Why federal experts command - and deserve - high salaries

Fedsmith ^ | Dec. 31, 2012 | Howard Risher

[Poundstone]

The list of the 1,000 highest-paid federal employees released last month by Wikiorgcharts.com must have raised eyebrows. In a country where the average full-time employee earns less than $40,000, salaries ranging from $216,000 to $350,000 appear very high. However, the 1,000 feds profiled earn less than the $380,000 that would place them in the top 1 percent of the nation's income earners. And within the federal workforce of roughly 2.1 million, the individuals on the list account for an extremely small percentage.

Perhaps more important, the list is a reminder that agencies need to compete in a world where top talent is paid well. Government employs world-class specialists in many areas. With few exceptions, the individuals on the list could quickly find jobs paying as much or more than their federal salaries.

By Wall Street standards, the federal salaries are "walking-around money." I recall when I managed a compensation consulting practice in Manhattan 30 years ago, one firm paid many employees a nominal salary of $99,000 that was intended to cover their living expenses until their far larger bonuses were paid at year end. Wall Street pay levels may be down, but federal salaries are far below the levels for senior specialists in the financial community.

[napscoordinator]

1,000 Federal workers make less than 340,000. Well 435 of those people are part of Congress. Then you add the President and Vice President and you are at 437. You add the President’s Secretaries and that is another 30 people for a total of 467. It leaves about 33 others who make that much. I don’t think this is overly bad.

[smalltownslick]

I was wondering about that, too. Just how many of these “experts” are truly needed by the government?

[SoCal Pubbie]

I guess you missed the part where it is NOT the same in the private sector.

[SampleMan]

Yes, Days Off.

Federal holidays are worked by most people, while they are paid days off for federal workers. Most people consider a paid holiday to be a benefit.

If in doubt, ask someone if they would rather earn $150,000 a year and work 5 days a week, or earn $140,000 a year and work 4 days a week.

I’m curious as to which federal position outside of the military requires working 40 days in a row. Please enlighted me.

[muawiyah]

Meaningful jobs of value ~ critical positions.

I've done that myself MANY TIMES.

There are two kinds of federal holidays. Those widely observed and those not widely observed.

Just about everybody gets those widely observed ~ but whether or not you get any of them it depends on your state and/or local laws.

Federal employees presumably get the ones designated for them as part of their employment but that doesn't mean they get them. For example, even though I worked for USPS whose workforce was behind the shift of a February holiday to January (MLK day) I never got off on that day ~ never.

Strange eh!

You imagine a lot of things about federal employment that don't happen.

[muawiyah]

Some of you people will believe anything.

[muawiyah]

Did you notice that Linda Tripp TURNED IN THE PRESIDENT ~ that was T H E P R E S I D E N T.

Your typical private sector worker would think squealing on the boss was inherently stupid.

You pay for honesty, or you don't get it.

[SampleMan]

Federal employees presumably get the ones designated for them as part of their employment but that doesn't mean they get them. For example, even though I worked for USPS whose workforce was behind the shift of a February holiday to January (MLK day) I never got off on that day ~ never.

Of course you got paid for it though, didn't you? And you were paid extra or comped with a different day off.

I will work MLK as a standard work day. No time off, no comp, no premium time.

[muawiyah]

NIH runs the CDC, or Centers for Disease Control.

Let's see ~ one day they discovered Swine Flu vaccine wouldn't work ~ yet, the side effects would be the same as with any other flu vaccine.

What that means is if you give out 100,000 units of a vaccine a certain number of people would be killed or injured.

So, if Swine Flu vaccine was no good and would harm people if administered, they needed to reach every physician and registered nurse in America by MONDAY MORNING.

There's a registry of such folks, but the CDC doesn't have all the phone numbers that will get to them, but they do have all their addresses ~ home, work, etc. and can also send them a card notifying them of an emergency situation.

So, who did they call at the Postal Service to MAKE SURE they could send out those cards and other notices?

Why it was ME, and I worked late into the evening making sure the folks in the field would accept that mail Saturday Morning and get it out for processing ~ even though all of our major acceptance units were normally closed on Saturday and Sunday.

I succeeded. Nobody died. I'd guess the salary of the people I worked with at CDC and NIH was triple my own, and the salary of the postal guys in the field was just under half mine.

Maybe your own mother's life was saved by my efforts.

So go get screwed, OK?

[muawiyah]

There was no comp time. There was no alternative day off. The work didn't let up just because somebody had a holiday, but this was for extra work.

We had a couple of folks around with a UNION attitude, but they were the exception. You want a professional job with exacting requirements you do that job. If you want to tamp asphalt into a chuckhole then you go get that other job.

[RFEngineer]

“I earned my way here.”

How can you be so clueless about the private sector - especially when it comes to benefits?

You need to stay where you are for as long as you can. You won’t like life as one of the people who pays for everything.

[RFEngineer]

“Some of you people will believe anything.”

It’s your favorite subject, my friend.

[RFEngineer]

“You pay for honesty, or you don’t get it. “

Only in government can you try to buy that which is virtue.

You are either honest, or you aren’t.

Those that don’t know the difference find welcoming arms in the federal employment system.

