The NAPA report advocating a combination of performance
based pay and pay banding states some of the general
principles underlying the system, largely based on private
sector practices and with the idea that the GS system is a
“dinosaur.”
According to the report, the idea is a common set of
government-wide principles providing agencies with the
latitude to develop local salary management practices in
response to evolving market conditions to peg salaries to
prevailing market rates in non-federal sectors at least for
critical occupations.
The Office of Personnel Management would have a supervisory
role and take the lead in making these principles
operational, plan a broad basic boundary framework, and
assure that adequate salary surveys are conducted while
leaving the management and application in the hands of
agencies, said the report.
Switching to the new system should be managed as an
organization change, as it will alter agency culture, and
star employees as well as those who meet or fail to meet
expectations should be recognized meaningfully, said the
report.
It also said salary management should largely be in the
hands of agency managers who would receive leadership and
training support within their agencies.
Responsibility should be distributed in a similar way that
corporations manage their salary systems, it said. Agencies
would need to develop policies and procedures to manage
employee salaries, as well as merit principles and according
to OPM and Office of Management and Budget guidance.
The “director of compensation” OPM has suggested creating
at each agency to handle SES performance management would
need to be expanded in the new system into a “compensation
and performance manager” for all employees. “The manager
would be responsible for the salary system, including
classification in the bands, salary decision monitoring and
performance management,” said the report.
