Paying, Promoting, and Retaining High-Quality Civil Service Workers in the Department of Defense

摘要

Despite their having to use a common pay table, civil service personnel managers in the Department of Defense (DoD) have generally been able to use the compensation and personnel systems in ways that by and large have helped attract, retain, and motivate high-quality civilian workers. However, DoD personnel managers might need to adjust the department's compensation system if they want to continue to promote and retain highly educated civilian personnel those with postgraduate degrees in the future. So concludes a recent RAND study - The Pay. Promotion, and Retention of High-Quality Civil Service Workers in the Department of Defense by Beth J. Asch. Performed under the auspices of RAND's National Defense Research Institute, the study investigated the relationship between the federal government's pay, compensation, and promotion practices and its ability to manage civilian white-collar employees in the DoD. The study found that, despite having to use a one-size-fits-all pay table, managers were able to tailor the compensation and promotion system to obtain desired personnel outcomes and that they likely will need to continue such tailoring in the future.