Among the issues likely to confront the next administration are how to improve employee compensation, whether to abandon the job classification system, how to make better use of hiring flexibilities, and whether to push for comprehensive reform. We ve got the ball on the tee. The question is which direction do we hit it in, said Bruce Long, deputy associate director of personnel at the Office of Management and Budget. D.C. The forum was part of a four-day discussion of challenges facing the next administration sponsored by the Reason Public Policy Institute. The discussion brought into sharp focus the complexities of any effort to improve personnel policies.
Many experts agree hiring and pay structures are too restrictive and outdated to meet their needs.
But experts from inside and outside government offer widely varying cures for the problem. To make no conscientious decision for comprehensive reform is a decision, Bonosaro said. Agencies are doing it piecemeal and more are readying their proposals for the Hill. The administration s current strategy of permitting selected agencies to experiment with more flexible methods such as hiring people more quickly and paying certain employees more than is normally allowed is being done without regard to the effect on other agencies, said Charlene Bradley, assistant deputy for civilian personnel and manpower for the Air Force. The Air Force has been unable to retain air traffic controllers because the Federal Aviation Administration received congressional authority to pay salaries far above the normal pay rates of the General Schedule, Bradley said.