This is the accessible text file for GAO report number GAO-05-832SP entitled 'Human Capital: Symposium on Designing and Managing Market- Based and More Performance-Oriented Pay Systems' which was released on July 27, 2005. This text file was formatted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to be accessible to users with visual impairments, as part of a longer term project to improve GAO products' accessibility. Every attempt has been made to maintain the structural and data integrity of the original printed product. Accessibility features, such as text descriptions of tables, consecutively numbered footnotes placed at the end of the file, and the text of agency comment letters, are provided but may not exactly duplicate the presentation or format of the printed version. The portable document format (PDF) file is an exact electronic replica of the printed version. We welcome your feedback. Please E-mail your comments regarding the contents or accessibility features of this document to Webmaster@gao.gov. This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States. It may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without further permission from GAO. Because this work may contain copyrighted images or other material, permission from the copyright holder may be necessary if you wish to reproduce this material separately. July 2005: Human Capital: Symposium on Designing and Managing Market-Based and More Performance- Oriented Pay Systems: GAO-05-832SP: GAO Highlights: Highlights of GAO-05-832SP Why GAO Convened This Symposium: Critical to the success of the federal government’s transformation are its people—human capital. Yet the government has not transformed, in many cases, how it classifies, compensates, develops, and motivates its employees to achieve maximum results within available resources and existing authorities. One of the questions being addressed as the federal government transforms is how to update its compensation system to be more market based and performance oriented. To further the discussion of federal pay reform, GAO, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, the National Academy of Public Administration, and the Partnership for Public Service convened a symposium on March 9, 2005, to discuss organizations’ experiences with market-based and more performance- oriented pay systems. Representatives from public, private, and nonprofit organizations made presentations on the successes and challenges they experienced in designing and managing their market- based and more performance-oriented pay systems. A cross section of human capital stakeholders was invited to further explore these successes and challenges and engage in open discussion. While participants were asked to review the overall substance and context of the draft summary, GAO did not seek consensus on the key themes and supporting examples. What Participants Said: While implementing market-based and more performance-oriented pay systems is both doable and desirable, organizations’ experiences show that the shift to market-based and more performance-oriented pay must be part of a broader strategy of change management and performance improvement initiatives. GAO identified the following key themes that highlight the leadership and management strategies these organizations collectively considered in designing and managing market-based and more performance-oriented pay systems. 1. Focus on a set of values and objectives to guide the pay system. Values represent an organization’s beliefs and boundaries and objectives articulate the strategy to implement the system. 2. Examine the value of employees’ total compensation to remain competitive in the market. Organizations consider a mix of base pay plus other monetary incentives, benefits, and deferred compensation, such as retirement pay, as part of a competitive compensation system. 3. Build in safeguards to enhance the transparency and ensure the fairness of pay decisions. Safeguards are the precondition to linking pay systems with employee knowledge, skills, and contributions to results. 4. Devolve decision making on pay to appropriate levels. When devolving such decision making, overall core processes help ensure reasonable consistency in how the system is implemented. 5. Provide training on leadership, management, and interpersonal skills to facilitate effective communication. Such skills as setting expectations, linking individual performance to organizational results, and giving and receiving feedback need renewed emphasis to make such systems succeed. 6. Build consensus to gain ownership and acceptance for pay reforms. Employee and stakeholder involvement needs to be meaningful and not pro forma. 7. Monitor and refine the implementation of the pay system. While changes are usually inevitable, listening to employee views and using metrics helps identify and correct problems over time. These organizations found that the key challenge with implementing market-based and more performance-oriented pay is changing the culture. To begin to make this change, organizations need to build up their basic management capacity at every level of the organization. Transitioning to these pay systems is a huge undertaking and will require constant monitoring and refining in order to implement and sustain the reforms. www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-832SP. To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on the link above. For more information, contact J. Christopher Mihm at (202) 512-6806 or mihmj@gao.gov. [End of section] Contents: Letter: Appendixes: Appendix I: Key Themes from the Symposium: Focus on a Set of Values and Objectives to Guide the Pay System: Examine the Value of Employees' Total Compensation to Remain Competitive in the Market: Build in Safeguards to Enhance the Transparency and Ensure the Fairness of Pay Decisions: Devolve Decision Making on Pay to Appropriate Levels: Provide Training on Leadership, Management, and Interpersonal Skills to Facilitate Effective Communication: Build Consensus to Gain Ownership and Acceptance for Pay Reforms: Monitor and Refine the Implementation of the Pay System: Appendix II: Symposium Agenda: Appendix III: Symposium Participants: Appendix IV: Organizations' Pay Systems: Background Information and Presentations: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: Commonwealth of Virginia: IBM Corporation: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency: American Red Cross: Appendix V: Presentation by the Director of the Human Resources Management Consortium of the National Academy of Public Administration: Appendix VI: Presentation by the Director of the Office of Policy and Evaluation of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board: Abbreviations: CHCO: chief human capital officer: FDIC: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: FIRREA: Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989: MSPB: U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board: NAPA: National Academy of Public Administration: OCC: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency: OPM: Office of Personnel Management: SES: Senior Executive Service: SRS: standardized rating score: Letter July 27, 2005: The federal government must adapt to a range of major trends and challenges in the nation and the world, and to respond, it must have the institutional capacity to plan more strategically, identify and react more expeditiously, and focus on achieving results. Critical to the success of this transformation are the federal government's people- -its human capital. Yet the government has not transformed, in many cases, how it classifies, compensates, develops, and motivates its employees to achieve maximum results within available resources and existing authorities. One of the questions being addressed as the federal government transforms is how to update its compensation system to be more market based and performance oriented.[Footnote 1] In this type of system, organizations consider the skills, knowledge, and performance of employees as well as the labor market when making pay decisions.[Footnote 2] Recognizing that the federal government's pay system does not align well with modern compensation principles, Congress has provided various agencies exemptions from current statute in performance management and pay administration, as outlined in various chapters of title 5 of the United States Code.[Footnote 3] Most recently, the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense received the authority to establish "flexible and contemporary" human capital and pay systems. To further the discussion of federal pay reform, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), and the Partnership for Public Service convened a symposium on March 9, 2005, to discuss organizations' experiences with market-based and more performance-oriented pay systems. Representatives from public, private, and nonprofit organizations made presentations on the successes and challenges they experienced in designing and managing their market-based and more performance-oriented pay systems.