| Comment Number: | EM-008403 |
| Received: | 3/7/2005 12:34:49 PM |
| Subject: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment |
| Title: | National Security Personnel System |
| CFR Citation: | 5 CFR Chapter XCIX and Part 9901 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
DHS/OPM HR System Public Comments PO Box 14474 Washington, DC 20044-4474 To Whom it May Concern: I write to express my concerns about changes to work rules in the Department of Defense (DOD). The proposed regulations, known as the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), were printed in the Federal Register on February 14, 2005. This message will be sent to both DoD and my representative in Congress. I am a disabled veteran with 10 1/2 years of government service. I am upset at these proposals because they are taking away the very rights I (thought) I was trying to preserve for every American citizen while I served in the U.S. Army for 6 years. Anyone who has served in any of the Armed Forces realizes the value of esprit de core. There has to be good morale to go along with the hard discipline. The Federal Government needs to be more like the Army. By that I mean you should not have to kiss your supervisor's rear to get promoted or a pay raise. You should be strong and do your job per the regulations and whats good for the American public. I have been with the Social Security Administration now for 4 1/2 years. When I first started, I could not believe how lax management is. There is no set standard or rules that must be followed. There are regulations that cover how you are to administer the laws that Congress has set for Social Security. However, there are no set standards for the way personnel are supervised, trained, disciplined etc. This office is already full or people who are getting "preferential" treatment as it is. I lead the way in my job area but had to fight with management to get there respect. I have a college degree with 3.65 GPA and am a GS-11. I was hired as a GS-11 due to my GPA under the honors program. I have seen females in this office go from a GS-6 to a GS-11 in a matter of 4 years and they don't even have a college degree. Most of them couldn't even do the job they had at the lower level much less the one they have now. I see public service really suffering. There are males here that have been doing the job much longer but do not get promoted because they don't suck up to management. I hear the complaints every day from the claimants these inadequate employees serve. "Why haven't I gotten my check?" "But its been 4 months and I am disabled and don't have any income!" The responses I hear fellow employees give are; "I am working on it" " These things take time" " We don't have enough employees" etc. Management knows about the poor public service but yet it is allowed to continue because its like this in the whole agency from what I hear. I spend most of my time cleaning up the messes the others make. I work the welfare part of the program and the small 579.00 dollar check these disabled people get is all they have to live on and some of my fellow employees don't even care if they don't get that check. I think SSA needs to do a better job of "training" their managers to be managers. I was a supervisor in the Army and know how to manage people. I would never take a job in management in this agency because of its lack to management all the way up the chain. We are told and we have to watch IVT broadcast from our upper management who tell us what a great job we are doing but they have no idea just what poor service the public is really getting. Honestly, I think they do and they are just sucking up to their superiors all the way up to the commissioner. I think if a pay for performance system is put into place, more and more of these inadequate favorites will get promoted. This will cause others like myself who work hard at what we are doing to get it done right the first time to leave the agency. Then you will have an even worse public service based agency. Don't think I am a non performer. I get one of the highest awards each year for my job performance so I must be doing something right. I just don't think its fair for others to move up when they don't carry their own weight. If federal employees could be assigned to work anywhere in the world without notice or even agreeing to it, I would leave federal government. I served my country and am containing to do so from here. However, I now have a family I must take care of and I cant raise my 3 1/2 year old daughter if I am in another country. And lets face it, the money we are paid really isn't worth having to leave your home, family and friends. Now if you want to pay us 100,000 like the civilian contracts then that might be another story. We all know that will never happen. So to sum all this up. If you proceed with these changes, you will be hurting the federal government, not helping it. You policy makers don't know what its like down here in the trenches. Take a minute and think about it. Have you even consulted employees in small government offices or just those members of management who are telling you what you want to hear so they can get that next promotion? Sincerely