[SampleMan]

USPS benefits as stated by the USPS:
10 holidays + 26 days paid vacation + 13 sick days = 49 paid days off per year. Yea sounds brutal.

http://www.postalmag.com/benefits.htm

Holiday Leave

Observed Holidays
The following 10 days are observed as holidays by the U.S. Postal Service.
1. New Year’s Day - January 1
2. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday - 3rd Monday in January
3. Washington’s Birthday - 3rd Monday in February
4. Memorial Day - Last Monday in May
5. Independence Day - July 4
6. Labor Day - 1st Monday in September
7. Columbus Day - 2nd Monday in October
8. Veterans’ Day - November 11
9. Thanksgiving Day - 4th Thursday in November
10. Christmas Day - December 25

Annual Leave Accrual - Full Time Employees

Less than 3 years - 104 hours (13 days)
3-15 years - 160 hours (20 days)
15 years or more - 208 hours (26 days)
Annual Leave Accrual - Part Time Employees

Less than 3 years
104 hours, or 13 days per 26-period leave year or 4 hours for each bi-weekly pay period.
1 hour for each unit of 20 hours pay in status.

3-15 years
160 hours, or 20 days per 26-period leave year or 6 hours for each full bi-weekly pay period, plus 4 hours in last pay period in leave year.
1 hour for each unit of 13 hours in pay status.

15 years or more
208 hours, or 26 days per 26-period leave year or 8 hours for each full biweekly pay period.
1 hour for each unit of 10 hours in pay status.
Maximum Leave Carryover Amounts

Bargaining Unit Employees
440 hours (55 days)

Postal Career Executive Service (PCES) Employees
Greater of 560 hours or 16 days (128 hours)

EAS Employees
560 hours (70 days)

Sick Leave

Sick Leave is provided to employees for paid time off from regularly scheduled work hours due to illness, injury, pregnancy, and medical examinations and treatment (including dental and optical). Sick leave is accrued and credited at the end of each bi-weekly pay period in which it is earned.
Sick Leave Accrual

Full-Time Employees
4 hours for each full biweekly pay period: 104 hours (13 days per year)

Part-Time Employees
1 hour for each unit of 20 hours in pay status up to 104 hours (13 days year)

[muawiyah]

You do realize, of course, that the employees work on a 6 day business cycle. You don't get MTWTF like private sector folks ~ most of them get a M WTFS or MT TFS or a MTW FS, or a MTWT S ~ so work your holidays into that ~ plus half the place WORKS AT NIGHT.

Folks save up sick leave for the time that will be spent off with heart attacks and strokes after dealing with carping, whining customers who think they own the place.

You start with 13 days annual. The 26 days comes after many years of putting up with customer BS.

No doubt you understand that your typical Postal worker is simply not allowed to take any leave for any purpose for the months of October, November, December, January ~ like the private sector people.

[muawiyah]

Amazingly you can drop your wallet in a postal facility workroom area and it will be there when you come back ~ untouched. Or, a committee will have secured it, done an accounting, and locked it in a safe until you come for it.

In the private sector, and I was there brother, I was there, in jobs so nasty they make "Dirty Jobs" look like "Inspector of the Clean Room", people regularly steal your lunch, and even your dirty blue jeans soaked in oil and caked with steel shavings.

You still pay for honesty ~ show up with your felony convictions for a postal interview, and you'll never hear back from them.

[Wizdum]

Yep, working two jobs plus fulltime classes to EARN the degree I needed, coupled with my experience got me hired for what I do now. Plus having EVERY aspect of your life under a microscope every five years to keep a security clearance, it is a job well worth it.

THAT'S the American way. THAT'S the CONSERVATIVE way.

Funny, it doesn't appeal to you that some one would do that. Sure you're not a closet lib? Not happy you didn't take the chance? Not smart enough to work at the education? Or is there something in your background that would preclude you working in the Federal system?

I didn't have ANY benefits until I began working in the private sector for 30 years. Now, all my costs have nearly tripled in the new Federal system. So, don't bark unless you know what you are talking about.

[SampleMan]

Sounds like a job. Have you heard of nurses, doctors, truckers, retailers, HVAC repairmen and plumbers? The list goes on and on.

And 13 days off (in addition to the 13 sick days and the long list of paid holidays) is unheard of for a new hire in the private sector.

I’m doing very well, and I get 15 days personal time. If I get sick, its personal time. New hires get 10, not the 23 the USPS gets.

Yep, Federal employees get boatloads of paid time off and if you don’t understand that, then you just haven’t seen enough of the private sector.

[SampleMan]

You start with 13 days annual. The 26 days comes after many years of putting up with customer BS

Poor thing. You had to put up with the citizenry? How did you mangage?

Per the USPS data, a new hire gets 13 vacation days + 13 sick days. That is over a month of work days. Kinda puts the lie to the "many years to build up" statement.

[RFEngineer]

“You still pay for honesty ~ show up with your felony convictions for a postal interview, and you’ll never hear back from them.”

So Postal Service Honesty = “No felony convictions”?

You do not pay for honesty in the federal workforce. You don’t pay for competency either.

To the extent that you get those in a federal employee, it’s got nothing to do with what you pay them.