CHAPTER 7

PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT REVIEW OF JOB EVALUATION

With the U. S. Civil Service Commission serving as the designated agent for the Executive Branch under the proposed legislation, the Commission's role becomes more clearly one of staff. One of the strongest elements of a staff organization can be that of responsibility for program evaluation. It is the Task Force view that the Commission should give greater emphasis to program evaluation so that it is in a position to report to the President and the Congress on the effectiveness of personnel management in the area of job evaluation, as administered by the agencies.

U. S. Civil Service Commission Responsibilities

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To establish Government-wide regulations, procedures, and acceptable standards
for personnel administration in the job evaluation function.

To review and evaluate the application of the Coordinated Job Evaluation Plan
for compliance and consistency among agencies.

To determine and render final decisions on questions of coverage or appeals.

This means that the Commission should review and evaluate the agency's personnel management program on a regularly scheduled basis, including a review of its post-audit procedures on job evaluations. The Commission should confine its review to the total program administered at the agency headquarters level. In reviewing the agency's system for post audit of job evaluations, the Commission should be concerned with:

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The extent and coverage of the post-audit program.

Methods employed to take timely corrective action when post audit reveals

misallocations.

Methods employed to assure agency-wide consistency of job evaluation.

Methods employed to process appeals of job evaluations. Such appeals would be
initiated by an employee, or by a manager whose decisions were questioned on
post audit.

Agency Responsibilities

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To establish systems for program review that will encompass the four points
enumerated above. This means that, at the agency headquarters level, there
should be a group having responsibility for total personnel program evaluation
throughout the agency, including review of job evaluation. This group's reports
should be made to the highest administrative level within the agency.
This group
also should review program evaluations made at subordinate organizational echelons
and should assist the local personnel staff in correcting deficiencies revealed
by the program review. The team should consist of experienced personnel
specialists fully qualified to evaluate and make recommendations on the technical
and administrative aspects of personnel management.

To establish similar program evaluation teams at field locations when agencies
are large and operate on a decentralized basis. These teams should report to
the Director of Personnel at the headquarters level. A post-audit or evaluation
team which reports outside the framework of the local personnel organization is

is submitted. Evaluation deficiencies at subordinate organizational levels, including misallocation actions, should be resolved through advice and consultation with the local personnel staffs. The evaluation teams should assist in establishing the schedule for correction of program deficiencies or misallocations and should report such actions through their reporting level to the agency headquarters evaluation group.

Appeals of job evaluation, either by an individual or by a manager, should be heard first at the lowest organizational levels where evaluation teams are assigned and, if not satisfactorily resolved, be referred directly to the agency headquarters appeals organization. This procedure places responsibility for program administration at the lowest practicable level within an agency. The ultimate accountability for personnel management program effectiveness and evaluation rests with the agency head and normally responsibility for implementation should be delegated to his chief administrative officer or his personnel director. This approach will assure the most effective application of the job evaluation systems being proposed by the Task Force.

Some Federal agencies now conduct highly formalized personnel management evaluation programs. For example, full-time personnel program evaluation teams exist in various locations in certain agencies. These units conduct comprehensive reviews of installation personnel programs within their geographical boundaries. Programs of this type meet the objectives described above and should be continued.

A number of Federal agencies are too small to justify a formal personnel management evaluation program. In this situation, the U. S. Civil Service Commission should provide manpower on a reimbursable basis to carry out the agency's post-audit responsibilities. This activity should be apart from the Commission's normal personnel program evaluation reviews.

CHAPTER 8

JOB EVALUATION APPEALS