR people would not implement the things that would reward for preformance and make hiring easier. Why will the same people be able to work a more cumbersome system better? It just doesn't make any sense.
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40752
Quit your whining about NSPS. I just left the military where we were rated in a similar manner like NSPS in relation to performance. I loved it as it was spot on and not inflated. You knew where you stood in the performance of your duties and you busted your tail to get that high rating.
I then became a GS employee under the "old system" where evaluations were ranked as pass/fail. What a bunch of crock that was! Of course no one fails and the evals are inflated. There's no incentive for employees to work hard and improve their role in the federal gov't. They just show up and punch the clock. You won't believe how many folks are screwing around and still get their annual pay raise. It's disgusting.
Now under NSPS, those that are slacking have either left or retired (finally!!). Those that choose to stay and not put forth the effort required by their pay grade have been held accountable by the pay pool. Those that have worked hard have been justly rewarded.
Yes, managers have had to do a little more work on the front end to make sure that this initiative kicks off properly, but so have those that are being managed. Our office implemented policy of sending weekly accomplishements to our supervisors in an effort to make sure that manager/employee communication occurred and so written documentation was on file that supervisors could fall back on to justify and fight for our NSPS ratings. Finally accountability for your actions!
What the complainers are missing out on is that we are shaping the way of how gov't conducts business and to strive for excellence in performance of the duties paid by tax-payer dollars. This is a time to turn around the saying "Good enough for gov't work" from being a joke to a level of excellence that all strive for.
Shame on those managers who either refuse (or chicken out) in their duties to also be leaders of their organization through interactive feedback to employees on their performance. If you can't handle conflict and mentoring your own people to excellence, then maybe you don't deserve your title.
I am the next generation of federal employee and I heartily embrace NSPS.
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40749
For those in the DC area, if you fall under the GS system, you will see a 4.49% incease in your salary (which includes locality pay). But, if you fall under NSPS, according to the documentation that I have seen, you can only expect to see a 3.5% (which includes locality pay and assumes a rating of 3 or higher). So right off the bat, we are a full 1% behind our GS counterparts. The other thing to take into account is that step increases are gone and they used to add another 2% or more to you base salary. Wow!!! NSPS what a great system...NOT!
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40747
The article is total trash and an attempt to sell a bad and failing program. The truth and reality about NSPS is in the comments that have been posted regarding this article. NSPS is meant to save long term retirement costs by reducing the increase in the high three salaries used to compute retirements. Hiring is as complicated as before and no further flexibility has been granted by my agency. Employees here are leaving for other agencies who are not under NSPS because of wage pressures and competition. NSPS puts my agency at a disadvantage. Reality is under NSPS my agency is having to spend more to implement this personnel system than maintaining the previous system, so the cost savings are vaporizing into thin air; this system has increased my agencies overhead by at least ten percent above and beyond what we were paying to keep the system we had. It goes without saying that someone is trying to put perfume on a pig by publishing this article!
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40745
I haven't ever heard anyone say anything good about NSPS. Managers, supervisors and employees seem unanimous in their hatred of NSPS.
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40741
i'm a new fed, and i've only been out of college for 2 years now. I am leaving the DoD BECAUSE of NSPS. I intend to stay with the government, but these P4P systems are absolute garbage. Its only about controlling the yearly budgets, controlling spending on retirements, and in no way is about actually paying people for their performance.
The biggest problem with this system is its predicated on the fact that PEOPLE WILL FAIL. They are going to force certain amounts of people into certain catergories to make sure the people fit the system, instead of creating a system to fit the people no matter their individual performance. This is a shameless waste of tax payer dollars, and needs to go back to the drawing board
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40738
NSPS is a vehicle for management to reward their "favorites" and to punish the personnel who don't "conform" to their way of thinking. If an employee is an independent thinker and doesn't agree with what their supervisor is doing with the mission, that employee will not see a pay raise during their tenure with that supervisor. But, the "yes" man or woman will get all the "perks" of the system. It has nothing to do with performance. It has everything to do with how well an employee has the ability to suck up to their boss to get the performance piece of the pie.
