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This isn't a raise. It's a cost of living increase. Without the cost of living increase, it essentially means you are making less money than you did previously.
This isn't a raise. It's a cost of living increase. Without the cost of living increase, it essentially means you are making less money than you did previously.
According to govt sources the avg federal civilian worker makes almost 90,000/yr and that doesnt include the benefit pkg. im suppose to feel sorry for them because they didnt get a pay raise? I dont think so!
You can't compare the structure of the federal government to your local Walmart. The Fed jobs are heavily weighted professional.
Too, the idea of corporate outsourcing spread to government with agencies turning to contractors - for IT support (which was necessary) and for basic operational support (low-level, low-paid jobs). That was also a political plus because it kept the number of total employees down even while costs to often over-paid contractors increased.
Worse, government services declined because the contract employees often tended to be of much lower caliber (again, profits maximized to the contractor by hiring rock bottom cheap) with more frequent turnover than long-standing employees who both knew what they were doing and were motivated by connections to their employer and fellow employees.
To me the point is how can you claim the best economy ever AND a national economic emergency that stops you from congressionally approved pay raises?
You lie.
My guess is that the reason for this is Trump trying to take a dig at the FBI, DOJ, etc. He's pissed so he's acting like the tantrum-throwing toddler he is.
I did a fellowship at a federal agency, and I mostly agree with you. A lot of federal government work is so heavily administrative that top positions being filled by PhDs could be done by much “less expensive” employees; so in that sense, many are overpaid. One of the reasons that PhDs that get professional-level positions stay in the federal government for their whole careers is that they don’t develop or maintain a lot of transferable skills. So they wouldn’t have the CVs to be competitive for academics or industry/private sector. That is why they have a lot of fear and panic around the time of potential government shutdowns.
There are definitely exceptions. Intramural scientists and clinicians could and are definitely recruited from the outside. Also, some of the top positions in the federal government are filled by people who had a full, successful career in academia or the private sector, and they take federal positions as their final career move. I’ve found these to be the hardest working federal employees I came across. Many career feds had a 9-5 mentality that they would not be able to get away with outside of the federal government. Also, there was so much teleworking when I was in my fellowship, which was really strange. Nobody was ever in the office. I get teleworking can be productive, but there is something about actually coming into the office. It just seemed like another very lax trait of career feds.
There's some truth to what you say but your observations may have been different a decade or so ago. As I just mentioned, there's been extensive outsourcing of basic functions to non-governmental contract employees a portion of whom demonstrate incompetencies to where their job functions fall back onto the "principals" - who struggle to perform at their mandated professional level with nowhere near the support sometimes (for this is a corporate trend, too) found outside government.
And, yes, at some level there is reduced transferability between industry/private sector and government as experience narrows.
Part of this is due to a different orientation between their defined functions but (and this is a bureaucratic problem) some is due to the rigidity of governmental hiring practices. It is one of the non-monetary "costs" paid by the governmental employee for who would not prefer the flexibility of moving easily among different positions within government - which would then better qualify for non-governmental experience.
There are a number of factors involved with no doubt room for reform. But the basic concept of government is not broken with token gestures like the Trump move not particularly helpful.
Federal employee here. Who in these fora think that everyone should get the same annual raise percentage regardless of performance or potential? Is that how your civilian job rewards employees? It wasn't when I occupied one.
Providing a raise to an employee for simply existing in a job is a bad idea. The only place it really works is in the military and even then, mil jobs with transferable skills are often padded with sizable reenlistment bonuses.
In the last couple years, the federal government has implemented a new evaluation system that allows employees and their supervisors to define core performance objectives and revisit those goals through scheduled feedback sessions. It's then up to the employee to perform. It's up to the employee to show interest in and complete professional development goals. The degree to which those things are accomplished determines the value to the org and, to wit, the amount of raise a person might receive. It might be more than 2.6%. It might be less. At least there is some measure of objectivity in earning the raise other than just standing there breathing. We are in the first year now. I'll revisit this thread if it's not closed and let you know how it turned out.
Now, step-increases (longevity-in-grade) will still be in effect. So people will still receive periodic raises provided they are not capped out. Nothing has changed except that poor performance will be documented and remedied one way or the other. You do want the best employees for your money, right? This is a step in the right direction.
Great to see, as Feds will issue merit raises based on individual performance.
Actually, that part of Trump's move I can agree with. Govt pay raises should be handled like any major corporation, which typically means that employees are evaluated for performance, and they get a raise ranging from 0 to x%. Employees who did a satisfactory, but not exceptional, job would get a default percentage increase, say 2.5%. Stellar employees get more. Poor performers get nothing which, after inflation, amounts to a pay cut.
Problem is that it takes some time to set up such a system. If Trump announced that this would happen starting in 2020, that would be OK.
I also want to point out that with inflation now running at 2.9%, even the 1.9% raise approved by the Senate is a de facto pay cut.
As the article notes, and as I certainly recall, President Obama had frozen Federal wages due to the recession.
Now, we have been told by Mr. Trump that the economy is doing fantastic. Yet, in his letter to Congress justifying his cancellation of the Federal raise in pay (2.1 percent), he cites the nation's 'fiscal situation'.
What? I thought the Tax Reform Act would fix everything. Lower the national debt, increase tax revenues, etc.
I believe that the military will still get their raises. However, Border Patrol and ICE agents will not.
According to govt sources the avg federal civilian worker makes almost 90,000/yr and that doesnt include the benefit pkg. im suppose to feel sorry for them because they didnt get a pay raise? I dont think so!
Are you aware that certain areas have higher costs of living? I am a govie, and I make 108k, but I live in Northern VA, which has an extremely high COL.
I don’t know if you are a Trump fan, but, man, most Trump fans have such one dimensional thinking. It’s like they don’t understand nuance and complex issues.
According to govt sources the avg federal civilian worker makes almost 90,000/yr and that doesnt include the benefit pkg
Link?
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