| Comment Number: | OL-10502185 |
| Received: | 3/1/2005 10:45:38 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:
The new system inadequately protects hard working, loyal Federal workers. This revised pay system opens the door widely to the “good old boy” system and can be effectively termed a pay cut! A pay cut that will increase office politics and turn co-workers against each other. Do you honestly believe Agencies will spend money on providing pay incentives to their employees in an era when budget cuts are expected to increase drastically! Good managers can already reward performance and correct non-performance issues without a system like this that is designed to pit co-workers and management against each other. The reason it isn’t working is the caliber of managers and leaders that have been selected and hence their inability to be effective. It is merely managers that fear or fail to exercise their authority that makes it inoperable I would like to request you seriously consult with professionals such as psychiatrists, statisticians, civilian management, etc. and work the problems out of this new system prior to fielding it! Argument. As a long time Federal worker, and previous military member, it has pained me to see the change in caliber among the “leaders” and “managers”. Trying to make sense of it I have concluded that Senior Leadership too often (not always) promotes those that they feel are “inferior” through their own fear or ignorance. I am not sure which. Many of the people I see in a leadership role should never have been placed there in the first place. These are not the people I would trust to fairly decide who gets what was previously termed a “step increase”. In addition, since eventually it will be a zero sum game in terms of dollars, management already has an incentive to provide pay increases as little as possible. This is a pay cut! Favoritism is rapport, already. Unfortunately, there isn’t really an avenue to deal with this pervasive evilness. Promotions, awards, assignments, etc. are often made by people with an agenda. Your system will increase office politics and result in placing greater control and less protection over the government workers. Ultimately fear, stress, work-performance, etc. will all be affected adversely. For instance, I need to ensure I don’t “out perform” my coworkers. If I do my supervisor will feel challenged and give me less work to do and my coworkers will be allowed to “shut me down”. Where is senior management to rectify the pressure that makes us be careful to be part of the crowd? Lest you suspect I am a troublemaker, I have received an award consistently since I began civil service. I believe partly because I try not to “out-perform” enough to get my manager angry with me and retaliate by taking away important work from me. I just want to work to my full potential without politics. Already, people are rewarded and paid with great disparity. I understand that there are people with low performing work; since managers cannot deal with that how do you expect them to perform with even less internal controls over their decisions. The current system should not “protect” anyone. It is merely managers that fear or fail to exercise their authority that makes it inoperable. It would be unwise to provide my name. Reprisals can and do happen.