What if we brought the top leaders experts in HR to GovLoop?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Michele McDevitt on November 8, 2010 at 10:00am

What do consultants in compensation really think of position classification programs? - I work for state government, but we receive most of our money from federal funders and some of our employees assume that the compensation programs available through those funders are also available through the state. Unfortunately, they aren't always, and we have to go through a lot of 'splaining to central office to try to get them set up (at which point they immediately become outdated). Are state government compensation programs, which are mostly based in position classification, so outdated in comparison to what the feds or private organizations can do that they should be trashed and states should go to a point system? Or is it that, even though no one really knows what a "Pencil Sharpener 2, Graphite Parenthetical" does in comparison to the Charcoal or Lead parentheticals, the classification is appropriately compensated and that's what matters?

Permalink Reply by Ed Powell on November 8, 2010 at 10:32am

Does your state believe in equal pay for equal work? Are state worker salaries public information? If your answers are yes to both then how can you NOT believe in position classification programs.

I work in industry where we offer whatever salaries that we feel we need to offer to acquire talent, without regard to the pay of others who work side-by-side and do the same jobs. We can get away with this because salaries are the deepest and darkest secrets of the company and revealing your own pay or someone else’s salary is cause for immediate dismissal.

However, don't assume that your state is "outdated in comparison to what the feds," as the feds ceased to do REAL position classification back in the Reagan administration. Politically constrained salaries at that time lead to a gradual abandonment of federal position classification principles so that pay could float to a level that would enable recruitment. Classification standards ceased to be a regulatory mechanism and became “guidance” to managers. Very few federal agencies have full time “classifiers” anymore because the process has moved from position classification to classification justification.

NO, the federal government does not really believe in equal pay for equal work.

YES, federal salaries are public information.

Permalink Reply by Kirstin Wolverton on November 8, 2010 at 10:55am

I would love to ask Mr. Berry at OPM how he thinks we will be able to reduce hiring timelines down to 80 days from the time a vacancy is noted to the time a new person starts, while accepting nothing but resumes and cover letters to review and determine if the applicants actually meet the requirements of the position. We just recently had a position close that had over 1500 applicants. Thankfully we use an automated tool and ask questions so we can locate the applicants that best meet the requirements of the position. Without this, it would have taken use over a month to issue the certiifcates.

Permalink Reply by Ed Powell on April 12, 2012 at 10:39am

OPM is great on the "What", "When", and "Why" of hiring timelines but fail on the "How."  I was talking to some DoD friends last month at an event and they noted how hiring is now taking TWICE as long, now that they have implemented USAStaffing (provided by OPM.)  Of course their comments were not all negative.  They did comment that their past certificates seemed to be randon selections from the applicant pool without any relationship to their job requirements.  After their investment of $10s of millions with OPM, their certificates now contain candidates that at least are eligible and meet minimum qualifications.  Wow!  Progress in meeting hiring goals.

Permalink Reply by Ed Powell on March 13, 2012 at 10:15am

Andrew:

 

This is still a good idea but what's the point of posting good material if nobody is going to read it!   I believe that your idea has some merit but I question its overall value given the fact that many in the federal HR community just don’t read and learn from the wealth of information available to them.  This includes our “leader” (Which Way Did They Go) OPM. 

 Frustrated by their 20 years of failed efforts to fix a retirement system in shambles, OPM decided to fix something that wasn’t broken, USAJOBS.  The end result was a far less functional, far more expensive system that remains confusing for job searchers because, for example, it doesn’t use Boolean algebra familiar to every user of YAHOO, GOOGLE, ASK, BING, etc.  OPM defends itself, saying that they use the same search technology as CareerBuilder, however, this company uses a sophisticated mix of search technologies and abandoned the search product used by OPM a few years ago because it was too expensive to maintain.  (The whole sad story is documented in material freely available on the web!)  How could OPM NOT know this? They must not read.

 Look at OPM’s latest decision to adopt TALEO as the technology for the troubled Presidential Management Fellows Program.  How could THIS be a problem?  It depends.  Does OPM want to exclude the disabled from applying for this Program?

 http://wiredworkplace.nextgov.com/2010/08/dhs_nixes_automated_hirin...

 “Jeffrey Neal, chief human capital officer at DHS, told Wired Workplace on Monday that the tool, called TalentLink (aka TALEO), ‘was not working for the department. The problem wasn't with the underlying software company,’ he said. ‘The company made a good product, but it was a product that wasn't designed for the federal hiring process. We had to build so many workarounds into the process that it wasn't saving the kind of time that we wanted it to save.’" 

 Repeat, “a product that wasn't designed for the federal hiring process.”  That’s harsh!!

 One of those federal deficiencies was that, after years of trying, TALEO could not pass compliance tests of accessibility and was therefore not compliant with federal 508 accessibility REQUIREMENTS.  Did the fact that ORACLE recently bought TALEO instantly fix everything that was broken and couldn’t be fixed after years of trying and 10s of millions of dollars spent by DHS?  Sadly NO!

 But how could OPM know of Jeff Neal’s studied conclusions?  Jeff Neal headed up the HRIT Group of the federal CHCO Council and received OPM’s CHCO of the Year Award during that same period

 Just as “there are none are so blind as those who will not see,” there are none so dumb as those who will not read valuable information at their fingertips!

Good luck Andrew, assemble those experts, have them write away even if their “pearls of wisdom” are more like a tree falling deep the forest, soundless, because no one is around to hear it.

Permalink Reply by Ed Powell on March 23, 2012 at 6:20pm

Just as I thought, nobody read it!

Permalink Reply by Andrew Krzmarzick on March 23, 2012 at 9:01pm

Oh - I read it, Ed...and we're working on it. Stay tuned ;-)