Pay Retention under NSPS

So I probably shouldn’t be posting this as I’m in HR but hey, I think that’s what being a leader is all about. Acknowledging when things are wrong.

If you’re under NSPS or have been following all the articles and issues on the Hill, you’ll know that NSPS is done as of FY11 and many agencies are converting back to GS as we speak. Well, stats show that around a quarter of folks who have transitioned as of 29 May, are on pay retention. What does that mean? That means that those folks under NSPS received increases in salaries that exceeded their grade levels under GS. Hence, they are being placed on pay retention under GS until either the GS scale catches up or other events occur.

So as a person on pay retention, yes you may receive retention bonuses since you are only qualified to receive 50% of the locality and base increases per year. Wouldn’t you be happy? here you are in a job that is a certain grade and you’re being paid WAYYYY OVER what your counterparts are in the federal government. Pat yourself on the back and consider yourself in a great position.

But really, how is this being seen? From my experience, folks who are being placed on pay retention are acting ungrateful and selfish. I’ve seen requests/demands that they have first priority when applying to jobs if it is a promotion for them; transferred to another grade that allows them to have financial growth (for instance if someone is capped out of GS-07 they want to be transferred to a GS-09 regardless of the type of work they are performing), and requests to be placed on PPP since they are being “adversely affected.”

I think we’ve missed the whole point of pay for performance.

I guess my point here is that when making policy or changes to the GS system in light of the NSPS transfer, I pretty much am begging the decision makers here to not cater to those few under pay retention. I think we have much bigger issues to tackle than worry about people who are obviously making much more that people in similiar positions with similiar outputs and performances. What happened to pay parity? I’m sick of seeing the abuse under NSPS and I’m tired of hearing the whining as we transition back to GS. Honestly, if you’re here in the fedgov for the $$, you should leave now.

Any thoughts out there? Are you under NSPS and being placed on pay retention?