Compensation Resources
Pay Resources
Rewarding Performance and
Improving Productivity
Workshop explores the Pay for Performance
philosophy
(See the links below for downloadable workshop
materials)
Overview
The human resources buzz word Pay for Performance
(PFP) has trickled down to the public sector
during the past six to eight years. In response
to this continuing trend, on May 14, 2008, Civil
Service hosted “Rewarding Performance and
Improving Productivity,” a workshop designed to
introduce and discuss available tools for
facilitating PFP discussions and implementations
at the agency level.
PFP is simply a concept whereby entities align
employee performance goals with strategically
defined company or agency goals and objectives.
Then, employees are rewarded for meeting or
exceeding these standards. The PFP philosophy came
to the forefront in state government when the Pew
Center on the States’ Government Performance
Project (GPP) launched its fourth 50-state report
card in March 2008. The GPP is a highly esteemed
endeavor in the public management world, charged
with evaluating how well the 50 states manage four
key areas—money, people, information, and
infrastructure. The project grades all four
elements, ranging from “A” to “D.” This year
Louisiana received a “B” in the “people” (human
resources) category—one of the top twelve grades
in the nation.
Lead research partner for the GPP’s “people”
component, Dr. Sally Selden, visited Louisiana in
conjunction with the report’s launch. During
meetings with agency Appointing Authorities and HR
staff, Dr. Selden noted that each of the “people”
category “A” states—Washington, Virginia, South
Carolina, and Georgia—placed a strong emphasis on
the pay for performance philosophy. She also noted
that Louisiana had some wonderful infrastructures
in place to accommodate pay for performance, and
that the next step is to roll out a more intense
application of the PFP philosophy at the agency
level.
Workshop Reference Material:
General Resources:
The Rewarding Performance and Improving
Productivity workshop explored the PFP
philosophy through seven sessions:
Session 1,
Performance Management, stressed the importance of
sound performance management systems in
implementing pay for performance elements, and
introduced a new online, fillable form, conducive
to the PFP philosophy, and with the ability to
calculate PPR scores.
Sessions 2 and 3, The PFP Trend and PFP in the
Public Sector, touched on considerations for
planning and applying PFP elements, and provided a
sampling of PFP activity in other states and
public entities.
Session 2: The PFP Trend
Session 3: PFP in the Public Sector
Sessions 4-6 — PFP for Classified Employees,
Innovation and Creativity, and Exceptional
Performance & Gainsharing—reviewed tools currently
available for integrating PFP elements.
Session 4: Rewarding Classified Employees
Session 5: Innovation and Creativity
Agency Policy Examples
Session 6: Exceptional Performance and
Gainsharing
Session 7,
Roundtable Discussions, provided participants the
opportunity to voice agency opinions, and concerns
regarding the topics of variable merits and
focused merits.
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