Comment Number: OL-10506599
Received: 3/12/2005 9:36:20 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 have been a Federal Civilian Employee for a little over a year now. I have been excited and motivated since day one of my employment. I look forward to a long and rewarding career in Civil Service. The current system that I initially hired into has allowed me to excel as in comparison to my socio-economic peers. I have not yet completed earning a degree from an accredited college or university; however in this current General Schedule system I know that irregardless I will see substantial pay increases as reward for my time in service, and loyalty. I am a hard working dedicated employee, which is a fact that can be verified by anyone in my chain of command. I feel blessed that I can provide a good income for my young family and know that even if I can not find the time in my extremely busy life to earn that degree I will be assured better pay as my time in service increases. The NSPS seems to be a threat to my family’s life style. Performance Based Pay works great in theory alone; because in theory managers are completely impartial and omnipotent. They know every action and accomplishment you have made no matter how small or large. And when it comes time for performance appraisal you would receive fair and impartial ratings. However, in the real world of civil service, managers do not know your every move. Much of your work is self initiated and self accessed. The way your manager knows you are doing a good job is that they do not have to know what you are doing at all. I am a soldier in the United States Army Reserve as well. And I am a non commissioned officer. In our creed we declare that we will do our jobs so that our superiors do not have to. This means we do not have to be micro managed and good performance is indicated by the fact that our managers do not have to watch our every move. As a nation at war, every one of the 700,000 DoD employees has taken more on their plate than ever before. The supervisors will not have the time to effectively access a performance based payout for each employee. It will come down to predetermined personal opinion of the rated employee. Payout will be based on popularity and familiarity. Employees who do not take away form their very valuable time to shoot the breeze with the boss will not gain the familiarity with the boss which will be needed to gain favor so that they will see an increase in salary. This will take away from time accomplishing the mission. It will be detrimental to the force. If a change is needed to create a higher performing force, The change is need in moral. It is needed in the everyday little things that make the working environment more pleasant. This means recognition for small accomplishments that is not necessarily monetary. The current system has these incentives in place but they are not enforced. Any system of management that is not enforced is ineffective. The current system is not broke; it is the implementation of its policies that is defective. Supervisors need to be held accountable for execution of the current appraisal system. I will excel in any system that is in place. NSPS is a political game. If that is going to be the game I will play it and I will be great. However, that will be my only focus, and accomplishment of the mission will become second or third priority. No performance payout system works as it is designed. If it did we would not have a world full of disgruntled employees. Loyalty, hard work, dedication, and sense of duty can not be created from an environment of competition. This destroys the ideal of team work! Only great leadership can promote such qualities in a work force whether it is civilian or military force. NSPS does not create great leaders; it only produces good politicians who will govern over minions of disgruntled employees who are trapped in the perpetually over populated Rat Race. It would appear that this system's ultimate goal is to reduce wages in the civilian force to later spend else-where. Thank you.