The New Environment for Compensation and Performance Evaluation in the Public Sector

Abstract

“The question comes to mind as to whether or not many civil service agencies have been facing the facts of life. The place of the agency in the administrative structure of government tends to insulate it against many types of problems, but any deficiencies in pay policy may not be so explained. The current difficulties resulting from such deficiencies may be attributed in part to a situation which the agency itself probably helped create—the mores of public personnel administration. One of these mores is that various classes of employees should work for less money in the public service than they might be able to command elsewhere…

The actual amount of compensation paid is generally a major determinent of whether or not a governmental unit attracts high-grade applicants and retains them in service after employment. Therefore, it is time that greater attention be given to rates of pay prevailing in the sources of recruitment for the public service. It is time that more consideration be given to the salaries paid by competitors for the services of trained employees. It is time that programs be inaugurated which translate such facts into action, that removes inequities from public pay schedules”