[Footnote 4] These organizations are the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Commonwealth of Virginia, IBM Corporation, and American Red Cross. We invited these organizations because they have been implementing this type of pay system and consider it to be important to achieving their missions and goals. To learn from their experiences, further explore these successes and challenges, and engage in an open discussion of ideas, a cross section of senior leaders attended the symposium, including congressional staff who have oversight responsibility for federal management issues, chief human capital officers or other officials from the executive branch who are responsible for managing human capital in their respective agencies, employee representatives who are currently engaged in pay reform efforts, and academics and other human capital stakeholders who have experience with and knowledge of human capital issues. Overall, the symposium highlighted a variety of approaches that organizations have used in designing and managing market-based and more performance-oriented pay systems. While we believe that implementing this type of pay system is both doable and desirable, these organizations' experiences show that the shift to market-based and more performance-oriented pay must be part of a broader strategy of change management and performance improvement initiatives. Market-based and more performance-oriented pay is only one part--albeit a critical one- -of a larger effort to improve the performance of an organization. Further, market-based and more performance-oriented pay cannot be simply overlaid on most organizations' existing performance management systems. Rather, as a precondition to effective pay reform, individual expectations must be clearly aligned with organizational results, communication on individual contributions to annual goals must be ongoing and two way, meaningful distinctions in employee performance must be made, and cultural changes must be undertaken. Most fundamentally, to implement these types of pay systems successfully, the organizations found that they must change the culture from compensation that is based on position and longevity to one that is performance oriented, affordable, and sustainable. Specifically, these organizations recognize that pay increases are no longer an entitlement but should be based on employees' contributions to the organization's mission and goals. To begin to make this cultural change, there was widespread recognition that organizations need to build up the basic management capacity of their organizations. In particular, there needs to be growth and development at every level of the organization: top leaders with the vision, commitment, capabilities, and persistence to lead and facilitate the change; managers with the skills and abilities to fairly and honestly assess employee performance; and individual employees who are engaged and empowered to seek opportunities to enhance their careers. In addition, human capital professionals will need to acquire a new set of skills for implementing market-based and more performance- oriented pay systems. Transitioning to these pay systems is a huge undertaking for organizations and will require constant monitoring and refining in order to implement and, very importantly, sustain them successfully. How it is done, when it is done, and the basis on which it is done can make all the difference in their success. The organizations described the tools and techniques they used for designing and implementing their pay systems in order to best meet their needs. Based on these organizations' experiences and following discussions, we identified several key themes that highlight the leadership and management strategies these organizations collectively considered in designing and managing market-based and more performance- oriented pay systems. These key themes are as follows. 1. Focus on a set of values and objectives to guide the pay system. 2. Examine the value of employees' total compensation to remain competitive in the market. 3. Build in safeguards to enhance the transparency and ensure the fairness of pay decisions. 4. Devolve decision making on pay to appropriate levels. 5. Provide training on leadership, management, and interpersonal skills to facilitate effective communication. 6. Build consensus to gain ownership and acceptance for pay reforms. 7. Monitor and refine the implementation of the pay system. As I discussed at the symposium, it is possible to enact broad-based human capital reforms that would enable agencies to move to market- based and more performance-oriented pay systems. However, any such effort should require that the agency implement key reforms only after it meets certain procedural management assessment and independent certification requirements relating to its institutional infrastructure.[Footnote 5] This institutional infrastructure includes, at a minimum, a human capital planning process that integrates the agency's human capital policies, strategies, and programs; the capabilities to develop and implement a new human capital system effectively; and a modern, effective, credible, and validated performance management system that provides a clear linkage between institutional, unit, and individual performance-oriented outcomes, and adequate safeguards to ensure the fair, effective, and nondiscriminatory implementation of the system, including internal reconsideration and third-party appeal processes. Appendix I of this document provides a more detailed summary of the key themes from the symposium discussion along with examples from the presentations to illustrate these themes. Appendix II presents the symposium agenda. Appendix III lists the hosts, moderators, presenters, and human capital stakeholders who participated in the symposium. Appendix IV includes the presentations and background information on the organizations' pay systems. Appendixes V and VI include the presentations given by directors at NAPA and MSPB on issues related to market-based and more performance-oriented pay systems. The purpose of the symposium was not to reach a consensus on how market- based and more performance-oriented pay systems should be designed and managed, but rather to engage in an open discussion of the leadership and management strategies the presenting organizations have considered with their systems. We asked the participants to review the overall substance and context of the draft summary of the symposium discussion and incorporated their comments, as appropriate. Therefore, no assumptions should be made that every participant agreed with the key themes and supporting examples. I would like to thank the hosts, moderators, presenters, and participants in the symposium for taking the time to share their experiences and knowledge on this important matter. I look forward to working with the participants on other important issues of mutual interest and concern in the future. Signed by: David M. Walker: Comptroller General of the United States: [End of section] Appendixes: Appendix I: Key Themes from the Symposium: To further the discussion of pay reform, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), and the Partnership for Public Service convened a symposium on March 9, 2005, to discuss organizations' experiences with market-based and more performance- oriented pay systems. Representatives from public, private, and nonprofit organizations made presentations on the successes and challenges they experienced in designing and managing their market- based and more performance-oriented pay systems, followed by an open discussion among key human capital stakeholders to learn from their experiences. The organizations described the tools and techniques they used for designing and implementing their pay systems in order to best meet their needs. Based on these organizations' experiences and following discussions, we identified several key themes that highlight the leadership and management strategies these organizations collectively considered in designing and managing market-based and more performance-oriented pay systems. Focus on a Set of Values and Objectives to Guide the Pay System: In their discussions, the presenters highlighted the need to focus on a set of values and objectives when designing and managing their market- based and more performance-oriented pay systems. Values are inherent and enduring principles that represent the organization's beliefs and boundaries. In addition, objectives articulate the strategy an organization plans to take to implement a market-based and more performance-oriented pay system to help it recognize and reward employees and maintain a competitive position in the market. The Comptroller General of the United States highlighted GAO's experiences in implementing its competency-based performance management system. GAO's core values--accountability, integrity, and reliability-- were a focus in identifying and validating the competencies in GAO's new system. Most recently, GAO received additional authority to adjust the rates of basic pay on a separate basis from the annual adjustments authorized for employees of the executive branch. With additional authority from Congress, GAO is implementing a market-based and more performance-oriented compensation system that places greater emphasis on a person's skills, knowledge, and job performance and not the passage of time while, at a minimum, protecting the purchasing power of employees who are performing acceptably and are paid within applicable competitive compensation ranges. Employee compensation will now consider