Federal Manager's Daily Report

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.