Problem:  The complexity of the classification system and 
inflexibility of the personnel regulations makes government 
operation inefficient.

Proposed solution and evaluation:  There is strong evidence that 
agencies given authority to do these things themselves can do 
better. Using demonstration authority under the 1978 Civil Service 
Reform Act, several agencies have experimented with simpler 
systems. In one experiment, at the Naval Weapons Center in China 
Lake, California, and the Naval Oceans Systems Center, in San 
Diego, the system was simplified to a few career paths and only 
four-to-six broad pay bands within each path. Known as the "China 
Lake Experiment," it solved many of the problems faced by the two 
naval facilities. It: 
1.  classified all jobs in just five career paths--professional, 
technical, specialist, administrative and clerical; 
2.  folded all GS (General Schedule) grades into four, five, or 
six pay bands within each career path; 
3.  allowed managers to pay market salaries to recruit people, to 
increase the pay of outstanding employees without having to 
reclassify them, and to give performance-based bonuses and salary 
increases; 
4.  automatically moved employees with repeated marginal 
performance evaluations down to the next pay band; and 
5.  limited bumping to one career path, and based it primarily on 
performance ratings, not seniority.  
     Another demonstration at McClellan Air Force Base, in 
Sacramento, California, involved "gainsharing"--allowing employees 
to pocket some of the savings they achieved through cooperative 
labor-management efforts to cut costs. It generated $5 million in 
productivity savings in four years and saw improved employee 
performance; fewer grievances; less sick leave and absenteeism; 
and improved labor-management relations.  
     A third demonstration at more than 200 Agriculture Department 
sites tested a streamlined, agency-based recruiting and hiring 
system that replaced OPM's register process. Under OPM's system, 
candidates are arrayed and scored based on OPM's written tests or 
other examinations. In USDA's demonstration, however, the agency 
grouped candidates by its own criteria, such as education, 
experience or ability, then picked from those candidates. A 
candidate might qualify for a job, for example, with a 2.7 college 
grade point average. Agencies could create their own recruitment 
incentives, do their own hiring, and extend the probationary 
period for some new hires. Managers were far more satisfied with 
this system than the existing one.  

Citation:  1993 National Performance Review, Chapter 1.

Keywords:  personnel efficiency

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