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AMC employees gain better understanding, appreciation for NSPS

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Leslie Brown
  • Air Mobility Command Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AMCNS) --  As the Air Force undergoes transformation, the Department of Defense’s General Schedule personnel ranking and pay system is transforming as well.

The decades-old GS system will be replaced by the new National Security Personnel System. The current 15-grade GS pay system will be converted to broad salary ranges or pay bands, and pay raises will be more closely linked to job performance.

The program, which has been in development since 2003, is meant to transform the way the DoD does business and to better help it meet the challenges of the 21st century.

After attending a train-the-trainer session and learning the specifics of the performance management aspect of NSPS, David Merrill, chief of Air Mobility Command’s Studies and Analysis Division, was pleased with the new personnel system.

“I went into the training a bit skeptical,” Mr. Merrill said. “But I left there very encouraged.”

The new system revamps pay and performance rules as well as tailors criteria to fit specific jobs.

“The new system will be unique to every employee, location and organization,” Mr. Merrill said. He feels the new system will allow for greater flexibility and quicker responses to emerging national security events.

“Under NSPS, supervisors will be able to plan, monitor, develop, rate and reward employees,” Mr. Merrill said. “New job descriptions will be linked directly to organizational goals.”

NSPS allows flexibility to assign new or different work to employees if the need arises. The flexibility promotes broader skill development and advancement opportunities within and across pay bands for employees.

The pay-for-performance system replaces old civil service rules that rewarded employees for length of service.

“NSPS encourages a high-performance culture,” Mr. Merrill said. “No more pay for just tenure.”

With NSPS, most employees will be rated on seven standard performance factors to include technical proficiency, critical thinking, cooperation/teamwork, communication, resource management, achieving results, and customer focus. Supervisors and managers will be rated on these as well as their leadership and supervisory performance.

Under NSPS, employees will clearly know what is expected of them, Mr. Merrill said.

“The supervisor or manager will have to sit down with the employee and talk about objectives and goals for the upcoming year,” Mr. Merrill said. “The employee and supervisor also have to document at least one interim performance feedback session each rating period.”

The only down-side to the new system that Mr. Merrill sees is people’s willingness to embrace change.

“This is big. We are trying to change a culture,” he said.