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40735
This is pure bull!!! Nobody wants to address the fact that if the manager is poor and dislikes the employee, the employee is screwed no matter how hard they work. This program was a Rumsfeld dream to give managers more money and take money away from the worker bee. It is one of the worst programs I have ever seen and I have worked in Human Resources for over 25 years. Civil Service employees are already paid far below their counterparts in the civilian world, this is just a way to pay them less. Get this program out. As usual, it is a program that pays the already overpaid idiot at the top and puts the screws to the guy in the middle or at the bottom.
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40734
Blatant propoganda composed by a bootlicking 5 contributing to a status quo detrimental to DoD.
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40729
Like most well intentioned programs we embark on, this will be a financial drain that hasn't been planned for. The overhead, involved in managing this program, will far outweigh any potential benefits. Our organization, for example, has established new overhead positions to manage the glut of information collection required. Since this overhead has to be absorbed out of existing personnel limitations, it drops the level of service we can provide even more. Look at the approximate 4X increase in most organizational IT budgets, as a result of NMCI (and for less capability and reliability too). The only people, that will benefit, are government contractors who sell the hardware/software to manage the process, and the consultants we will call in to justify using it. Like every other program of record, the costs will be hidden in other overhead activities and it will be proclaimed to be a great success, while costs continue to spiral out of control and we wonder where the money went.
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40728
The entire system is designed to put employees at odds with one another and is demoralizing employees within the workplace. Performance based pay is a crock as most of the money Managers award goes to their friends and favored employees. These favored employees are assigned the least amount of work and simplest of tasks yet they receive the highest payouts.
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40727
Why won't federal workers get behind a pay for performance system? Why not pay/reward those who contribute more ...more? Think how much we waste on paying deadbeat lazy nonperformers to do nothing. Isn't it enough that you can't really fire them? Study after study shows that federal employees make as much or even more as their private sector counterparts. We as taxpayers must ensure that that pool of money is allocated toward those who truly do good work. Stop whining!
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40717
I have voted republican for over 30 years. NSPS and other government objectives, currently in the works, has me considering a change in November. It's self preservation as well as a concern for the future of civil service employment.
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40716
This has got to be the worse pay system ever invented. Not only are promotions not worth taking now, the reviews are a joke. I fo rone only had one so called feedback session when they had an exercise to see how the system works. Now with all of the millions of dollars spent on training, they still had to take all of the former GS-15s and take 3-4 days of their time to try and fugure it out. Only to once again face caps or goals on how many people get high shares. Favoratism is rampant in the system, and I actually thought that it may have been better! I was wrong once again to trust the politicians and backers of this system. Let's save money, make workers happy, and go back to the lagacy system!
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40714
I will retire or leave before I will work under a system so misleading as to call itself performance-based. More appropriately it should call itself the good-old-boy-system legalized. So far the workforce continues to perform so that the uppermanagement can claim their bonuses. Uppermanagement spends a good part of their time managing the means to that end.
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40711
It is the enviornment we have allowed to grow. From the arrogance of Rumsfeld, to the stratergery of an idiot president, there is no benefit to NSPS other then another tool with which to squander our tax dollars for personal pet projects. We are going thru BRAC, NSPS and war, housing is in the tank....take your disapproval to the polls.......vote, please, if you feel one doesn't make difference grab ten of your friends, but go vote for a change.
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40710
What a bunch of babble. I would feel a lot better about NSPS if they would just call it what it really is, a way to reduce entitlements for future retirees. Getting a performance cash award does nothing for your high three. Getting enough of those over your career will reduce your high three calculation considerably. The supervisors are busy enough managing real work, this is just another burden on an already overburdened group of folks. What a mistake, it's a sad day for the DOD workers.
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40706
I for one am making significantly less under NSPS than I would have under the GS. (I was due to compete for a higher graded position, but under NSPS that is not possible). Now my supervisor is struggling to find a way to match my pay to my position in order to prevent me from leaving. I am sure he thinks it is so much easier. This article causes me to doubt Government Executive as a whole.
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40704
I love it! Bring it on! I'm already making more under NSPS than I would be otherwise. Yes, many managers are having trouble with actually leading and using the system for the benefit of their organizations. In time, someone will wake them up. But, for those organizations that know how to use NSPS, it's a great benefit. For all of you who don't like it, please feel free to find a private sector position.
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40703
After so much talk about supervisory and employee interaction the process is really very secretive.
