By Alyssa Rosenberg
The Senior Executives Association will push the new Congress to reform the civil service compensation system and the new president to fill more high-ranking positions with career civil servants instead of political appointees, SEA president Carol Bonosaro and general counsel William Bransford said at the organization's conference on Tuesday.
"The problem in our view is not only the loss of a lot of talent, experience and accomplishment from the government, but are the most talented GS-15s going to aspire to prepare themselves for and apply to the SES?" Bonosaro asked, citing pay caps as a major barrier to recruiting. "GS-14s and 15s are saying, 'Yes, the honor is nice, the importance of the job is nice, but I can add.' "
A 2006 SEA study showed that 47 percent of senior executives thought the new pay system would discourage applications for SES positions. A subsequent survey by the Office of Personnel Management found that 60 percent of senior executives were unfamiliar with their agency's executive compensation plan and 65 percent had not seen a summary of executive performance evaluations and performance awards. Bonosaro said those numbers were signs that OPM had not gone far enough to make executive compensation seem fair and transparent.
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