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A Merit Badge for the MSPB

GS was always PFP if used correctly!

Working Stiff
My Agency
Tue Mar 3, 2009 8:22 AM

Post Reply

I agree 100%. We should scrap NSPS and make incremental improvements to the General Schedule, which has withstood the test of time for decades now. If utilized properly by management and/or slightly tweaked, it has the ability to do EVERYTHING these new "PFP" cronyism, good ole boy systems are doing - but do it better, more fairly, and certainly more transparently.

Re: GS was always PFP if used correctly!

Attorney
DOD
Tue Mar 3, 2009 11:35 AM
Sorry to disappoint you but the GS system was also used by some to reward the good ole boys by giving them a WIGI and/or a monetary bonus and/or time off. How is this better? How was it fairer? How was it more transparent? No one had there WIGI and or bonuses posted on the bulletin board.

Re: GS was always PFP if used correctly!

Technician
DOD
Tue Mar 3, 2009 12:54 PM
I was very wary of NSPS, until I received probably the biggest raise of my 20 something year and 3 agency federal career. I finally as a loyal worker and good performer finally got to share a peice of the pie. I have only seen one person get the GS special step increase and this person was a director's secretay who would get the award year after year without doing anything very special or beyond. It was an abuse of the GS system.

Re: GS was always PFP if used correctly!

Working Stiff
My Agency
Tue Mar 3, 2009 2:14 PM
How is GS better? Oh, let's read together the joys of NSPS then, shall we?

1. The pay distribution process is not transparent.
2. You are rated by managers who don't work with
you.
3. Your payout is not based on your real performance
because ratings are forced into a bell curve.
4. Your share of money is given to somebody else
because NSPS is budget neutral.
5. The amount of money put into different pay pools is
decided arbitrarily. Even if you are a top performer,
you might get less money simply because your pay
pool has less money than others.
6. Two employees with identical ratings may not get
the same raise and bonus.
7. The secret rating process is lengthy and you end up
with only a short time to improve your performance
for next year's payout.
8. Managers can promote whomever they want to
higher level duties and authorize a pay raise of up to
5% without competition. You might not even know
there's a new position, let alone compete for it.

etc., etc....

Re: GS was always PFP if used correctly!

Attorney
DOD
Tue Mar 3, 2009 9:50 PM
You have proven my point that the GS system was also not transparent because bonuses were never posted under the GS system. My intermediate and senior rater never worked with me. The GS pay was not based upon your performance because we all know darn well that many slackers got a bonus and a top rating. The GS bonus money or time- off awards were never shared equally. The amount of money for GS bonuses was doled out arbitrarily to various subordinate organizations. Thus, even if you were a top performer you might get a minimal bonus because the good ole GS boy got a WIGI and/or a time off award. Two employees who were top block might get different bonuses. The rating under GS was also secret until you actually received it and as far as time to improve that is really engaging in speculation. Finally, managers under GS promoted whomever they wanted. This was called duty accretion resulting in a higher grade or grooming or one WIGI after another. Ad infinitum.

Re: GS was always PFP if used correctly!

Working Stiff
My Agency
Wed Mar 4, 2009 8:48 AM
You proven what again? Oh, right.

You are zooming in on only one element of the original GS - bonuses and WIGI's. As I mentioned, these elements of a tried and true system can always be improved. Furthermore, I have just gone through 8 reasons that NSPS is not good for employees and they touch on virtually the ENTIRE NSPS SYSTEM - not just one area! In fact, let me add two more flaws for you...

9. Because of pay caps, you can’t reach the top of your
pay band, so the extra pay potential is just an illusion.

10. Your retirement benefits will be smaller because
part of your payout each year may be a bonus instead
of a raise. Bonuses are not counted toward retirement.

And I have to say, if you are indeed an attorney then you are not a very persuasive debater and your grammar is poor. By all means, please continue drinking the NSPS Kool Aid.

Changing the disciplinary system

HR Spc
DOI
Tue Mar 3, 2009 9:34 AM

Post Reply

Finally! Thank you Robbie for pointing out the need for reform of the disciplinary system. It has long struck me as ironic that the government kept making it easier to hire people but ignored the flip side of that coin. If it were easier to get creative with that process, it should be easier to correct employee problems.

Re: Changing the disciplinary system

Diversity Manager
DOL
Tue Mar 3, 2009 11:36 AM
NSPS is the only way to you CS in check.