current salary and allocate individual performance-based compensation amounts between a merit increase (e.g., salary increase) and a performance bonus (e.g., cash). Similarly, OPM's Acting Director stated that as the federal government moves forward with modernizing the civil service system, the shift to market-based and more performance-oriented pay should be grounded in the core values of the civil service system: merit system principles and prohibited personnel practices. Examples of these merit principles include promoting employees based on merit and protecting employees against arbitrary action or personal favoritism. An example of a prohibited personnel practice is violating veterans' preference requirements. Protecting merit principles and prohibiting certain personnel practices must remain intact as the federal pay system is modernized, according to OPM's Acting Director. While core values define the organization's beliefs and boundaries, objectives articulate the strategy the organization plans to take to implement a market-based and more performance-oriented pay system to help it recognize and reward employees and maintain a competitive position in the market. To this end, among IBM's pay objectives is to "differentiate strongly" among employees by giving larger pay increases or bonuses to those employees who are most deserving. IBM's Director of Global Services Compensation noted that IBM believes that by rewarding its highest performing employees with the largest pay increases, these employees will stay with and lead the organization, and as a result, other employees will stay as well. For example, the highest performing employees who were in the top of their pay bands and were considered to be paid over the market average still received pay increases because IBM wanted to "protect them" from its competitors. He attributed this approach to helping IBM weather both the late 1990s talent wars and the current market for information technology positions. To help differentiate among employees in making pay decisions, IBM provides general guidance on the "differentiation ratio" whereby the largest pay increases are to be far greater than the smallest increases. Further, IBM employees understand that pay increases are not an entitlement but are based on each individual's contributions to IBM's goals. Specifically, in 2003, the Director said a significant percentage of the population did not receive increases because they were already paid competitively for their level of contributions and performance. This approach allows more of the budget for merit pay increases to go to the highest contributing employees. A main objective of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's (OCC) pay system is to maintain comparability regarding compensation and benefits with the other federal financial regulatory agencies that are subject to the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA).[Footnote 6] OCC defines its market as other FIRREA agencies, the Federal Reserve Banks, and other agencies such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that are exempt from certain provisions of title 5. To maintain comparability with this market, OCC participates in an annual survey administered by the HayGroup, which gathers data on these organizations' total compensation packages in order to benchmark against various positions and job families, such as bank policy and bank supervision. The OCC presenters said that the 2004 survey results showed that OCC's base pay was on average 8 percent above the market average, which was within its competitive range of plus or minus 10 percent of the average pay rates of the FIRREA market. These data helped OCC set its pay increase budget for 2005. The American Red Cross's Director of Corporate Compensation noted that the Red Cross recognizes that salary is its main lever to fulfill its mission and values, and thus one of its pay objectives is to pay salaries that are externally competitive and internally equitable. To meet this objective, the Director said the Red Cross sets its employees' pay slightly higher than the market in order to remain competitive. The Director noted that since the Red Cross is a not-for- profit humanitarian organization, this pay objective is critical as the Red Cross does not have variable pay, stock options, or other incentives to attract, motivate, and retain its employees, as organizations in the private sector can offer. Examine the Value of Employees' Total Compensation to Remain Competitive in the Market: The presenters underscored that a competitive compensation system that provides employees a mix of base pay plus other incentives can help organizations attract, motivate, and retain a quality workforce. In addition to base pay, total compensation includes features such as geographic differentials; monetary incentives, such as awards and bonuses; benefits, such as health care and tuition reimbursement; and deferred compensation, such as retirement pay. The presenters noted it is important for organizations to be flexible in the mix of what constitutes total compensation so they can remain competitive with the market. On the other hand, a presenter also identified challenges that the federal government may face, such as statutory pay caps and other limitations, as it shifts to market-based and more performance-oriented pay that may hinder its ability to offer competitive compensation. In discussing what incentives attract individuals to public service, the Director of the Office of Policy and Evaluation at MSPB reported that people come to work for and stay with the federal government for a variety of reasons besides base pay. Among these reasons is the desire to make a contribution and the personal pride or satisfaction in their work as well as the variety of benefits provided to employees, as reported in MSPB's "Merit Principles Survey 2000" that obtained federal employees' views on how well the workforce is being managed. Pay alone usually does not influence whether employees remain with an organization in the private sector as well. IBM's Director of Global Services Compensation believes IBM has been successful in competing in the market and retaining its employees because of the "total rewards" package it offers its employees along with pay. For example, the package includes work-life benefits such as tuition reimbursement for employee development, along with retirement and health care benefits. To make it more competitive in local markets, OCC offers a pay differential based on local labor costs. OCC recently shifted to a cost of labor system called "geo pay" from a "complex" methodology largely based on cost of living. According to OCC presenters, the newer OCC salaries better reflect the local market labor rates. Specifically, as part of its geo pay system, OCC groups its cities where it has offices into seven pay zones by using the Economic Research Institute's cost of labor data to identify the differentials in labor costs between its employees and the labor market. For example, employees in zone 1 (e.g., Atlanta) receive no differential, employees in zone 3 (e.g., Washington, D.C.) receive an 8 percent differential, and employees in zone 7 (e.g., San Francisco) receive a 28 percent differential. OCC presenters said that with the new geo pay system, 49 of its 80 cities have no geographic differentials. Of the employees who receive a differential, most receive from about 3 to 13 percent. OCC presenters noted that about two-thirds of the employees receive a smaller differential under the geo pay system than the previous differentials OCC used. During the transition to the geo pay system, the presenters said OCC has promised to "maintain the total compensation" of these employees who now receive a smaller differential by rolling most of these differences into the employees' base pay. In addition, to help its employees settle into more expensive cities, OCC offers relocation incentives in the form of lump sum payments that are not built into employees' base pay. One OCC presenter noted that these incentives helped OCC recruit employees for critical jobs in New York City in 2004. For example, the enhanced mortgage and rent subsidies are 3-year allowances designed to help employees get into the housing or rental markets when moving to selected higher cost cities from cities in a lower geo pay zone. In addition, OCC offers an annual lump sum for 3 years to employees when they move to selected high-cost cities from cities in a lower geo pay zone to compensate for the higher living costs in the new city. However, a presenter identified challenges that the federal government as a whole may face in offering competitive compensation to its senior leaders who are subject to a statutory pay cap. The Director of the Human Resources Management Consortium at NAPA discussed how the statutory pay cap could restrict rewards, demoralize employees, and nullify market-based pay for senior leaders. Participants also commented on how the statutory pay cap may have a negative effect on the retention of the senior leaders if they could receive higher pay in the private sector. The Director noted that about 70 percent of the members in the Senior Executive Service (SES) had their pay capped in 2004, which reflected the agencies' limited ability to offer performance-based rewards and market-based pay. She also observed that the recently enacted SES performance-based pay system provides an interim solution to this pay compression by allowing agencies to increase the pay cap for their senior executives.