Senior executives back pay for performance

More than 90 percent of senior federal executives think their pay should be based on job performance, and that they are being held accountable for achieving results, according to a survey released Tuesday.

The number of executives who reported that they were happy with their level of compensation has dropped significantly in the past two years, however. In the 2006 Federal Human Capital Survey, 73 percent of senior executives said they were satisfied with their pay. Only 61 percent reported satisfaction in the new survey of the Senior Executive Service, which was conducted by the Office of Personnel Management.

The survey found that 67 percent of executives were satisfied with the recognition they receive for doing a good job. Nearly three quarters of SES members said they thought their performance ratings were based to a great or very great extent on individual performance, and 68 percent said the same about how organizational performance factored into ratings.

But at three agencies - the Small Business Administration, Agency for International Development and the Office of Management and Budget - more than 20 percent of executives said those factors were not taken into account to at least a moderate extent. And at seven agencies, more than 30 percent of executives said that customer perspective was taken into account to only a limited extent, or not at all in assessing executives.

"The results of the survey show the SES is a committed and qualified group of people dedicated to their work on behalf of the American people," said OPM Director Linda M. Springer. "It also points out that the federal government has work to do in order to continue to develop and attract a highly qualified executive workforce."

The survey was mailed to 6,745 career, non-career and term-appointed members of the SES between Jan. 17 and Feb. 8, 2008. More than 4,300 completed it, for a response rate of 65 percent.