The Brookings Institution recently sponsored a Commission chaired by former Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volker. It looked at many aspects of career pay and benefits and asked for public comment. You do not have to ask me twice for such things. This essay contains the comments I provided to the Commission on the topics of management retention, the attracting of recent graduates, pay and benefits. I have slightly modified these remarks to delete material calling for the reform of the Presidential Management Intern Program, as such reforms have been announced by the Administration. I began my comments dealing with retention:
Management Tenure
Many leave the federal workforce because certain positions at the GS-14, GS-15 and Senior Executive Service (SES) levels because the incumbents continue to occupy these positions on an almost permanent basis, especially in the Defense agencies. While this is not always the case, the appearance can become reality and push younger professionals into the local government or private sectors.
Mid-level Professionals
Another aspect of career rigidity is the selection process for mid-level positions. Nothing is more frustrating than applying for a federal (or for that matter a private sector) position only to learn that the fix was already in and the results of the entire competition had been predetermined. In many cases, the individuals promoted into such positions are federal employees who deserve promotion non-competitively. Management should be able to advance such individuals without wasting the time and energy of applicants who must participate in a process that everyone knows is a sham.
Background Checks
An additional factor in pushing applicants away is the security process. Many individuals born after 1950 have experimented with illegal drugs. While the vast majority of these individuals have either entered recovery or simply stopped using without becoming addicted, most do not wish to face a clearance process that involves questioning on drug use in the distant past. There is also some question as to whether asking an individual if they have committed a crime as a condition of employment is a violation of the constitutional right against self-incrimination. While a federal job is not a right, due process rights such as self-incrimination should not be ignored. The Supreme Court has already upheld drug testing for certain sensitive positions. Offer potential and current employees the choice of taking a drug test rather than answering certain questions in detail on background questionnaires and interviews. Finally, the drug-testing program currently in force sends the wrong message, which is essentially one strike and you’re out. Offer employees who fail a drug test treatment, as in the private sector, rather than subjecting them to termination.
Executive Pay
The issue of pay compression identified by the Volker Commission is not a concern that I share. Higher-level positions offer rewards other than pay that are more along the lines of esteem and self-actualization. This is demonstrated by the tendency of high-grade workers to, in effect, decrease their hourly wage by putting in workweeks well in excess of 40 hours. While I agree that the problem of linkage to congressional pay is ill advised in the realm of judicial salaries, I urge the commission to consider with great care and respect the requirements of the 27th Amendment to the Constitution on congressional pay. Additionally, the problem of attracting political appointees is not low federal pay, but excessive private sector executive compensation. I ask that you not feed into the culture of executive greed.
Sick Leave
Other pay issues are of concern, however. The amount of sick leave that is accumulated by senior employees is staggering. Cap the accumulation of sick time at the higher end, and put a program of voluntary disability insurance in its place, with parental leave included as one of the benefits. This reform assures that those who truly need time off for medical reasons get it, while reducing the huge contingent liabilities now born by the federal government for sick time. Additionally, the best companies grant new employees a number of advance sick days upon hiring, sometimes up to a week’s entitlement. When the federal government introduced its sick leave policies originally it was ahead of its time, though it has not kept up with the times. These simple changes bring it up to date.
Annual Leave
Annual leave policies are also in need of reform. Many employees face the annual headache of trying to use their expiring annual leave. Many federal agencies are almost empty the last few weeks of the year, with junior employees forced to “baby sit their computers” for those weeks because they do not have the leave built up to take the time off. Many large firms simply close their doors between Christmas and New Years. This is a good step for the non-emergency and non-postal agencies of the federal government, with a matching reduction in the accumulation of annual leave at all levels. This allows the closure of these agencies, which saves energy costs. Even for junior employees, the annual leave entitlement is quite generous, at 13 days a year. In industry, the standard annual vacation time is 10 days. Employees with between 3 and 15 years receive 19.5 days a year, while senior employees receive 26 days. In industry, the vacation entitlement for these cohorts is usually 15 days for mid-level employees and at the most 20 days for the senior levels. A reduction of vacation to industry levels eases the public misperception that federal workers are over-paid. Reducing this misperception increases the likelihood that any general federal pay increase will pass.
Federal Holidays
Another action to change public perceptions is the reduction of the number of federal holidays, or at least their reorganization. Veterans Day was originally Armistice Day, honoring World War One Vets, who are now almost all deceased. Perhaps it is time to abandon this holiday and replace it with the Friday after Thanksgiving Day, which is a day off in much of industry and all of academia. Finally, Columbus Day has become quite politically incorrect, since it commemorates an action that led to the biological genocide of most Native Americans. In light of this, it needs to be abolished.
A Shorter Workday
Determining whether the pay of civil servants is adequate is difficult. Hourly estimates are misleading, because in much of the white-collar world the workday is no longer 8 hours. This is another area where the federal government started off as the most progressive employer and now is no longer. Many white-collar employees now work 7.5-hour days. Lowering the federal day to this level while holding annual salaries constant makes hourly wages higher. This action, as well as the introduction of an employee holiday the week after Christmas, also greatly impact federal contract employees, who are required to work the same 8 hour day, although most contractors, except those who are on-site at federal agencies, already close their doors for this week. As someone who is frequently employed as an on-site contractor, I strongly urge the Commission (and all of you) to consider them carefully.
