The National Treasury Employees has welcomed DHS’s recent decision to scale back the rollout of its pay-for-performance personnel system and change its name, and stated that the name MaxHR came to be associated with failure.
DHS’s chief human capital officer, Marta Brito Pérez, was quoted as saying that the term was unpopular and that it does not reflect the department’s efforts. Deputy secretary Michael Jackson was also quoted as saying the personnel system was a causing anxiety among employees.
Whether the new term, Human Capital Operational Plan, works any better remains to be seen. However, the implementation will now be more gradual, with a pilot project for intelligence employees scheduled for 2008.
If that proves successful, full implementation could follow in 2009.
After losing a lawsuit in federal court over the legality of collective bargaining and labor-management provisions in the new system, funding for the system has dropped off. The administration sought $71.4 million for the system in fiscal 2007 but received only $20 million in the continuing resolution recently passed.
The union said the delay would provide an opportunity for the department to work with employees and their representatives on morale issues, as well as "inadequate training, staffing and resources."
DHS received some of the lowest scores in the federal government in OPM’s human capital survey — 41 percent in DHS reported dissatisfaction with the policies and practices of their senior leaders.