That’s apparently what President Bush thinks, judging from the budget he submitted to Congress. The budget calls for a 3.4 percent increase for members of the military—and a 2.9 percent increase for other federal employees. The Washington Post’s Stephen Barr chronicles Congress’s reaction. Democrats and Republicans are ...

Stephen Barr writes in the Washington Post's Federal Diary that merit-based pay at the Federal Aviation Administration is causing more employees to join labor unions and file lawsuits.  Some employees charge that the new system has reduced their pension projections by thousands of dollars per year.  Others charge excessive secrecy ...

The Department of Defense is beginning its move towards paying department employees on the basis of individual employee performance, Stephen Barr reports in the Washington Post.  Government employee labor unions and advocacy groups have raised numerous objections to transition, which could end up affecting up to 200,000 people.  See Barr's ...

There are new survey results to ponder.  A plurality (45%) of federal employees disagrees with the statement: “Pay raises depend on how well employees perform their jobs.”

Read Stephen Barr’s Federal Diary column today [The Washington Post, Feb. 12, 2007].  Do you get the sense that ...

This article follows in perfect juxtaposition to yesterday’s posting about pay-for-performance being here to stay. 

True, Ward Mannering's article in Government Executive by  is rather cynical, but I believe a careful reading would be enlightening and beneficial.  Ward’s on point about ineffective systems, window-dressing approaches, and empty solutions.  At least, ...

Wondering if pay-for-performance is here to stay?  Wonder no longer.  The system is already entrenched, even though more road tests need to be conducted, and legal challenges to this new system in mega-agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Defense remain to be resolved.

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Take a look at this.  Karen Rutzick gives us another great article, this time about the interesting dynamics that could result in impending pay-for-performance evaluation systems in business – and government!

Read her article from Government Executive for August 17, 2006  and tells us where you fit into ...

According to a report from the Merit Systems Protection Board, "Pay for performance demands higher level of supervisory skill" than the traditional grade-and-step system used  in government for decades, in part because performance-based systems give more discretiion to supervisors to set pay and bonuses, the report says.

"Supervisors must treat employees ...

Stephen Barr’s “Is the Annual Performance Review the Goof-Off’s Best Friend?” article is sure to raise hackles – and hallelujahs.

In his “Federal Dairy” column today (January 10, 2006) Barr quotes Robert D. Behn, a Harvard Kennedy School of Government lecturer and public policy analyst, who says that ...