NSPS Is Dead

COMMENTS

• It's a shame to see government waste so much of our hard earned money, but it seems to be government as usual. The truly sad part of ending NSPS is it has some great features--some very much needed requirements. The self-assessment and your supervisor's assessment is an addition to the system that needs to remain. The mandated training, especially for military supervising civilians, needs to remain. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

  Lynette Ward Posted Friday, October 23, 2009 7:16 AM

• NSPS was poorly designed and planned from the beginning. All that money and effort that went into that personnel system is a shocking waste of money and time. The taxpayers are the ulitmate victims here.

  Elizabeth Posted Friday, October 23, 2009 7:29 AM

• This system should have never passed to begin with. It has to be the most unfair system ever implemented in the work force. I applaud everyone who votes to do away with it.

  Yvonne Mace Posted Friday, October 23, 2009 7:31 AM

• President Bush, as our first MBA president and the one president who has clearly cared about government performance (nerdy subject that it is), spent a lot of time and political capital starting DoD and DoE on a new civil service system (called NSPS) that, while preserving the standard of living increases that rightly go with seniority, began paying people for their performance instead of how many years they had slept at their desks. The new system would not have required the sleepers to awaken--it simply would have made it easy to award raises and promotions to those who work harder.

  Every expert on the civil service system agrees it needs to be overhauled and made more performance-based. Even the huge public employee unions profess support for improvement. But they opposed the new system. Unions favor seniority-based compensation--anything else could be manipulated by evil management, you see. So, while endorsing change in principle, they screeched loudly and often about this one (does this remind anyone else of the NEA?.) Characteristically, and to his credit, W made his case again and again and, as the screeching continued, pushed ahead anyway. Unfortunately he chose to phase in the new system, and it had just gotten up and running smoothly in one part of DoD when his term ended.

  Enter the Hope and Change Administration of dutiful union lackeys which, allied with the lackeys in Congress, have made one of their first post-election priorities dismantling the new compensation system and sending the civil service back to the dark ages. Yes, NSPS is dead. Long live the status quo.
  

  Ron Posted Friday, October 23, 2009 8:42 AM

• Yay!!! That is very good news. There is nothing wrong with the current system. As noted in Govt Exec this month, managers are not well trained in giving performance appraisals and in documenting poor performance/firing non performing employees. Changing the appraisal system does not correct this failing. Until the Federal government finds a way to ELIMINATE all discrimination, it needs to stop trying to tinker with the appraisal process.

  Charlie Posted Friday, October 23, 2009 9:46 AM

• May NSPS never raise its ugly head again!

  US Posted Friday, October 23, 2009 11:19 AM

• The next time someone asks "What good are unions?" The answer for any fed is simply that NSPS would have been unstoppable and would have remained in place virtually forever if it were not for the hard work and power of federal employee unions. Long live unionism in government!

  DLA Posted Friday, October 23, 2009 1:00 PM

• NSPS was unfair to too many individuals that were in no way "sleeping at their desks" to be considered accurate pay for performance. In addition it was fraught with extreme subjectivity by individuals not directly associated with employees, their work, their work ethic; while businly comparing apples and peanuts in closed meetings with strong/week personalities trying to plead the case for their employees. The time spent writing paragraphs, no wait revising them to bullets, no wait with latest buzwords...by employees, then the subjective/selective rewrite Readers Digest version by supervisors was nothing but a waste of time. There were no employee/supervisor established goals, but instead goals dictated from higher managmeent. My last set of goals promoted making cusotmers feel good over staying competent in the field to ensure abilty to support them. Ridiculous. Said adieu to that job.

  Ralph Posted Friday, October 23, 2009 5:21 PM

• I think "Ron" is a graduate of Keeter 101!!!

  WD Jackson Posted Friday, October 23, 2009 9:58 PM

• NSPS was a flawed attempt to do the right thing. Bush should be given credit for attempting to change the out-dated GS system, however he should be equally faulted for not figuring out what worked in the GS and why government is inherently different from private business. Further, his administration failed to listen and negotiate in good faith. Instead of making considerable progress, they created a partisan shouting match in which each side used the same old targets (greed, unions, management, laziness) in formulaic attacks.

  Let's celebrate the end of a flawed system, but recognize that only those "sleeping at their desks" can be happy with the status quo. There really needs to be a performance factor in pay. That's what Democrats claim is needed for compensation on Wall Street, often their "enemies"; why should it be any different when applied to their "friends" the unionized worker?

  Until we find a way to get rid of the party demagogues who can only criticize the opposition, we will never have a productive bi-partisan solution that finds the value in the other's philosophy of government.

  Dave B. Posted Monday, October 26, 2009 9:58 AM

• As a manager of exceptional people in a professional career field, this is exceptional news. NSPS was fraught with buddy first, patronage first, and who you know. As I do, I use the current GS system to properly appraise PERFORMANCE for quality work done. Everyone who studied where NSPS came from knows this was politics playing with the public interest by employing phonyism toward public servants. GO RIDDANCE. I can manage again.

  jbfalaska Posted Monday, October 26, 2009 10:13 PM

• As a manager of exceptional people in a professional career field, this is exceptional news. NSPS was fraught with buddy first, patronage first, and who you know. As I do, I use the current GS system to properly appraise PERFORMANCE for quality work done. Everyone who studied where NSPS came from knows this was politics playing with the public interest by employing phonyism toward public servants. GO RIDDANCE. I can manage again.

  P.S., show me where Wall Street, banks, or much of private interet truly answers to performance over CEO's in the loop. They vote one another pay raises. Look at Grasso earning $125,000,000 while the entire NYSEXCHANGE only made $7,000,000. And Nardell earning $200,000,000 while running Home Depot's stock into the ground. Apply performance for pay on private interests and it's half life would have already expired. Theory isn't reality.

  jbfalaska Posted Monday, October 26, 2009 10:18 PM

• I agree with DLA 100%. Long live The AFGE, IFPTE,the Treasuery Union and all federal unions that took an active part in putting NSPS where it belongs, in its grave.

  W D Jackson Posted Tuesday, October 27, 2009 7:30 PM

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