Recommending Performance-Based Federal Pay , May , 2004
Recommending Performance-Based Federal Pay , May , 2004
From the report: “The federal government’s General Schedule (GS) salary system no longer meets federal agency needs and should be replaced. Notwithstanding considerable debate on this issue, recent legislation—most notably authorizing the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to reform their personnel systems—will result in a major portion of federal professional and administrative workers being paid under broadbanding systems. The Internal Revenue Service, General Accounting Office and Federal Aviation Administration all requested and received similar authorities. Each agency argued that the GS system created problems and impeded satisfactory performance. Indeed, Academy Panels previously recommended such change in Modernizing Federal Classification: An Opportunity for Excellence (July 1991) and Modernizing Federal Classification: Operational Broad-Banding Systems Alternatives (August 1995).
Broadbanding pay provides a well-established framework for salary systems, and serves as a major component of them. Federal agencies have enjoyed more than 20 years’ experience with the approach, while several prominent national corporations adopted banded systems beginning more than 15 years ago. Broadbanding, which has been tested in a wide range of environments, has distinct advantages over the GS system. Defense and Homeland Security are working on specific plans, and several other agencies expect to shift to a new salary structure using broadbanding and salary increases based on pay-for-performance principles. The Academy Panel endorses the introduction of an integrated pay-for-performance system and recommends that a new government-wide system be created using broadbanding and market pay.”
Authors - National Academy of Public AdministrationRelated Resources