[Footnote 7] However, the Director and other participants noted that pay compression may return despite the higher pay cap for SES members. The new performance-based pay system replaces the six SES pay levels with a single, open-range pay band for all SES members. A participant noted that having one pay band is being perceived as loss of rank among some of the SES. To help make distinctions in rank among their SES members, this participant said some agencies are grouping their executives into smaller pay bands according to their responsibilities. As a result, the participant observed that these SES members may in effect have their pay capped more quickly based on the placement in these smaller pay bands. Another participant commented that SES pay compression might return if agencies do not demonstrate the necessary rigor and discipline in applying their new SES performance management systems to ensure performance ratings and pay adjustments are consistent with the performance of the organizations and make meaningful distinctions in performance. The Director agreed that the long-term effect of SES pay compression remains to be seen. To help address the issue of market-based and more performance-oriented pay for the government's senior leaders, the National Commission on the Public Service suggested, in its 2003 report, that the challenge is to convince Congress that the pay cap undermines rewarding performance and to help build the rationale for tying government pay to relevant markets across all three branches of government.[Footnote 8] For example, the Commission reported that in the judicial branch, the salaries for U.S. federal court judges are considerably less than those of deans and senior professors of top law schools. However, a participant observed that he felt the federal government's main pay system--the General Schedule--is already market based and performance oriented. Specifically, in setting the pay levels for federal employees, the participant stated that the Department of Labor conducts extensive market-based surveys for comparing the knowledge, skills, and responsibilities of federal positions with the private sector market. He also commented that the pay system is performance oriented in that agencies can reward employees' exceptional performance with quality step increases, bonuses, and nonmonetary incentives. He added that another performance-based aspect of the General Schedule system is within grade increases, which require agencies to certify that an employee is performing at an acceptable level. Federal agencies now have more flexibility in terms of the total compensation they can offer employees in addition to base pay. A participant pointed out that through the recently enacted Federal Workforce Flexibility Act, agencies have the authority to use recruitment, relocation, and retention incentives or bonuses in more strategic ways to help them improve their competitiveness in recruiting and maintaining a high-quality workforce. However, the participants discussed the impact of using bonuses or other monetary incentives on employees' retirement calculations. They observed that bonuses are not included in calculating retirement benefits and suggested that potential legislative changes could have cash bonuses calculated toward retirement and thrift savings benefits. Specifically, it was suggested that bonuses should be factored into an employee's "high-3" average basic pay when retirement benefits are calculated. A participant also observed that federal employees' decisions to remain in government or seek nonfederal employment could depend on the specific retirement system that covers them. Build in Safeguards to Enhance the Transparency and Ensure the Fairness of Pay Decisions: Agencies need to have modern, effective, credible, and as appropriate validated performance management systems in place with adequate safeguards, including reasonable transparency and appropriate accountability mechanisms, to ensure fairness and prevent politicization and abuse. Performance management systems with adequate safeguards are the precondition to linking pay, incentive, and reward systems with employee knowledge, skills, and contributions to organizational results. The presenters gave examples of safeguards in their organizations' market-based and more performance-oriented pay systems that were designed to help promote reasonable transparency as well as achieve consistency and equity across employee groups and teams. The presenters discussed how their organizations provided both general and individualized information on pay decisions to help promote reasonable transparency in their market-based and more performance- oriented pay systems. For example, the Director of Corporate Compensation at the Red Cross stressed that employees need to know the details of how the pay system is designed and implemented in order to understand how pay decisions are made. The Red Cross provides its employees general information on what the salary ranges are for each pay band, how their pay compares to the market, and how their performance ties to the pay decisions. According to OCC presenters, to help foster transparency on its geo pay system and help employees understand how the system works, OCC posted on its intranet site formulas for calculating the geo pay rate for each zone and the resulting rates, as well as the other information sources OCC uses to establish the rates. In addition to general information, IBM believes showing each employee how he or she fits into the organization's pay system is critical to the understanding of how the pay system works. IBM provides each employee with an annual total cash summary statement showing, among other things, where he or she falls in the pay range and relative to the market along with the performance rating, and pay increase, if applicable. IBM's Director of Global Services Compensation noted that there should be no mystery about how employees' pay compares to others in their pay range in any given market and whether they deserve a pay increase based on their contributions that year. To help achieve consistency and equity in pay decisions across employee groups and teams, organizations built in several accountability mechanisms, such as conducting predecisional internal checks to help ensure there is no discrimination in pay decisions. For example, IBM conducts a base pay equity analysis to review the pay of women or minority employees if their proposed pay is one standard deviation away from the mean of the majority of employees. The Director said IBM looks for an explanation for these pay differences, such as poor performance, a recent promotion into the pay band, or an extended leave of absence. In addition, the IBM Director stated that while there is a total commitment from all levels of management to ensure consistency in the compensation process, IBM built in second-level reviews of pay decisions before employees receive any pay increases. Specifically, the first-line managers propose pay increases for the employees they supervise. These managers then discuss their decisions with other first- line managers and managers at the next level--the up-line managers--to ensure the assessments and justifications are consistent across groups. Up-line managers can also shift pay allocations across groups if necessary in order to ensure employees who perform similarly are compensated the same regardless of their first-line managers. As a final check, the senior managers sign off on the pay decisions for each employee. The Comptroller General discussed GAO's recent use of standardized rating scores (SRS) for employees to ensure consistency in ratings and in applying performance standards within and across GAO's teams. Implemented for the first time for the fiscal year 2004 performance appraisal cycle, the SRS indicates the employee's position relative to the average rating of that employee's team. Employees in different teams with the same SRS have the same relative performance, thus achieving better comparability in ratings across teams. Employees' SRS and the midpoint for their pay range are key factors in calculating their performance-based compensation for that year. The Comptroller General noted that he plans to continue working with the employees to identify the best way to communicate the SRS information as part of GAO's ongoing commitment to employee feedback on the new system and transparency about pay decisions. The organizations also discussed grievance processes to address employees' complaints about pay or performance management decisions. Both IBM and Virginia have internal grievance processes in place for their employees if they want a review of their pay decision. For example, Virginia's Director of Human Resource Management stated that Virginia's process provides for grievances to be elevated up to the central office--the Department of Human Resource Management--if necessary. In addition, IBM's Director of Global Services Compensation noted that IBM has an open-door policy, and employees may appeal pay and performance management decisions through its internal grievance process up to the corporate office