Modernizing the Federal Government: Paying for Performance

In 2003, the Volcker Commission recommended that explicit pay-for-performance (PFP) systems be adopted more broadly throughout the federal government. In this occasional paper, the authors compare several proposals aimed at enhancing the role of such PFP schemes for federal civil servants, and examine the pros and cons of PFP schemes compared with seniority-based salary systems, as well as the proposals to change the General Schedule system.This occasional paper examines the pros and cons of explicit pay-for-performance schemes for federal civil servants compared with seniority-based salary systems, as well as the proposals to change the General Schedule system.