Best in Class

In a federal employee's pay and benefits utopia, the government would pay higher salaries, provide more substantial health care subsidies, cover dental and vision costs, offer more retirement investment options and contribute more to employee retirement plans.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation does all of that. The agency took top honors for pay and benefits in rankings published this fall by the Partnership for Public Service, and it's easy to tell why.

The rankings, which were compiled using data from the Office of Personnel Management's 2004 Human Capital Survey, were based on employee satisfaction with pay, retirement, and health benefits. The FDIC received a score of 84.2 out of 100, more than 11 points ahead of the Office of Management and Budget, which came in second.

What's so special about the FDIC's compensation?

For starters, its 4,700 employees get paid more than typical federal employees, says Glen Bjorklund, the agency's deputy director in the division of administration. The FDIC has a 15-grade system which mirrors the General Schedule, but the agency's exemption from standard civil service rules allows it pay higher salaries at each grade level to attract top-level bank examiners and other employees.

An FDIC Level 15 job opening for a senior IT project manager in Washington has a range from $95,971 to $155,221. A standard GS-15 position in Washington tops out at a salary of $135,136.

There's more. In addition to the benefits offered to federal employees across government, including the Thrift Savings Plan, the two retirement pension plans, health coverage and annual leave, the FDIC boasts a number of supplementary offerings.

FDIC employees, for example receive dental and vision coverage. Unlike the governmentwide coverage that's in the works for next year, FDIC subsidizes the premiums. And, if employees opt out of the dental and vision coverage, in some cases they even get compensated.

In addition to the Thrift Savings Plan option, the FDIC runs its own 401(k) retirement savings plan through T. Rowe Price. The plan offers 15 different no-load mutual fund options and a matching contribution from the agency, although employees still can't exceed the Internal Revenue Service restriction on 401(k) contributions, including contributions to the TSP.

What's more, the FDIC even matches contributions from employees in the Civil Service Retirement System, which is the older of the two pension plans and has a more generous pension and less of a focus on the TSP. CSRS employees don't receive any government contributions to their TSP accounts.

The FDIC participates in the governmentwide Federal Employee Health Benefits program, but whereas the Office of Personnel Management subsidizes around 72 percent of total FEHBP premiums, FDIC pays for an average of 85 percent.

Agency employees are also set up with accounts worth $650 each year to cover "life-cycle" needs, such as premiums for health benefits, gym membership or a mountain bike.

Bjorkland attributes the above-average compensation package to a need to retain high-quality workers and to the FDIC's requirement to negotiate pay and benefits with an employee union, in this case the National Treasury Employees Union.

The generous package has one downside, however. Bjorkland said that $690 million of the agency's $1.1 billion budget is spent on compensating employees.

"It's a major cost issue for us," Bjorkland said. "But we've always believed that we hire the best, and we want to hold on to them and provide a good lifestyle and work style. We expect a lot out of them."

Despite these advantages, the FDIC still only ranked 25th on the Partnership for Public Service's overall Best Places to Work rankings.

"There are other things at play that are bigger drivers of employee satisfaction than pay and benefits," said John Palguta, the Partnership's vice president for policy and research. "What you want to do is make sure that you're paying fairly and are at least within the general marketplace."

The top ten agencies for pay and benefits satisfaction are listed below. The Veterans Affairs Department ranked last in this category.

1) FDIC
2) OMB
3) SEC
4) NASA
5) Nuclear Regulatory Commission
6) GSA
7) Commerce
8) AID
9) OPM and SBA (tied)