if they feel that these decisions were not fair. Devolve Decision Making on Pay to Appropriate Levels: In implementing market-based and more performance-oriented pay systems, organizations will need to determine what parts of their pay systems should be maintained centrally and what can be devolved to "lower" levels of the organization. For example, IBM devolves its pay decisions to first-line managers, and Virginia devolves these decisions to its agencies. Regardless of the context, the presenters noted that as decision making is devolved, organizations will need to build in overall core processes to help ensure reasonable consistency in how their systems are implemented. IBM designed its compensation program to be as simple and flexible as possible in order to keep the control at the first-line manager level. The Director of Global Services Compensation noted that IBM uses the phrase "lower the center of gravity" to mean that line managers need to have central roles in pay and related compensation decisions since they are the best sources of knowledge about their employees. Nevertheless, IBM maintains certain overall core processes. For example, the corporate office determines the funding for employee pay increases that is necessary to maintain competitiveness with the market and the managers within the business units are held accountable for planning how to allocate the money to the employees. To help distribute the money among the employees, IBM provides managers with an automated salary planning tool that identifies a variety of factors considered in determining pay increases for each employee. These factors include the employee's job family, performance rating, current pay, and the "market reference point" or midpoint in the pay range for the employee's pay band. Using the tool, the manager is responsible for allocating money for pay increases among the employees before the pay decisions are approved by higher levels of management and employees receive the increases. With its statewide compensation reform initiatives, Virginia shifted responsibility for administering pay from its central office, the Department of Human Resource Management, to the agencies and their managers. The Director of Human Resource Management noted that by increasing their accountability, it reduces the agencies' and managers' excuses, such as "HR won't let me" for not making needed revisions in their pay systems. The Director said there is a statewide salary plan that provides broad guidelines for all the agencies regarding the commonwealth's overall compensation philosophy, funding for pay increases, and the pay ranges for the employees' positions that reflect market conditions, but each agency is held accountable for developing its own salary administration plan. As part of this plan, the agency is to select from among designated "pay practices" that it considers useful to best meet its specific needs. These practices--such as promotions or in-band pay adjustments to recognize employees for taking on additional duties--are designed to provide agencies with approaches to reward and recognize high performance among employees while providing a higher degree of accountability in reaching pay decisions. The Department of Human Resource Management approves each agency's salary administration plan before it is implemented. Provide Training on Leadership, Management, and Interpersonal Skills to Facilitate Effective Communication: There was widespread agreement that clear, consistent, and frequent communication was critical to the successful implementation of market- based and more performance-oriented pay systems. A presenter discussed how the organization trained individuals to ensure they would be able to clearly and simply communicate information so that employees at all levels understood how these compensation reforms would be implemented. Using employee groups to develop the training without using technical compensation terms was especially valued. There was also acknowledgment among the presenters that there needs to be a renewed emphasis on leadership, management, and interpersonal skills, such as setting expectations, linking individual performance to organizational results, and effectively giving and receiving feedback, to make market- based and more performance-oriented pay succeed. Lastly, defining a new role for employees by holding them accountable for their own careers and for identifying the necessary training to develop their skills was also mentioned as beneficial to the individual as well as the organization. Virginia's Department of Human Resource Management developed a central "train the trainer" approach to provide comprehensive communication on the compensation reforms that agencies then customized and delivered to their employees. Trainers were nominated by the agencies' human resources directors based on their interpersonal skills, experiences, and knowledge of compensation, among other things. Further, the Director understood that employees need information on the compensation reforms in as simple and clear a format as possible with little room for misinterpretation. She observed that sometimes the misinterpretation of information is caused by the use of technical compensation terms or "HR" terminology to explain the initiative. As a result, Virginia has used its Employee Advisory Committee to help develop training and supporting materials on the compensation reform initiatives and communicate the information to the other employees. According to the Director, using the committee to clearly communicate the information was very effective because the straightforward discussion allowed employees to better understand how the reforms would affect them directly. The presenters acknowledged that there needs to be a renewed emphasis on leadership, management, and interpersonal skills to make market- based and more performance-oriented pay succeed. For example, the Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO) from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) discussed how managers need "the will" along with the tools to make distinctions in employees' performance based on their contributions to FDIC's goals and then give the appropriate pay increases. In his experience, the CHCO said that some managers have trouble making the distinctions because they have to face the people they are evaluating the next day, and they would prefer to give all employees the same pay increase rather than to have to make these distinctions. Providing training on how to make these distinctions helps the managers implement the pay system successfully. Similarly, IBM's Director of Global Services Compensation recognized the value in training managers on how to give ongoing feedback to employees on their performance and its affect on pay decisions. Such training is especially important to managers since IBM holds them accountable for assessing employee performance and making pay decisions. To help managers in giving feedback, IBM developed scenarios where managers could play roles to help them have these meaningful discussions about the employees' contributions to IBM's goals throughout the year. IBM also is committed to training employees on how the system works to help prepare them to receive performance feedback from their managers. Similarly, the Director of MSPB's Office of Policy and Evaluation emphasized that supervisors will need to develop leadership and management skills that will help engage employees in order for the organization to be successful in its implementation of its pay for performance efforts and help improve its overall performance. These skills include: * clearly articulating organizational goals and how the employee fits into the goals of the organization, * setting realistic performance expectations, * adapting to changing circumstances, * finding solutions to problems, and: * demonstrating honesty and integrity. Virginia is defining a new role for employees by holding them accountable for their own careers and for identifying the training they need to enhance their skills. For example, the Department of Human Resource Management developed career guides to inform employees on what they may personally need to do to develop, advance, or change their careers. Posted on the Virginia Jobs Web site, the guides provide important occupational information for employees interested in developing their careers and improving opportunities for advancement in any work environment. The Director noted that an added benefit is that these career guides help employees understand that they have knowledge, skills, and abilities that cut across different occupations and that are transferable across the commonwealth's government. For example, the career guide for accountants states that these positions are primarily assigned to the financial services career group, but accountants also have opportunities in other groups, such as program administration, procurement services, and policy analysis and planning. Build Consensus to Gain Ownership and Acceptance for Pay Reforms: To help improve internal and external acceptance for pay reforms, the presenters discussed how they involved stakeholders when designing or implementing their market-based and more performance-oriented pay systems to build a reasonable degree of consensus on the reforms. Involving employees and other