One question of top interest to managers and line employees
of the Department of Homeland Security and Defense
Department is how much money those agencies will make
available for pay for performance under their revised pay
systems. Those in many other agencies also are watching
closely, due to the general assumption that DHS and DoD
will set precedent for similar performance pay arrangements
around the government.
DoD has not detailed its intentions other than to say that
it intends to put into its performance pay pool the money
from the across-the-board component of the annual federal
raise, plus the money from within-grade raises and
performance-based raises that employees otherwise would
have received. DHS similarly plans to put its within-grade,
annual and performance raise money into its pool, although
it also anticipates national raises by occupation sweetened
by locality adjustments for all employees performing at
the fully satisfactory level.
While DoD expects to carry out its new system with 300,000
employees at first, DHS will phase in its system more
gradually, due largely to pressure from employee unions
which had a much more formal role in crafting the DHS
system than the DoD system. DHS says its system at first
will affect about 7,000-8,000 employees, mainly at
headquarters and in certain infrastructure and intelligence
positions.
The first-year funding request for performance raises for
those individuals is $12.5 million. That would translate
into average increases in the range of $1,500 to $1,800. The
employees in the first phase are, on average, more highly
graded than the department-wide average.
