In the National Academy of Public Administration forum,
panelists including experts on performance-based pay and
high-ranking government officials agreed that a pay for
performance system was a good idea for most of the
federal civilian workforce but would require major
changes in management culture.
Forum panelists discussed the applicability of private
sector practices and how to make such a system work for
federal employees and repeatedly emphasized key concepts,
according to a report following the forum.
Those concepts included a clear connection and linkage
between organizational goals and individual performance
expectations, a fair and transparent appraisal system
applied consistently, flexibility in job classification,
meaningful rewards, development and training for poor
performers, and holding managers accountable.
One point of contention was the applicability of private
industry practices to government models. For example,
measuring individual performance in terms of revenue,
profits and productivity is easier to do in the private
sector than measuring a federal employee’s individual
performance in many cases.
It is also difficult to assess the success of individuals
based on group outcomes and results and federal
managers could see more authority in making those
assessments, the report said.