stakeholders helps to improve overall confidence and belief in the fairness of the system, enhance their understanding of how the system works, and increase their understanding and ownership of organizational goals and objectives. The Comptroller General observed that inclusion of employees and their representatives needs to be meaningful, not just pro forma. Similarly, the President of NAPA remarked that it is important for the organization to integrate any pay reforms within a larger strategy to help the organization achieve its mission and program operations. Because employees are critical to an organization's success, the President of NAPA also noted that it is important for them to understand and accept the pay reforms. Without a sustained, disciplined, and focused commitment from top leaders, managers, and employees, a participant noted that it may be possible to do more harm than good when implementing these types of pay systems. Virginia involved stakeholders in designing and implementing its compensation reforms. For example, Virginia established the 12-member Commission on Reform of the Classified Compensation Plan that included representatives from Virginia's legislative and executive branches, such as state senators and delegates and cabinet heads, as well as human resource representatives from private sector organizations. To serve as internal consultants to the Commission throughout the process, Virginia established a Technical Advisory Committee comprising central agency representatives, chief human resource officers from agencies, and legislative fiscal analysts from the Senate Finance Committee and House Appropriations Committee. In addition, Virginia formed an Employee Advisory Committee comprising 20 nonsupervisory employees from diverse occupations, demographic groups, and geographic locations. The Director noted that the charge for the employees was to help the commonwealth as a whole improve its compensation program, not just for their select interest groups. Further, to implement the new statewide compensation program, Virginia's Department of Human Resource Management collaborated with 150 human resource staff members and 60 different agencies to form 10 implementation teams representing various priority areas, such as funding, compensation management, performance management, training, and communications. The Director noted that these implementation teams helped to ensure the details of the various compensation reforms were consistently communicated to all the employees across the commonwealth. Similarly, the FDIC CHCO found that it was better to have the union involved in the implementation of its pay reforms. The CHCO said when negotiating compensation for its bargaining unit employees with representatives of the National Treasury Employees Union, he views them as true partners instead of following an "us versus them" approach. FDIC is to negotiate a new pay for performance system with its union this summer and he noted that they both want to work together to reach an agreement in terms of compensation levels that will satisfy both parties. Monitor and Refine the Implementation of the Pay System: High-performing organizations understand they need to continuously review and revise their performance management systems to achieve results and accelerate change.[Footnote 9] The presenters acknowledged that when implementing their market-based and more performance-oriented pay systems, they identified problems and corrected them along the way. The presenters identified ways they monitor their systems, including listening to employees' and stakeholders' views--informally and formally--on the pay systems and using metrics to track the effectiveness of the pay systems over time. While the need for refining the system is inevitable, especially when new initiatives are introduced, they also observed that there is value in stabilizing the pay system for a period of time to let employees get accustomed to the new initiative and see how it works. The presenters discussed the importance of listening to employees' and stakeholders' views--informally and formally--to monitor the implementation of the pay system. To ensure the pay for performance system has integrity among the employees and stakeholders, FDIC has found that listening to stakeholders, such as the union, is essential in evaluating the effectiveness of the pay system. The FDIC CHCO noted that the organization needs to listen to the "level of noise" among the employees and the union to find out whether an initiative is working well. In addition to informally tracking employee views, IBM sends out a pulse survey with only a few questions on the compensation program to a sample of its 300,000 employees every quarter. IBM's Director of Global Services Compensation noted that he feels IBM is doing well in implementing the compensation program if over 70 percent of the employees' responses to these questions are "neutral" or "favorable." The organizations also identified metrics to track the effectiveness of their pay systems. For example, IBM tracks its attrition rates to determine why employees are leaving and compares them to its competitors' attrition rates. Specifically, during the late 1990s, the Director stated that IBM had attrition rates that were considerably lower than its competitors. In addition, IBM and Virginia consider the use of the employee appeal process as an indicator of the employees' acceptance of pay and performance management decisions. For example, IBM tracks the total number of grievances that are initiated by the employees. The Director indicated that typically employees' appeals are resolved at a second-level review. Virginia's Director of Human Resource Management tracks the number of employee grievances that are forwarded to the next level for resolution because she considers grievances that are resolved between the manager and the employee to be "successes" since both sides reached an acceptable outcome. She said her office works with managers to educate them on what these metrics mean and how they affect their agencies and employees. According to the presenters, organizations should be open to refining their systems to address unintended consequences that may arise when implementing their pay systems. For example, in order to spread the pay increases among as many employees as possible, FDIC found that managers tended not to award merit pay increases to top-performing employees when they were to be promoted in the career ladder. As a result, the CHCO said these high-performing employees were not getting the merit pay increases they deserved. The CHCO said FDIC recognized that this unintended consequence needed to be corrected in future iterations of the pay system and managers needed help in learning how to make the necessary distinctions in employees' contributions. Virginia made the appropriate refinements to its pay system based on employee feedback. For example, when consolidating Virginia's classification structure, the Director of Human Resource Management developed a crosswalk between the old and new classification structures to show employees how, for example, approximately 1,650 individual job classifications would be consolidated into 256 broader job roles. The Director noted that while most employees accepted the new structure, her office nevertheless made some revisions as a result of employee feedback so that employees could more easily see where they fit into these new job roles. According to the Director, it is especially important that employees perceive that specific actions have been taken in response to their feedback. Anticipating that there may be unidentified issues as the classification structure is implemented, the Director said her office plans to continue soliciting feedback at least annually to see if further refinements need to be made to the structure. While the need for refining a system is inevitable especially when new initiatives are introduced, the presenters noted there is value in stabilizing the pay system for a period of time to let employees get accustomed to the new initiative and see how it works. For example, the OCC presenters said OCC plans to reassess its geo pay rates every 3 years rather than annually in order to provide continuity in implementing the system. This continuity benefits employees because they know how much their geographic differential will be for a period of time and benefits OCC because it makes managing the pay system more stable. The FDIC CHCO said that FDIC has not had its pay systems in place without any revisions long enough to determine if employees have accepted the new systems. Nevertheless, the CHCO said it is his opinion that there is much more acceptance surrounding pay for performance than when FDIC first began implementing the systems in 1997. In closing, the President and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service asked participants to identify what they regarded to be the next steps for pay reform in the federal government. There was general consensus among the participants that a shift from administering the federal government's current pay system--the General Schedule--to managing a market-based and more performance-oriented pay system will be a fundamental change for agencies' human capital offices. Specifically, participants noted that human capital professionals