The Sept. 19 Federal Diary column incorrectly reported data from a survey of 846 federal executives. Of the 233 executives who reported having received additional job responsibilities, 82 percent said they did not receive a corresponding pay increase.
New Pay System Doesn't Affect Performance but Hinders Morale, Survey Finds
Federal executives find that a new pay-for-performance system has had little effect on their performance, but it has caused morale problems, according to a survey released yesterday.
The new pay system for the Senior Executive Service, a group of about 6,000 career professionals who serve as the government's top day-to-day managers, was put into place in January 2004 and has been touted as a possible model for the rest of the federal workforce. But the executives in the survey reported seeing little connection between their job ratings and their rewards.
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Twenty percent of the executives who received a top job rating last year said they received no pay increase, and 82 percent said they had been given more responsibilities but had not received a raise.
"Something has been lost in translation as the system has been implemented," said Carol A. Bonosaro , president of the Senior Executives Association, which sponsored the survey.
In a statement, Linda M. Springer , director of the Office of Personnel Management, said that the OPM plans to study the survey results and will work "to address any problems that exist in the execution of the new system."
Congress set up the new pay system to address complaints that too many career executives were up against salary caps and to give job performance a greater role in determining executive compensation.
The previous pay system, which had six pay levels, was abolished, and agencies were given discretion to set executive salaries in broad ranges. Under the new system, federal executives may be paid up to $165,200 annually, but they are no longer guaranteed annual raises and are no longer entitled to receive locality pay adjustments that go to most other white-collar federal workers.
Parts of the survey showed that executives support the new system: Ninety-six percent of the respondents said they should be held accountable for helping their agency achieve its goals, and 69 percent think it is possible to establish measurable performance standards for their job.
But 53 percent said their agencies rated executives to meet a quota or to produce fewer high ratings. Asked if their ratings were fair and accurate, 17 percent said yes; 27 percent said yes, to a limited degree; and 33 percent said no.
Asked about the effectiveness of the new system, 86 percent said it had not affected their job performance, and 83 percent said they had not seen a change in the performance of their peers.
As for morale, 47 percent reported a "negative change," 40 percent saw no change in morale, and 13 percent said morale had improved because of the new pay system. Sixteen percent said the new system has led them to accelerate their plans to retire.
The survey was conducted on a voluntary basis over the Internet between April 28 and July 3 and received 849 completed responses. Avue Technologies Corp., a human resource consulting and technology firm, helped the association administer the survey.
Bonosaro and Linda Brooks Rix , co-chief executive of Avue, said the survey respondents were mostly representative of the federal executive corps, though they were a little older and had served longer. About half the respondents were not members of the Senior Executives Association, which was founded in 1980 to represent the interests of top career executives in government. The survey included a safeguard against participation by non-executives.
Bonosaro said she and other association officials plan to brief congressional aides and to work with the Bush administration on improving the pay system. The association's recommendations, she said, include adjusting executive pay according to local market conditions each year and allowing executives to count their bonuses toward retirement.
New NARFE President
Margaret L. Baptiste of Mount Pleasant, S.C., has been elected president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association. She is the first woman and the first spouse of a federal retiree to hold the position.
Baptiste, who announced her candidacy last week at NARFE's 29th biennial convention in Albuquerque, won 52.2 percent of the vote. She defeated Dan C. Galvan of Texas and Charles W. Carter of Colorado. She succeeds Charles L. Fallis of Virginia and will take office Nov. 1.
