Comment Number: OL-10509736
Received: 3/15/2005 5:29:12 PM
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 am a supervisor and have been so since 1979. My group works as a team and has always outperformed all expectations. Under this new system, there will be more pay raises handed out to higher graded employees who have been at their top steps and are now not receiving any further increases...I am one of those in that catagory. This will obviously take away money from others who deserve to be compensated as they have been for many years. I am gravely concerned that younger employee will not want to hang around in a system that treats them unfairly by not giving them the incentive to stay around to reap the benefits that longevity has done for years now. Longevity is not the evil thing its purported to be. We retain many excellent employees because they know they can expect to receive increases in pay on a regular basis. It brings security to their lives in a world that is very insecure. With all the downsizing that has taken place and will be taking place, there is nothing more demoralizing than removing the one stable thing in our careers. I have 34 years in now and only have 8 more to go. I cannot honestly recommend a DOD job under NSPS to my children. I would not want them working under such a system because it is ripe for favoritism. I consider myself an excellent worker. I stay late hours and do a good job for the taxpayers that I work for. I don't expect to receive more pay than my co-workers and I would be embarrassed to be singled out to do so. But I do expect to be treated equally with them. I turned down a money award once because they were not recognizing the rest of my group. It takes us all contributing our own talents to make things work right. Unfortunately, the perception at the top is that it's the chiefs who make things happen and not the Indians. Nothing could be further from the truth. It takes us all working together to make things happen. And right now most supervisors at my activity which employs about 1500 people have rolled up their sleeves and are pitching in to help get the work done...with all the downsizing, we have no other choice. The new NSPS will require us supervisors to spend more time supervising. That's not a bad thing, but it's an unrealistic thing because we just don't have enough people left to do the job, so by us having to manage this new NSPS, we will be requiring our employees to take on even more work which will lead to more stress and more good people bailing out and retiring or resigning. If we are going to provide the support our enlisted personnel need while they are deployed to far off places, then we need to keep our personnel system basically in tact the way it has been. If I wanted to make money in my career, I would have worked for EDS or some firm that's only motive in existing is to make money. I am here to serve my country and I expect my country to treat me with respect and treat me equally to others who have chosen the same profession. We have a good system that is not broken and has provided outstanding Fleet support for many years. Please don't let NSPS destroy what has worked so well.