will need to acquire a new set of skills for implementing these types of pay systems. In the changing human capital environment of increased flexibilities, human capital professionals will need to transition to a larger strategic role rather than one of compliance. This transition will require training to play an active role in helping to determine the overall strategic direction of an organization. Overall, there was general agreement that basic management capacity needs to be built at all levels of the organization, starting with senior leaders who are to direct the change management initiatives that need to accompany pay reform. Market-based and more performance- oriented pay are best understood as only one part--albeit a critical one--of larger efforts to improve the performance of an organization. As such, market-based and more performance-oriented pay cannot be simply overlaid on most organizations' existing performance management systems. Rather, as a precondition to effective pay reform, individual expectations must be clearly aligned with organizational results, communication on individual contributions to annual goals must be ongoing and two way, meaningful distinctions in employee performance must be made, and cultural changes must be undertaken. [End of section] Appendix II: Symposium Agenda: [See PDF for image] [End of figure] [End of section] Appendix III Symposium Participants: Hosts: David M. Walker: Comptroller General of the United States: U.S. Government Accountability Office: Dan G. Blair: Acting Director*: U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Neil A.G. McPhie: Chairman: U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board: C. Morgan Kinghorn: President: National Academy of Public Administration: Max Stier: President and CEO: Partnership for Public Service: Moderators: Eileen Larence: Director, Strategic Issues: U.S. Government Accountability Office: Marcia Marsh: Vice President for Agency Partnerships: Partnership for Public Service: John Palguta: Vice President for Policy and Research: Partnership for Public Service: Presenters: Arthur Amler: Director, Global Services Compensation: IBM Corporation: Rhonda Jones: Lead Expert, Compensation and Benefits: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency: U.S. Department of the Treasury: Ben Katcoff: Director, Compensation and Benefits: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency: U.S. Department of the Treasury: Philip A. Melita: Director, Corporate Compensation, Human Resources: American Red Cross: Steve Nelson: Director, Office of Policy and Evaluation: U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board: Hannah Sistare: Director, Human Resources Management Consortium: National Academy of Public Administration: Miguel A. Torrado: Chief Human Capital Officer: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: Sara Redding Wilson: Director, Department of Human Resource Management: Commonwealth of Virginia: Human Capital Stakeholders: David Amaral: Deputy Associate Director for Small Agencies: Human Capital Management: U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Carol A. Bonosaro: President: Senior Executives Association: Bradley Bunn: Deputy Program Executive Officer, National Security Personnel System: U.S. Department of Defense: Lois B. Cheney: Senior Advisor, Human Resources*: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: Claudia A. Cross: Chief Human Capital Officer/Director, Office of Human Resources Management: U.S. Department of Energy: Amy Denning: Compensation Program Manager: IBM Global Services: Brian DeWyngaert: Chief of Staff: The American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO: Joan Dodaro: Human Resources Consultant and Former Assistant Comptroller General for Operations: U.S. Government Accountability Office: Michael D. Dovilla: Executive Director, Chief Human Capital Officers Council: U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Debra Ellerbe: Human Resources Specialist: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: Cynthia Ferentinos: Senior Research Analyst, Office of Policy and Evaluation: U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board: Frank D. Ferris: National Executive Vice President: National Treasury Employees Union: Bethany Hardy: Press Secretary: Partnership for Public Service: Sallyanne Harper: Chief Administrative Officer/Chief Financial Officer: U.S. Government Accountability Office: Doris Hausser: Senior Policy Advisor to the Director and Chief Human Capital Officer: U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Jennifer Hemingway: Professional Staff Member: Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee: U.S. Senate: Allan Heuerman: Project Director, Academy Studies: National Academy of Public Administration: Jesse Hoskins: Chief Human Capital Officer: U.S. Government Accountability Office: Helen Hsing: Managing Director, Strategic Planning & External Liaison: U.S. Government Accountability Office: Deborah Jefferson: Director of Human Resources: U.S. Department of Commerce: Patrick Jennings: Senior Counsel: Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization: Government Reform Committee: U.S. House of Representatives: Craig Jerabek: Chief, Wage and Salary Division: Civilian Personnel Management Service: U.S. Department of Defense: Ernestine Jones: Human Resources Specialist: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: Richard Keevey: Director, Performance Consortium: National Academy of Public Administration: Susan Kladiva: Special Assistant to the Comptroller General: U.S. Government Accountability Office: Rosslyn Kleeman: Distinguished Executive in Residence: The George Washington University: Nanci Langley: Democratic Deputy Staff Director: Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia: Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee: U.S. Senate: Marc Porter Magee: Director of Research: Partnership for Public Service: Katie Malague: Program Manager, Agency Partnerships: Partnership for Public Service: Jenny Mallios: Chief of Executive Resources: U.S. Department of State: Sally Mavlian: Human Resources Specialist/Compensation*: U.S. Department of State: Jennifer D. Melvin: HR Specialist (Compensation/Classification), Human Resources Strategy & Solutions: Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Resources & Chief Human Capital Officer: U.S. Department of the Treasury: J. Christopher Mihm: Managing Director, Strategic Issues: U.S. Government Accountability Office: Keith Nelson: Associate Deputy Secretary for Management: U.S. Department of Labor: Terrance Norflis: Legislative Assistant, Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton: U.S. House of Representatives: Lawrence B. Novey: Counsel: Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee: U.S. Senate: Aaron Pendleton: Deputy Human Resources Director: National Labor Relations Board: Marta Brito Perez: Associate Director, Human Capital Leadership & Merit System Accountability: U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Patricia Prosperi: Director, Office of Human Resources Management: U.S. Department of Transportation: Theresa Prych: Professional Staff Member: Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia: Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee: U.S. Senate: Ron Sanders: Associate Director, Division of Strategic Human Resources Policy*: U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Jayne L. Seidman: Associate Executive Director, Office of Human Resources and Administrative Services: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: Tania A. Shand: Professional Staff Member: Government Reform Committee: U.S. House of Representatives: Myra Shiplett: Project Director, Academy Studies: National Academy of Public Administration: Janet Silva: Director, Human Resources Management: Office Federal Trade Commission: Aaron Smith: Government Affairs Assistant: Federal Managers Association: Ed Stephenson: Senior Project Advisor, Academy Studies: National Academy of Public Administration: Sharon Stewart: Director of Human Resources, National Security Personnel System: U.S. Department of Defense: Michael B. Styles: National President: Federal Managers Association: Vincent T. Taylor: Chief Human Capital Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration: U.S. Department of Transportation: Robert M. Tobias: Professor: American University: Didier Trinh: Executive Director: Federal Managers Association: James Tsugawa: Senior Research Analyst, Office of Policy and Evaluation: U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board: Dennis Turner: Chief, Classification and Pay Branch, Field Advisory Services: Civilian Personnel Management Service: U.S. Department of Defense: Kathleen Wheeler: Deputy Chief Human Capital Officer: U.S. Department of the Interior: Donald J. Winstead: Deputy Associate Director for Pay and Performance Policy: U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Erica Woods: Program Manager: Partnership for Public Service: *Title as of the date of the symposium, March 9, 2005. [End of section] Appendix IV: Organizations' Pay Systems: Background Information and Presentations: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: Mission of the organization: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is an independent agency that is to maintain