OPM director John Berry has told agencies to be more careful in their
use of recruitment, relocation and retention incentive payments–the "3Rs"
program that many managers use to attract and keep talented employees who
otherwise might not find the government’s compensation package sufficiently
attractive.
Berry told agencies that they should review incentive payments at least
annually, regardless of whether the payments come with a service agreement
attached, to see if they still are justified. "The cost of using any of
these pay flexibilities should be weighed against the benefits to be gained,"
he wrote, especially citing retention incentives, which account for most of
the spending.
Outside civil service experts have criticized agencies for years for making
too little use of the incentive payment, which in many cases have been more
sparing than management would prefer because of a lack of available funds.
OPM reported last fall that in 2007, 41 agencies paid 32,484 incentives worth
more than $207 million, with an average incentive payment of $6,394. That
broke down as: 7,716 recruitment incentives totaling over $57.5 million
(average payment of $7,454); 1,974 relocation incentives totaling more than
$23.1 million (average payment of $11,735); and 22,794 retention incentives
totaling over $127 million (average payment of $5,573).
The OPM report also showed that use of the incentives is concentrated by
occupation and by agency. The Defense Department accounted for more than half
of all the incentives paid, nearly 16,200, while VA paid out about 7,200 more,
followed by HHS, Justice and Commerce. Treasury, State and HHS had the highest
average payments, counting all three types. By occupation, the greatest number
went to patent examiners, followed by medical officers, nurses, electronics
engineers and pharmacists.
The recent memo said that "OPM is reviewing current 3Rs policies and may
consider further steps to strengthen and improve the administration of the
program."