OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS BANDING EXPERIMENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP92-00420R000100030029-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 15, 2012
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: May 10, 1984
• Content Type: MF

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/15: CIA-RDP92-00420R000100030029-9
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET
SUBJECT:
(Optional)
Office of Communications
Banding Experiment
FROM:
EXTENSION
NO.
C/PMCDVCP
DATE
1 0 MAY 1984
TO: (Officer designation, room number, and
building)
DATE
OFFICER'S
INITIALS
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
RECEIVE ?
FORWA DED
.
DD/PA&E
A.
As you
has suggested
bands we
modified.
concur with
suggested,
alternative
with all
seeking,
integrity
Our proposal
background
with Bill.
are aware, Bill Donnelly
that the grade
proposed for OC be
Although we do not
the bands he has
we have developed an
which provides him
the flexibility he is
and which maintains the
of the experiment.
is attached as
for your discussion
2.
.
EO-E/PERS
?
DD/PERS
.
EVPERS
195-
8.
14
.
Ct 9 tivc \
14 MAY 1984
10.
CIPMCIs
11.
bet PMCD
6J141 gzi-
12.
CI AA
..5X 616
13.
CACACII3
01
14.
15.
FORM 610 USE PREVIOUS
1-79 EDITIONS
GPO : 1983 0 - 411-632
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/15: CIA-RDP92-00420R000100030029-9
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/15: CIA-RDP92-00420R000100030029-9 -- .
irINISTRATIVE- USE
,
,
10 MAY 1984
STAT
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Personnel
VIA:
FROM:
Deputy Director for Policy Analysis
and Evaluation, OP
Chief, Position Management and
Compensation Division, OP
SUBJECT: Office of Communications Banding Experiment
1. I have been told that the Director of Communications will see you
tomorrow to deliver his formal appeal of PMCD's grade call on the
Telecommunications Officer benchmark. Should he raise the banding issue,
the following will be useful to you.
2. As you are aware, Bill Donnelly has proposed an alternative to
our banding proposal which involves only two bands above the trainee
level. One is a GS-9 to GS-12 band for Full Performance Level (FPL)
communicators, with a salary range of $21,066 to $39,711. The second is
a managerial level of GS-13 through GS-15, with a salary range of $36,327
to $65,642.
3. The basis for Me. Donnelly's proposal, as we understand it, is to
provide him with greater management flexibility. However, this proposal
actually limits long-term administrative flexibility and establishes a
framework which will likely doom any further Agency experimentation with
banding programs. Specifically, the bands which have been proposed offer
the following long-term disadvantages.
a. Growth potential is offered to communicators at the low end of
both bands at the expense of those who would have been in the
GS-12/13 and GS-14/15 bands. This occurs because movement within
each band is keyed to the midpoint of each band. So while the
midpoint of the FPL band is moved from $27,000 for the GS-9/11 band
to $30,400 for the GS-9/12 band, the midpoint for the GS-12/13 band
(first level supervisor) is moved from $39,400 back to $30,400.
Similarly, the midpoint of a GS-13/15 band is moved up for the GS-13
from $39,400 to $51,000. But the midpoint for those who would have
been in the GS-14/15 band is moved back from $54,300 to $51,000.
b. Establishment of a GS-9/12 band and a GS-13/15 band will be
perceived by other organizations in the Agency as providing OC with a
license to operate with no grade controls whatever.
ADMINISTRATIVE USE ONLY
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40DMINISTRATIVE - INTERNAL USE Otili
SUBJECT: Office of Communications Banding Experiment
c. Because a structure such as that proposed by OC essentially
eliminates all position classification controls, it is unlikely that
OMB or our Congressional committees will accept such a structure.
Furthermore, an attempt to sell this structure to them stands to
imperil further Agency initiatives in the pay area.
d. Even if Mt. Donnelly's proposal is ultimately approved, over the
long term this pay structure will undermine morale in OC. .Initially,
the two-band proposal will seem attractive to the mass of the
communicators because it will appear that everyone can aspire to new
heights never before possible. However, after the system has been in
place for three to five years, significant compression will begin to
occur between supervisory/Managerial salaries and working-level
salaries. This is an unacceptable situation in any organization.
e. In addition to probable adverse impact within the Office of
Communications, adoption of a poorly structured pay system will
ultimately impact adversely on the Agency. The purpose of this
experiment is to evaluate the utility of grade banding for
application elsewhere in the Agency. The bands proposed by
Mt. Donnelly will not provide meaningful data for application to
other areas of the Agency.
4. If Mr. Donnelly's intent is to develop the flexibility to reward
strong performers without forcing them into management, there is an
alternative which maintains the integrity of the pay and classification
systems and which provides a dual track upward movement possibility.
This option involves establishment of an intermediate band between the
FPL GS-9/11 band and the supervisory GS-12/13 band. The salary range
would be GS-11/1 through GS-12/10. Thus the bands would appear as
follows:
Band I
Band II
Band IIIA
Band IIIB
Band IV
(Trainee)
(FPL)
(Senior)
(1st Level Supervisory/
Staff Officer)
(Senior Mgmt/Staff)
GS-5/1 through GS-8/10
GS-9/1 through GS-11/10
GS-11/1 through GS-12/10
GS-12/1 through GS-13/10
GS-14/1 through GS-15/10
5. Establishment of the IIIA band maintains all pay ranges at
approximately 50%, the range typically used in the private sector.
Furthermore, this alternative offers a pay structure to allow movement of
key people to the GS-11/12 range without requiring supervisory respon-
sibility, subject to appropriate position classification limitations set
by Agency management. The IIIA band also maintains a clear position
differentiation between distinctly identifiable position levels within X.
2
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/15: CIA-RDP92-00420R000100030029-9
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lirMINISTRATIVE - INTERNAL USE ql,
_ . t
STAT
SUBJECT: Office of Communications Banding Experiment
6. We have informally suggested the alternative described above to
Mt. Donnelly. At this point, however, he seems intent on pursuing his
own preference. As a result we are at an impasse which must be resolved.
Further delays will jeopardize our plan to complete a formal proposal for
DCI consideration by early July and to implement the experiment on
1 October 1984. While I hope that Mr. Donnelly will withdraw his
objections to the proposed banding structure, we will have to consider
relocating the experiment if he does not. However reluctant we might be
to elect that alternative, it may have to be applied for us to move ahead
on this project.
3
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/15: CIA-RDP92-00420R000100030029-9