USA a fiscal mess? Thank gov't workers & their unions

How does that make the remaining government employees higher qualified than the employees working in an equivalent position outside of government?

It figures that the two people on the board making this claim of "higher qualified" personnel working for the government have both worked for the government.

 

Don't you want to attract the best and brightest into public service to have a more efficient government?

 

How exactly does paying above market wages for government employees equal efficiency?

A perfect example of "government think".

 

It can attract more intelligent people. The Census hired decennial employees based on their scores on the Census Test. I had a perfect score, so I was one of the first people to get called.

 

How exactly do you think that wages are set in private industry?

Other than union jobs - wages are based on the value of the work performed by the employee.

How do your superior scores increase the value of the work that you did?

 

People who do better on the test are likely to do a better job. The Census Bureau set wages based on the value of the work to the government with adjustments based on the cost of living in each area. For example, Census clerks here got $12.25 per hour, enumerators $15, crew leaders (who supervise enumerators) $16.50, and field operations supervisors (who supervise 8-10 crew leaders) $18.

 

And how did they (or you) know the value of that work?

This year's cencus budget was bloated by 50% over prior years.

You probably recall our discussion on that>

 

I do recall our discussion and I criticized the Bureau over the hand-held computer debacle.

I'm not sure how they know the value of the work given that no one besides the Government conducts a census. What do you think it's worth?

 

I couldn't say what it is worth.

However I doubt that the value of counting one person has gone up by 50% since the last census.

Walking around knocking on doors is a skill set with a limited value.

What caused the value of that skill set to increase so much since the last census.

I have no doubt that a private company could have done a better job for a lower cost.

 

From my experience with the Census, A LOT of incompetent government workers were let go. My crew leader during non-response follow-up DID NOT PLAY. She's a fine person and I got along great with her, and still do, as I've kept in touch with her. She had about 5 people terminated for cause or "asked" to resign in lieu of removal. As a side note, I was surprised by how many people could not cut it as Census workers. It's not that hard of a job and the pay is very good for this type of work. There were some people who were plain lazy, but they got fired within a few weeks. On the other hand, I've heard of cases in other districts where the crew leaders and/or field operations supervisors had power trips and fired people for little to no reason.

Per Department of Commerce policy, there are steps that need to be taken before removing a Department employee. The Bureau complies with Department policy by having two forms, the D-282 Documentation of Conduct or Performance Problems and the D-283 Documentation of Termination for Conduct or Performance Problems. Except in cases of gross misconduct, the Department requires that action be taken short of termination to try to resolve the issue prior to termination. For example, if an enumerator is underperforming and there is no exigent circumstances such as access issues to a gated community, uncooperative property management, or complicated issues with the address lists, etc., he will be D-282ed by his crew leader and given oral counseling on his job performance and offered additional training. If performance does not improve within a week or so, the enumerator will be D-283ed and terminated or, in most cases, allowed to resign. By doing this, the Department and Bureau get rid of bad employees. If an employee of the Bureau commits gross misconduct (or works unauthorized overtime), he will be D-283ed and terminated for cause without being allowed to resign.

On a more personal note, it looks like tomorrow will be my last day with the Department due to lack of work. I only have 2 more Field Verification cases, which will take me a couple of hours to do then I turn in my final timesheet and my badge to my crew leader. This is the first time I've worked a full-time job; my prior jobs have been part-time. I can honestly say I worked hard and excelled at this job and ended up with one of the best performance stats in my office. I met a lot of interesting people and had great supervisors and co-workers, gained life experience and something else to put on my resume, got a few references for my upcoming job hunt, and forged relationships. One of the best things is I was able to pay for college all with my own money, when in the past I had to take grants and loans. I'm really glad I didn't have to increase my student loan balance and I've got some money I might use to go ahead and pay it down if I find another job soon and don't need it for living expenses. In the past I've also gotten a small Pell grant, but I opted not to this time because I'd rather not take a handout unless I need to. So, I'm really grateful for this job and it has been a positive experience for me at both financial and personal levels.