Comment Number: EM-008388
Received: 3/9/2005 3:10:35 PM
Subject: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment
Title: National Security Personnel System
CFR Citation: 5 CFR Chapter XCIX and Part 9901
Attachment: EM-008388.pdf Download Adobe Reader

Comments:

<> The article provided addresses serious problems with a pay-for-performance system. NSPS will not be stopped because there is too much politics that serves as its base, but, in order for it to work, NSPS developers really have a lot of work to do and a lot to consider. NSPS has already been on a very fast and aggressive track, and that doesn't bode well for getting details right and using common sense. So far, there are few details and that doesn't bode well, either. My firm opinon, after 36 years in the government, is that this will not work well for several years, and that, eventually, it will settle into a system that, from a perspective on high, differs little than what currently exists. I mean that employees and supervisors and managers will settle for less than what DoD so high and mightily wants to achieve, and everyone will be getting pay increases. I believe that what DoD envisions scares a lot of people, and not because they will be unacceptable performers but because there will be a significant degree of favoritism, and no objective scales to balance against. That scares people who have families, who have given a good part of their life to civil service. They may be good performers but they fear getting shut out, and they fear that now they have to become more competitive. You should have a pay system that guarantees pay raises at some minimum level so that employees do not get locked out because their supervisor is an ass, because one's supervisor is easier than another in their ratings, because a military supervisor doesn't care and doesn't know about the system, etc. R/