| Comment Number: | EM-019839 |
| Received: | 3/15/2005 1:37:54 AM |
| 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:
March 15, 2005 DoD NSPS Comments , DoD NSPS Comments: I am compelled to write to express my concerns about changes to work rules in the Department of Defense (DoD) under the National Security Personnel System (NSPS). At Fort Wainwright, Alaska, our ?DoD Civilian? workforce was briefed in March of 2005 on the changes we are to expect and experience under this new system. I find it hard to believe that an untested and largely unfinished system can be put into place that will so completely demoralize the remaining Federal Civilian Workforce. NSPS changes the personnel system to help it become more like private sector industry with primarily short-term goal oriented management. Missions and functions which are inherently governmental are not typically those in which successes can be measured by short-term gain, as is the driving force behind the private sector. While NSPS is touted to be a ?Pay-for-Performance? system, no clear-cut performance standards have been written or tested before its implementation. The changes that have been written skew performance based management to totally subjective standards and policies put in place by and for management. This is not an accurate starting point from which to revamp the General Schedule pay system, or to install a pay-for-performance framework, based largely on how direct supervisors feel workers are meeting or exceeding their short-term performance standards. I have worked for DoD for 20 years. I sought employment in the Federal system because I felt that I could add value to the Government and because I felt and still feel, that it is important for citizens of this country to understand the Armed Forces? mission and to support our Active Duty, Retired, and Reserve military personnel. I am proud that I am employed to support our military so that soldiers can remain focused on their jobs as soldiers. My father retired after serving 26 years in the US Army, so I have been aware of, and have adhered to, military values my entire life. Although the typical stereotype of a Federal Government Employee is portrayed otherwise, it?s been my experience that most DoD Civilian employees work hard and are committed to their organization?s and our country?s mission for our military forces. I have remained employed by the DoD through many personnel cutbacks, Reductions in Force, hiring freezes, budget and manpower shortfalls, and most recently through the A-76 process, where the bulk of our organization?s civilian positions were contracted out. I have been through a myriad of Army Programs designed to have DoD Civilians do more with less, and have remained focused on providing the best service I can to the job and mission, even through ?drills? with wonderful names such as ?Communities of Excellence? and ?Most Efficient Organization?. I have been rewarded for my efforts by being allowed upward mobility in responsibility, pay grade and salary. Through 19 consecutive years, I?ve been ?managed? by no less than 15 different direct supervisors, each coming into our organization willing to learn their job and their inherited workforce?s strengths and skills before moving on in their own careers. I?ve received 19 consecutive ?Exceptional Performance? Appraisals from these different supervisors. With the knowledge and expertise that I have acquired in doing my work at a high level of performance these last 20 years, I have felt rewarded, and have felt that I was appreciated as a knowledgeable, valued asset to our organization. I have been paid for my performance. Concurrently, in many ways, I have also remained a DoD Civilian that has been rewarded for my ?longevity? of service. For 19 of 20 years of service and employment, I felt a bit beaten up by some national policies that seemed to be pitted against Federal Employees, but I, and many of my co-workers, continued to desire to be employed by the Federal Government. For me, it would seem, NSPS would actually have little or no effect. I am a high performer. However, one and one half years ago, yet another new supervisor was hired to manage the division in which I work, and her actions and attitude have significantly changed my mind about even continuing to be employed in the Federal System. She took an immediate disliking to me, and gave me for the first time in my career, a less than Exceptional Performance rating; a ?yearly? appraisal, after only two months as my direct supervisor; she has taken action against me to suspend me without pay for what she deemed was rudeness; and did succeed in placing a year-long formal reprimand in my personnel file for what she deemed was ?bad attitude and behavior?. 19 years of stellar, rewarded, and praised performance became ?non-performing and deadweight? in two months time, according to my new manager. I sought Union protection from the unwarranted actions this supervisor took against me. Her bad and subjective treatment of me and others who have worked at this Army Installation for this Directorate, seemed to be motivated in large part due to our knowledge of how our organization has provided service to the Army over the longevity of our careers for the Federal Government. I was allowed to fight her unfair treatment of me through our local Union, but the experience has taken quite a toll. One bad manager with an agenda of getting rid of me because she personally didn?t like me caused me to rethink my Federal career. Under NSPS, I will no longer have Union protection or the ability to ?fight back? against a manager whose only problem with me as a worker is that they personally dislike me. Personality conflicts should never be the sole factor in ?pay? or ?performance measures? or employment decisions. This particular manager was stopped from abusing her power against subordinates. She is also moving on to bigger and better things. Now along comes NSPS. NSPS is touted to be a ?Pay for Performance? system, but it seems to me that it is flawed as written largely because the amount of a worker?s salary and pay increases under its rules will depend almost completely on the subjective judgments of management at many or all levels above the