Comment Number: OL-10505746
Received: 3/11/2005 7:37:35 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:

I was a pay pool manager for an alternate pay schedule for three years. Your regulations do not provide enough basic information on how the new system will work and certainly does not take into consideration the issues that were surfaced and documented (at least at each local level) with the alternate pay schedules such as PERSDEMO, etc. I found the system to be arbitrary at best.....supervisors were given artificial constraints by senior management (how many exceptional employees they could have), they were limited in the shares they could give. A supervisor cannot defend the reason why they did not give an employee one or two more points on their rating......so the supervisors tend to give scores that fall into the middle of the rating band so they do not get pulled into arbitration to explain the one or two points..... Also, you don't discuss with employees that the pot of money for awards does not change.......there is still only a certain amount of funding available for performance awards and now that limited amount will be distributed based on this new system. The system is not the panecea everyone thinks it will be. It is too bad no one talked to the actual workers of these systems (pay pool managers)......I know for a fact the individuals from my organization that sat on the development board for this new system were all "yes" people and did not raise the issues I discussed above. I am very close to retirement and am very happy that I will not have to participate in this system..........it failed miserably in the Navy and is not doing well in the organization I was a pay pool manager for. Take these comments for what they are worth......nothing is going to stop the new system..........I feel sorry for each of you that will be in this system.........