The original supervisory assessment and employee self assessment goes to a pay pool panel whose members are all management.
The deliberations of the pay pool panel are not available to the lower level managers or the employees. The rating and performance payout which are transmitted back down the chain are final and are not transmitted with the supervisor's original assessment.
The process is too closed and secretive. The pay pool manager may consider petitions for reconsideration, but the employees are not allowed to know what deliberation specifically took place in comparing their performance with others.
Another question which needs to be raised is whether the members of the pay pool panel are rewarded from the same pay pool which they are distributing.
Make the process more transparent
-
40702
Just got my 5 year certificate as a GS employee for the Army. Never ever recieved less than a perfect evaluation and always got the maximum bonus I could have been awarded.
I get promoted this year.
Once I get promoted I'm leaving DOD. NSPS is an obvious piece of trash and a huge slap in the face to everyone under it.
It's about saving money for sure. If it was really about mobility and flexibility they could simply put us under a program similar to GG employees in the excepted service. The only basic difference between the GG employees/excepted service and NSPS is in NSPS they can control your "shares" and annual payouts.
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40698
Since the DOD sees all of their staff as slackers and lazy they should just outsource to the Philippines or India. I see hundreds of immigrants admitted everyday, coming to take the best and highest paid jobs in the private sector. I mean since there are no more smart Americans or that you are un-American if you are unwilling to work for free,(that is the little guy, not management of course) the DOD should keep following the past six year doctrine of the administration. Least cost to the government and the bottoms line is the only concern, to include the wars abroad are more important than the US homeland. It's going to take many years to unscrew the DOD and DHS. Good luck to all of you yes men managers, it's all on you! But of course you'll just retire with your SES pensions and leave the wreckage of your blunders behind like if never happened. Personally I could not sleep at night after tearing apart an agency that has successfully defended that country for the past 40 years, but that's why I could never be a government manager. I guess I care too much and try to do the right thing no matter what the circumstance is!
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40692
A steaming pile of company line propaganda. How about some feature articles from the people on the line who have been made victims of this disastrous initiative? Of all the issues GovExec has reported on, NSPS by far has produced the most comments of any issue and all but a minuscule number have been absolutely negative. I have personally written my Congressman concerning my utter disgust at what DoD has done to us with this system but have only received the standard non-committal responses. Does anyone feel as frustrated as I do that there does not seem to be an effective way to get the attention of the people who could really do something to re-evaluate this disaster on our behalf? It seems that DoD has implemented this system for us non-union eligible personnel just because they knew there was nothing we could do. Is there an organization for us non-bargaining types who is or can lobby on our behalf to get someone to wake up and take a hard look at the negative effect this system is having on the morale and productivity of loyal employees? If anyone knows of any such organization, please post their information so I can send a donation.....while I can still afford it.
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40691
My Agency is now facing a critical shortage of personnel. Amazing that in the 1 year we have been in NSPS we have seen a massive outflow of talented personnel to other agencies who don't have NSPS. NSPS is a crock. I too am looking to get out. So many deficiencies in NSPS to list. BTW, I am rated a "4" so I'm not a disgruntled slacker employee.
DoD, why not put out a survey on NSPS and see what DoD employees think of this system. We both know it won't happen because you don't want to hear the truth. All NSPS has accomplished is to demoralize a previously motivated staff.
Please let this administration end quickly. We need some new leadership not these tired old men with an agenda to reduce federal wages.
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40683
My agency has added another twist by initiating "Compesation Lanes" that caps an individuals pay at the old GS step 10 level no matter what payband you are in;so in the long run we are all adversly impacted. As we too have been told, 85% of the total organization will be a level 3 with either one or two shares exactly where is the insentive or modivation. As we were told by the Senior Executive Staff person, "...to get anything above a level 3 you better start learning to walk on water...like your senior staff does." An yes that is a quote! When the rating breakdown was published guess what? He was right!
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40679
Mark Gibson: The problem with your notion of people getting together for a free interchange on ideas re: NSPS is that the Bush administration will say they already did that. Remember way back in the beginning when the NSPS website went up? They encouraged people to submit comments / concerns on NSPS. There were over 50,000(!) responses. About 49,000 of these were negative, skeptical, scathing and expressed a deep-seeded distrust of the Bush administration / Pentagon coming up with a system that would be fair. Nevertheless, Gordon England turned around and trumpeted how all the DoD staffers he ever talked to were gung-ho about NSPS and that "only a few bad apples don't / won't like NSPS." Huh?
