Process Could be a Difficult One

Administration officials last year floated ideas including virtually eliminating the job classification scheme that is the backbone of systems such as the general schedule and replacing it with a simplified career ladder of just three levels—effectively taking the concept of pay banding a large step farther. They also suggested a simplified performance evaluation system in which the large majority of employees who perform up to expectations would get standard annual raises while the few deemed as performing unacceptably would not, and the few who performed truly exceptionally well would get additional performance-based pay. However, gaining enactment of such fundamental changes could be a long and difficult process involving not just legislative efforts but also tackling basic issues such as evaluating performance fairly against standards that both employees and management agree upon—issues that contributed largely to the demise of not only NSPS but also a similar system that had been planned for DHS. Putting such a system in place afterward likely would take years, judging from the timeframes of the recent less ambitious programs.

 

Back | Published: September 8, 2010