the stability and public confidence in the nation's financial system by insuring deposits, examining and supervising financial institutions, and managing bank receiverships. Number of employees: Approximately 5,000 employees. Union participation: The National Treasury Employees Union for its bargaining unit employees. Key milestone dates: * 1933: Congress established FDIC and gave it the authority to set the compensation of its employees without regard to federal compensation laws; * 1989: Congress enacted the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, which gave financial regulatory agencies pay authorities similar to FDIC and required these agencies to maintain compensation comparability so they would not compete with each other for employees; * 1995: FDIC eliminated a pay system with increases in steps based on years of service; * 1997: FDIC instituted pay for performance; * 2003: FDIC began to implement three different pay systems for executive level employees, as well as bargaining unit and nonbargaining employees. Source for additional information: http://www.fdic.gov. Source: FDIC. [End of table] [See PDF for images] [End of slide presentation] Commonwealth of Virginia: Mission of the organization: The commonwealth's Department of Human Resource Management is to address the diverse human resources needs of its customers through guidance, consultation, and training throughout the commonwealth. Number of employees: Approximately 54,000 employees in various agencies across the commonwealth. Union participation: The commonwealth does not negotiate compensation with the unions. Key milestone dates: * 1998: The Commission on Reform of the Classified Compensation Plan was formed to recommend modifications to the commonwealth's classified compensation plan; * 2000: The Governor and Virginia General Assembly approved the Commission's recommendation to develop a new compensation system for employees; * 2000: The new compensation system took effect with new pay practices and goals of greater opportunities for career growth within state government, greater management flexibility and accountability, and new ways to recognize and reward exceptional employee performance and acquired skills. Sources for additional information; http://www.dhrm.va.gov; http://www.dhrm.virginia.gov/compreform/comp.htm. Source: Commonwealth of Virginia. [End of table] [See PDF for images] [End of slide presentation] IBM Corporation: Mission of the organization: IBM strives to lead in the invention, development, and manufacture of the industry's most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software, storage systems, and microelectronics. IBM translates these advanced technologies into value for its customers through its professional solutions, services, and consulting businesses worldwide. Number of employees: Approximately 300,000 employees in more than 160 countries. Union participation: In the United States, unions do not represent IBM employees, but in other countries, some IBM employees belong to unions and/or work councils. Often, these arrangements are either encouraged or mandated by law. Key milestone dates: * 1991: IBM introduced the employee bonus program where payments are based upon straight calculation with no manager discretion; * 1996: IBM made multiple changes: Implemented broad bands; Started an annual common review date for salary increase decisions (instead of anniversary reviews); Introduced a compensation planning tool in the United States and Canada; * 2005: IBM changed the employee bonus program to give managers more discretion for bonus payments. Source for additional information: http://www.ibm.com. Source: IBM Corporation. [End of table] [See PDF for images] [End of slide presentation] Office of the Comptroller of the Currency: Mission of the organization: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. OCC is to charter national banks; oversee a nationwide system of banking institutions; and assure that national banks are safe and sound, competitive and profitable, and capable of serving in the best possible manner the banking needs of their customers. Number of employees: Approximately 2,800 employees located in offices throughout the country. Union participation: The National Treasury Employees Union. Key milestone dates: * 1989: Congress enacted the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA), which gave financial regulatory agencies, including OCC, similar pay authorities and required these agencies to maintain compensation comparability; * 1999: OCC conducted a comprehensive survey on the pay systems of the FIRREA agencies, other title 5-exempt organizations, and the Federal Reserve Banks, which served as the basis for a major review of its pay programs; * 2001: OCC implemented a new, broad-banded pay plan designed to encourage employees to achieve and to develop skills that support the mission of OCC; * 2002: OCC implemented a new performance management system; * 2004: OCC introduced changes to its "geo pay" system using cost of labor data to help ensure that pay is locally competitive and comparable to the FIRREA community. Source for additional information: http://www.occ.treas.gov. Source: OCC. [End of table] [See PDF for images] [End of slide presentation] American Red Cross: Mission of the organization: As a humanitarian organization led by volunteers and guided by its congressional charter and the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross Movement, the American Red Cross is to provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies. Number of employees: Approximately 35,300 employees overall: * About 3,300 employees in the National Headquarters (primarily in Washington, D.C.) who are part of the broad-banded, pay for performance system; * About 18,000 employees in Biomedical Services across the country who are under a pay for performance system with graded salary structures; * About 14,000 employees in 864 chapters across the country who are under a pay for performance system with graded salary structures. Union participation: None at the National Headquarters. Key milestone dates: * 2002: The American Red Cross instituted broad salary bands for the National Headquarters; * 2003: The American Red Cross began using formal job family and survey job descriptors in lieu of job descriptions and instituted a fully automated, market-based job evaluation system; * 2005: The American Red Cross began using a fully automated salary planning or compensation management system. Source for additional information: http://www.redcross.org. Source: American Red Cross. [End of table] [See PDF for images] [End of slide presentation] [End of section] Appendix V: Presentation by the Director of the Human Resources Management Consortium of the National Academy of Public Administration: [See PDF for images] [End of slide presentation] [End of section] Appendix VI: Presentation by the Director of the Office of Policy and Evaluation of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board: [See PDF for images] [End of slide presentation] [End of section] (450423): FOOTNOTES [1] GAO, 21st Century Challenges: Reexamining the Base of the Federal Government, GAO-05-325SP (Washington, D.C.: February 2005). [2] GAO, Human Capital: Implementing Pay for Performance at Selected Personnel Demonstration Projects, GAO-04-83 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 23, 2004). [3] GAO, Human Capital: Selected Agencies' Statutory Authorities Could Offer Options in Developing a Framework for Governmentwide Reform, GAO- 05-398R (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 21, 2005). [4] For more information on these organizations' missions and key milestones for implementing their pay systems, see app. IV. [5] For more information, see GAO and the National Commission on the Public Service Implementation Initiative, Highlights of a Forum: Human Capital: Principles, Criteria, and Processes for Governmentwide Federal Human Capital Reform, GAO-05-69SP (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 1, 2004). [6] FIRREA gives specific federal financial regulatory agencies the authority to establish their own compensation and benefits programs without regard to the provisions of title 5 of the United States Code. [7] By law, a SES member's total compensation may not exceed the total annual compensation payable to the Vice President for agencies that have their performance management systems certified by OPM with the Office of Management and Budget's concurrence. For more information on senior executive pay and performance management, see GAO, Human Capital: Senior Executive Performance Management Can Be Significantly Strengthened to Achieve Results, GAO-04-614 (Washington, D.C.: May 26, 2004). [8] The National Commission on the Public Service, Urgent Business for America: Revitalizing the Federal Government for the 21st Century (January 2003). [9] GAO, Results-Oriented Cultures: Creating a Clear Linkage between Individual Performance and Organizational Success, GAO-03-488 (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 14, 2003). GAO's Mission: The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, exists to support Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and accountability of the federal government for the American people. 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