After that, they had meetings between the designers of NSPS and the unions. I wasn't there, but from what I hear it was a total waste of time. Every time the unions tried to work with the powers-the-be in getting a system that would be workable to both sides, someone from DoD would say something to the effect of "George W. Bush isn't going to go for that" and that would be the end of it. So unhappy were the unions after these "discussions" that they started filing the lawsuits.
I'm not saying that your idea is a bad one. If done in good faith, it is a very good idea, but that is precisely the point. Like everything else, the Bush administration has propogandized NSPS to the nth degree. If you're wary of NSPS (also known as National Screw the Personnel System), then you MUST be unpatriotic, unAmerican, uncivil, a poor performer, a terrorist, blah blah blah.
Perhaps under a Democratic president we can have some genuine discourse to create a new system that will work, but don't hold your breath for anything to happen under the Bush administration. That is, other than Dubya shoving NSPS down our throats.
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40671
What utter tripe. Forgive the poor pun about a subject that isn't funny at all - NSPS. Whatever swill this administration is trying to pass off as an elixir for personnel mngt is 99% hogwash! It isn't about pay-for-performance, it's about saving money by taking it out of the pockets of Federal workers - at all levels. Oh, sure, maybe the YC/YA equivalents of GS/GM 15s & SES' will see their 'shares' rise but, when the AF caps promotions at 5%, you've abrogated the very gains that these shills have been touting. I work w/ many interns/mngt trainees in the 1102 series & almost across the board, they point to the 5% cap for promotions as the reason they plan to leave soon after completion of their training programs - that, and the fact that Randolph is forcing CopperCaps out of the program early so the bases will have to pick up a personnel tab they never POM'd for. What drivel these political appointees spout!
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40663
The comments all make valid points.
So DOD, where are all the happy campers?
Here's a suggestion, let's get all those that have fallen under NSPS into a room with their legislators, the DOD NSPS guru's, and the union folks and have a discussion about NSPS.
To keep the discussion focused, we can show sections of the testimony by DOD officials to Congress over the past several years about NSPS with the discussion by the group centered on each segment.
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40656
This article is amusing, if also tragic. It is like Mary Lacey is saying "OK, the train-wreck is just down the track a few miles, but don't worry. After all, train wrecks are over-rated insofar as catastrophes are concerned. Let's just say the course and see this train wreck thru and hope for the best, alright DoD?" It will be a wonderful day when Mary Lacey, Gordon England and everyone in the Bush administration no longer has any say whatsoever on the affairs of public servants. That day can't come soon enough!
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40653
Was this article written by DoD? Talk to people under the system (including supervisors) the system is about controlling budget NOT pay for performance!
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40651
What a crock! Freedom from manangement is more like it. And shills indeed! Tamburrino, S is for Specific, not simple. Sure Dondero, only Bad supervisors will have trouble with the extra work in the system. Soft skill training wasn't a two tier approach, it was a default apporach because, rather than waiting until the system was well-defined and adequate system specific training was prepared, we implemented anyhow trying to beat 2009 and the suit. They had to do something so they could pretend they were actually preparing people for this sea change in systems and that was soft-skills training. It'd be interesting to see stats on how many current supes actually took this crap not that the eventual system specific pro forma training doesn't suck big time. What's the plan for sustainment softskills training post implementation? My agency doesn't even have a coherent plan for the system specific sustainment training let alone update training for all the changes. After two years my agency still operates on draft regulations. Training materials, which are constantly changing, are referred to as authority for actions. Changes come so fast it almost pays you not to keep up with the new stuff in the likely event it'll change yet again. And how many times does Lacey get to drag out that canard about negotiating over drug testing 1500 times? The rule is that you get the union or unions that you deserve and that's what DOD has. DOD's policy then and now is that all labor relations is local. The purpose was/is in part to fragment and diffuse the unions' efforts and energies, confine bargaining slip-ups to single installations or bargaining units. They only want that national level bargaining if the union's right to bargain has been gutted by NSPS. Watch and see with the recent changes to NSPS whether any national level bargaining takes place. Union's say they're willing and it's fully possible under title 5.