worker. NSPS is based on the premise that all government personnel covered by this plan work for excellent, forward thinking, unbiased supervisors. I can tell you from personal experience that this is not a true, real world, premise. NSPS will allow Management at many levels to openly treat long-term employees, who have weathered the many adverse changes over the years that have impacted their benefits and performance work metrics, as Management?s biggest ?enemy?. I believe that treating DoD employees unfairly and/or subjectively can only hurt the workforce and mission. From what I can tell, this system will allow supervisors to change the way workers are paid, evaluated, promoted, fired, scheduled, and treated, with little to no recourse offered the worker. New rules have been created so that Federal managers will be influenced by and rewarded for allowing and using favoritism, friendships, and cronyism as performance management strategies rather than by serving the civil concerns of the American people. The NSPS seems to provide unparalleled control for supervisors to determine working conditions for Civilian DoD personnel without regard to any other factor than the supervisor?s own subjective ?performance? standards. This is a giant step backward in Federal management, not a giant step forward. Annual Pay Raises Under the General Schedule and FWS, employee pay was clear. It was funded by Congress and could not be taken away. NSPS will take away any wage certainty. Salaries and bonuses are funded nationally by DoD. In the past ? as recently as just last year ? DoD did not fund its awards program. Given the agency?s record on this issue, how can employees feel confident that any salaries and bonuses will be funded in the future? Or that there will be a pot of money to actually reward us for what is subjectively deemed as a High Level of Performance? ?Friend of the Supervisor? Pay System With the new pay banding system, (?pay for performance?) the amount of a worker's salary will depend almost completely on the personal judgment of his or her manager. This system may force workers to compete with one another for pay raises, which will destroy teamwork, increase conflict among employees, and reward short-term outcomes. There is no guarantee that even the best workers will receive a pay raise or that the pay offered will be fair or competitive. This system will create a situation in which workers are in conflict with one another and afraid to speak out about harassment, violations of the law, and workplace safety problems. It will increase politics as the mission, and since managers have a proven tendency to hire and favor those that hold similar beliefs and work styles as themselves, any worker that puts mission first over a ?yes, sir? philosophy of work will more than likely not be deemed as a ?good? worker. Also, there will be no impartial appeal system to assure that everyone is treated fairly, since NSPS provides for national level arbitration, and pretty effectively eradicates local union employee representation. Schedules and Overtime NSPS will allow managers to schedule employees to work without sufficient advance notice of schedule changes. This will make it extremely difficult for workers to care for their children and family, or to plan activities in their personal lives. It will also mean that abusive managers could harass disliked employees by implementing work schedules that include mandatory overtime, or fall between odd hours, without any recourse on the part of the employee. Civilian Deployment Federal employees could be assigned anywhere in the world, even into a war zone, with little or no notice. I am proud to serve my country as a Federal Civilian Employee, but I am also responsible for caring for my family and for my personal obligations at home. I am a Civilian - I did not enlist in the military, but I do serve my country. I signed on with Federal Service knowing that I would not be as deployable as military personnel; but under NSPS, this is no longer true. Cost of Implementing NSPS Since much of NSPS is yet to be written, it would seem that this system, while revamping the General Schedule System, will require many more layers of work (meaning creating positions, measurable performance standards, and salaries) to be put into effect. Determinations as to which GS Series will be ?banded? together are yet to be made, and even the much desired Mandatory Removal Offenses (MROs) that will provide potential abuse from poor managers have yet to be listed. NSPS is being ?spiraled? or phased in before it is even completely written! If the Federal Government wants to save money by getting out of the employment business, so be it. Allowing NSPS to be implemented will not save money. I?m sure there is a better way of decreasing the Federal Civilian Workforce - buy us old-timers out, help us ?go away? feeling honored, not insulted. NSPS is a system that will force many DoD Civilians to finally throw in the towel and leave their jobs. This system will not help retain the best and brightest, it will lead to management abuses that will add insult to injury to those ?best and brightest?. America is at war. We are fighting for democracy abroad. But this regulation seems to be an attack on workers? basic, hard fought for and won, rights. NSPS will divert the attention of defense workers from the soldiers? welfare to protecting themselves from abuse on the job. Many Federal Civilians have served in the military, many are from military families, and appreciate the military system and the necessity thereof. We choose to serve our Government. NSPS insults us by assuming that since we have chosen to work for the Federal Government for over ten, fifteen, or twenty years, we must be dead weight and non-performers, and that management must be given greater leeway to fire us at will. I urge you to force DoD to rethink NSPS. We need work rules that preserve fairness, serve the American people, and respect the rights of Defense Department workers. Enhance existing systems; provide better mechanisms to reward and to punish workers whose actions deem it. Fix what is broken, rather than re-inventing the wheel and starting from scratch. We can ill afford the problems that NSPS will create.