OPM scolded over SES pay system's unpopularity

Two key senators who oversee federal workforce issues on Tuesday strongly criticized the Office of Personnel Management based on an outside group's recent report that senior federal executives are unhappy with their new compensation system.

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, called OPM Director Linda Springer in front of a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee he chairs to respond to the results of the survey by the Senior Executives Association. Eighty-six percent of respondents said the 2-year-old pay-for-performance system in the Senior Executive Service made no difference in their job performance.

More than half of respondents said their agencies used quotas -- which are banned in the system -- to forcibly limit the number of outstanding ratings awarded last year.

"I've spent an enormous amount of time in this whole area, and a year from now I want this problem taken care of," Voinovich said. "It's really disturbing to me, honestly, that this hasn't been properly" implemented.

Voinovich, who has backed pay-for-performance systems throughout government, said senior managers' experience is essential to success in extending such systems to lower levels. The Defense and Homeland Security departments are unrolling performance-based pay systems for all levels of employees.

Voinovich's Democratic counterpart on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia, joined in the criticism.

"Despite the administration's claims that the SES system is successful, the survey tells a different story," said Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii. "If federal senior executives don't have faith in the fairness and transparency of their pay system, I don't see how rank and file employees would want to work under such a system."

But Springer questioned the validity of the survey, which was voluntary and therefore unscientific, and said it's premature to judge the system.

"It takes several years before a system takes hold," Springer said.

Voinovich replied: "The fact is, it's not where it's supposed to be."

Springer said her staff is still reviewing the survey results to see what changes could be made based on the findings.