| Comment Number: | OL-10501171 |
| Received: | 2/24/2005 7:45:19 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:
One major concern among employees is that it seems that the new program hinges on a supervisor's willingness and ability to write an effective appraisal. The closest example is the employee awards program. If your supervisor can write and if they take the time, then you stand a chance of getting recognized. If your supervisor can't write well (and there are more that can't write than there are that can!) then you are pretty much out in the cold. Most employees don't get recognized for outstanding achievements in any Government organization that I've ever been in. I don't see how NSPS is going to change this attitude that is dominant throughout our organization. Bottom line is that the employee loses. There has been some concern expressed among employees that NSPS will be used as a tool to help "trim" the budget. Since pay raises are no longer tied to Step increases, it would be possible to managers to assign raises as they see fit. This is a potentially powerful tool for some agencies to trim their budgets. I know that money is appropriated for specific purposes, but I'm thinking about the long term. If an agency plan shows that they can trim their payroll budget ofver the course of several years, then NSPS could be used as a tool to reduce the agency's budget by tightening the purse strings on raises. I work for the Defense Finance and Accounting Service and I have been a supervisor for 3 years. Some of the things that have been done with the appraisal system border on criminal. My peers and I have been directed to follow an "unofficial" quota on employee ratings to ensure that there aren't too many "exceptional" or "highly successful" ratings since that doesn't look good for upper management. I agree! but not at the expense of the employees that deserve this rating with documented proof. Many appraisals have been rejected at upper levels because some upper level managers felt that giving a higher rating would throw their numbers out of where they wanted them to be regardless of the back up documentation provided. The ideal for NSPS is a really great concept, but I fear that in the "real world" this program will be twisted and rendered broken unless supervisors are held 100% accountable and made to justify their decisions on raises, good or bad.