I could go on and on. There's so much not to like about NSPS. The regulations, guidance and training materials are so fragmented and poorly integrated as well as changable. And still, so much propaganda. Just changing the system will never change the culture or management practices. This system is already totally gamed for manipulation or maybe that was the design.
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40606
Kind of makes me glad I'm still a wage grade employee.
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40600
Who is kidding who? The NSPS and the one agency careerist to the literal person sycophantic go-along-to-get-along shills are still hawking pure snake oil. Just read what these so-called 'managers' said in this article. The first pearl of wisdom declares "[Before NSPS] many DoD 'managers' had 'little experience' writing measurable job objectives or linking pay raises to performance." What?? For goodness sake, writing evaluations and setting performance standards and proving incentives is a basic management function that has ben around since the Stone Ages was supposed to be taking place in DoD long before NSPS was even cobbled together (really literally copied and pasted from its just as ugly twin sister in DHS) by these managerial charltons and toadies. And are these the very same self-described 'world class' staff who are supposedly now going to 'lead' and 'coach' and 'evaluate' others by attempting to describe this abonimation that is nothing less than a lipstick smeared bovine as a 'performance' enhancing tool? Again, this just MUST be in jest? And here's glimse into the minds and intellect of these shills: "We want the ability to move forward and not have to bargain 1,500 times every once in a while on some things," [Lackey] says. "There's not a lot to gain in having 1,500 different versions of a system." At best, Ms. Lackey either knows not of what she says, or at worst does and nevertheless attempts to mischaracterize the facts surrounding the federal collective bargaining process in an effort to diffuse truth, foster misinformation merely to attempt to sell this snake oil to less informed others. We and each taxapayer all deseve far better that this utter nonsense!
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40595
Why is Brittany Ballenstedt's name attached to this article when it was clearly written for her by DoD public affaires? Brittany; how about you follow-up with your own words and your own thoughts about NSPS based on the merits of the system and the information you uncover as a reporter. Talk to first line supervisors and employees who are affected by NSPS and not the SES who managed to maneuver themselves out of the way of this boondoggle. NSPS reduces both salary and retirement benefits for career employees who have dedicated the whole of their working lives to public service. We have seen enough advertisements for NSPS the last thing we need is for those PR pieces to start showing up here under the guise of news. Shame on you Brittany for being a witless peddler for Donald Rumsfeld's betrayal of Americas public servants.
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40594
Under my first year of NSPS, we were told we would be 3's with a 2 share payout unless we documented something outstanding that we accomplished. As far as I know, everyone at my installation got a 3 with a 2 share payout. The fact that some of us do three times as much three times as well as others never entered into the program. You hate to use the word "quota", but there it is. My main complaint is that some people that barely have any job duties and that were the same grade I was under the GS system got nearly a full percentage point more compensation than I did only because they were in the non-supervisory pay pool which had a higher value per share payout. So for all that extra work I did as a supervisor trying to justify why I thought some people were more deserving, I got paid less. So much for pay for performance.
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40593
While the legislative fix is much more acceptable than what DOD had planned for its workforce, I still wonder why it takes a new personnel system to have bosses mentor, coach, counsel, assign work, and set organiztional goals for workers.
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40591
NSPS is a failure in so many different ways that it is difficult for me to either catalog or chronicle how bad the system is. Managers are tasked with a system that they know is being unfair to the employees that work for them. This system lumped/evaluated 85% of the people into a rating of "3"; that is not even a normal bell shaped curve. Supervisors are being unfairly directed to undervalue the employees that work for them. Supervisors are not documenting quarterly subordinate evaluations because they are avoiding the conflict of discussing an evaluation where they know they have to unfairly downgrade good subordinates. So communication is stymied by this system; not enhanced. This system is not about flexibility! It is about reducing retirements by calling what was pay to a bonus. NSPS is criminal and I for one am ready to join a Class Action Law Suit against the Federal Government. In NSPS's first year, Civil Servants under the old system have already done better than those under the new system. DONT LET ANYONE LIE TO YOU. NSPS IS NOT ABOUT PERFORMANCE, ITS ABOUT REDUCING RETIREMENTS AND GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE'S SALARIES WHO ARE ALREADY UNDERPAID. WHERE IS THE PICKET LINE?
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