Re: Changing the disciplinary system

Diversity Supervisor
DOL
Tue Mar 3, 2009 2:17 PM
Mr. Diversity Manager, DOL (who is not even a real Government employee, mind you) has admitted in other forums that he is actually retired military. What a hypocrite.

grip it

Quality Assurance Specialist
DCMA
Tue Mar 3, 2009 12:49 PM

Post Reply

Get a grip, max.

NSPS is a joke

Computer Scientist
DoD
Tue Mar 3, 2009 1:42 PM

Post Reply

I've been in the federal government for over 30 years and NSPS is the most underhanded, anti-worker, partisan pile of Republican garbage I have ever seen. The only people that benefit are GS-15's and above and new people fresh out of school that haven't pay their dues yet. What we should be concentrating on is cooperation with unions and getting rid of non-performing contractors and bad managers that don't get along with people. We need new policies that require that a government managers have a college degree in the area he or she is managing and advanced degrees for working in technical areas. The government is chock-full of managers with worthless dime-a-dozen degrees in organizational management, general business, communications, divinity, and broadcasting. We need people with degrees in engineering, IT, accounting, and law. The problem has never been the unmotivated worker. The problem is the incompetent manager who values Lean Six sigma, CMM, and TQM over real planning.

Re: NSPS is a joke

Diversity Manager
DOL
Tue Mar 3, 2009 5:13 PM
Less than 20% of the CS work force ha a degree, GED is the norm but the current system allows attendance to be the key to promotions. There are more SHe's without a degree than there are with.
If you don't like NSPS than the reason is your performance or lack of accountability. NSPS rewards the avg CS not just the top flyer's. Over the past 2 years NSPS has paid twice what what the avg CS got. 8% last year VS 3.5% There are no other jobs in the economy where accountability isn't the norm except for gov't service. That's the reason why the public has such a low opinion of government workers

Reply to NSPS is a Joke

Attorney
DOD
Tue Mar 3, 2009 11:04 PM

Post Reply

I remember the GM system started by Jimmy. Now that was so good that after a few years no one wanted a GM position because you would be better off if you had stayed with a GS position. That was the most underhanded, anti-worker, partisan pile of Democratic garbage I have ever seen. I’m just kidding. The Republican Bill Clinton allowing the unions to sit at the table with management while he cut thousands of positions was. And you are right only those above GS 15 benefit. Like the 16’s; 17’s; and 18’s. Oh I forgot we got rid of those and the SES positions are not under NSPS. Hmmm. Could it be your partisanship is getting in the way of facts? The GM system applied to the entire Federal workforce; NSPS only to part of DOD. So you can apply for a GS position in other parts of the Federal workforce. And of course not all positions were GM. Next, the managers are always to blame. Heck, anyone who reads MSPB decisions regarding disciplinary actions can easily tell that only managers are engaging in misconduct. Next, I wish my undergraduate degree had cost me a dime. Last, what type of advanced degree should a physician get since medicine is to a large extent a technical field? A Masters in Medicine?

Stick with GS

Supervisor
USFS
Wed Mar 4, 2009 1:13 PM

Post Reply

I have a friend that works for TSA and the pay for performance process just seems to be a way to keep folks at supervisor and manager levels busy fussing with the numbers. You would be amazed at the testing and retesting and counting and summarizing and formula stretching they have to do. And some of it is still arbitrary and dependent on the individual supervisor to promote. Stick with GS.......the QSIs and Performance Awards allow us all the flexibility we need to recognize the high performers.

NSPS

Greg
DON
Sun May 24, 2009 7:26 AM

Post Reply

As with FERS anytime the GOV introduces a new pay system, let the buyer beware.

Under NSPS the Good OLE Boy system is already running amuck, it is now all about being bootlicking and heaven forbid you rattle the saber at what is just, if you do you will find yourself out in the cold.

Lets explore the grandios waste of time it places on everyone, the plan, self awareness, approval of the plan, interim review, mock pay pool. All for what?? Last year it is purported by many that upper echalon mgmt received the lions share of shares (GO Figure).

Here it was reported that the region did not want to see many ratings above a (3) and (1) share and low and behold it happened. For all this grandios waste of time the NSPS employee received (1) share, which here equivelated to less than our GS counterpart got (3.9) for doing absoulutely nothing but having to go to work.

This system is flawed on multiple levels, and being untried will only bog down the courts in appeals.

Total Comments: 15
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