Both the Defense and Homeland Security departments are expected to announce soon their plans for
revised personnel systems that will include pay for performance elements. However, although some have
dubbed that development the beginning of the end for the general schedule, that longevity-based pay
system will remain the dominant method of paying white-collar employees even at those agencies for at
least the next several years as those changes are phased in. The DoD program will begin with just
60,000 of its GS employees starting in the July timeframe. DHS early last year indicated that its
revised pay system would apply to just 8,000 employees at the outset, although that figure is expected
to change in the final announcement coming soon.
