Election Over, Workers Can Break Out the Campaign Buttons

In a report issued this week, the organization acknowledges that its concerns aren't at the top of his to-do list. "Senior executive service issues won't be among your top five priorities," it says right on the title page, "but addressing them will make it more likely that you will succeed in accomplishing your priorities."

Members of the career executive corps average 26 years in government, and they earned their positions the hard way, by promotions based on merit.

"For many years and several administrations, utilization of the advice and creativity of the career Senior Executive Service (SES) corps has been steadily diminished," the report complains. "It has been politically fashionable to denigrate and mistrust the bureaucracy" and the career corps who have been "buried under layers of non-career appointees."

One long-standing beef is the low pay, relatively speaking, executives get. In Washington, GS-15s, those at the top of the General Schedule pay system, now make almost $35,000 more than their bosses at the lower end of the executive service pay scale, which is $114,468, according to the association.

That has resulted, the SEA argues, in a growing lack of interest among GS-14s and GS-15s in moving into the senior executive corps.

On top of that, the pay-for-performance system for government executives is a big turnoff. It is plagued "with great inconsistencies" and is prone to de facto quotas on the number of executives who can be rated highly, the report said.

"These problems have resulted in executives retiring at the earliest opportunity, demoralization among many who stay, and decisions by those who would be qualified to compete for SES entry to decline to do so."

Contact Joe Davidson at federaldiary@washpost.com.