Book Description

A Status Report on Demonstration Projects and Other Performance-based Pay Systems provides an overview of Performance-based Pay Systems (PPSs), profiles current PPS projects, and presents trends and observations regarding PPSs that currently support over 298,000 Federal employees. This report covers three categories of PPSs. The first category is demonstration projects authorized under chapter 47 of title 5, United States Code. Under this authority, OPM establishes and evaluates demonstration projects designed to test whether certain changes in personnel management practices, such as a change to performance-based pay from a longevity-based system, would improve Federal personnel management. The total number of employees in this category is 42,606. The second category includes agency-specific, independent systems established under specific legislative authority. These systems cover almost 247,000 employees. The final category is Governmentwide executive pay systems, comprising the Senior Executive Service and the Senior Foreign Service, covering 8,643 executives. Several trends and observations emerge from our experience with performance-based pay systems in all three categories: * Performance-based pay systems continue to be successful, as evidenced by many evaluations and a stronger link between pay and performance than under longevity-based pay systems. * Achieving success entails significant effort, but pays off by achieving a results-oriented performance culture. * Under PPSs, managers and supervisors manage performance more * The ability to recruit and retain a high-quality workforce increases under * Payroll costs are being controlled, but cost discipline must be maintained as these systems expand and mature.