Davis Backs Pay for Performance

The new chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., has said he favors a greater link between federal employee pay and performance measures, saying that highly performing workers should get “sweeteners” including bonuses and promotions. Davis added that he recognizes that pay for performance is controversial in the federal government because of concerns about the fairness of employee ratings and about a lack of money to reward top performers; federal unions have raised those concerns when pay for performance has been discussed in the past and the American Federation of Government Employees has signaled that it will raise them again in any new pay reform effort. Davis said managers should be held accountable for how they evaluate employees and that improved performance can more than pay the cost of rewarding such performance. Davis also advocates giving the executive branch new authority to reorganize agencies and said he plans oversight of the government’s contracting-out policies.