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By: FEDweek StaffA report at Performance.gov on a recent OMB-sponsored conference on the future of the federal workforce shows that attendees agreed with certain points the White House has stressed repeatedly — that employee survey responses show high dissatisfaction with benefits such as pay, awards and advancement for good performance, and that consequences are lacking for colleagues who perform poorly. The report says the current pay system “does not recognize individual employees for their achievements beyond the initial qualification standard for the position” and that “adding some differentiation based on performance results and value can further strengthen the federal performance and compensation system and help the government be viewed as a preferred employer for top talent.”
What it did not say is of note as well. For example, it does not indicate that participants — experts in personnel policies from agencies, good government groups and the private sector — advocated creating a pay-for-performance system, nor even creation of a performance rewards fund of the sort that the administration proposed in its budget plan of earlier this year. The administration never detailed that proposal and Congress has not actively considered the idea.
The report further does not mention other major themes of the administration including giving management a stronger hand in disciplinary policies, limiting employee appeal rights or reducing the value of health insurance, retirement and other benefits.
Also notably absent was any concern about unions playing too strong a role in the workplace, an administration view that was translated into restrictive policies in a series of executive orders whose key provisions have since been blocked by a court order.
To the contrary, one of the themes was the potential benefits of cooperation between labor and management in areas where the two have shared interests, such as employee training. The administration however already has dissolved an Obama administration initiative aimed at fostering such cooperation.
See also, Report on OMB Conference Stresses Career Development
