TSA's Pay for Performance System is Good for Security
Motivated Workforce Not What Terrorists Want
News & Happenings
An enterprising terrorist may be able to game TSA's technology and procedures, but exploiting our motivated and fully engaged workforce offers an even tougher challenge. Moreover, our transportation security officers are working to make that challenge tougher still: In 2007, 60 percent of frontline employees ranked in the top two of five performance ratings, a significant improvement from the previous year.
What drives this motivation? Besides a deep belief in service, there's PASS – TSA's Performance Accountability and Standards System – another name for pay for performance, in both base pay and bonuses. For 2007, performance-based payouts totaled more than $76 million.
"Each day's success begins and ends with our people," said Deputy Administrator Gale Rossides. "I believe pay for performance plays a significant role in motivating and sustaining an exceptionally talented and well performing workforce. PASS enables TSA to succeed in its mission to ensure accountability, enhance professionalism, and promote security."
TSA leadership recognizes that keeping air travelers safe and the transportation network secure is a difficult job, one demanding a commitment beyond what's required for most jobs - public or private. That's one reason Congress mandated the pay for performance system for TSA, rather than putting our employees on the General Schedule used to compensate much of the federal government.
Innovation and flexibility join commitment as hallmarks of delivering security. Meeting those standards can – and often do – require sacrifice that affects employees' personal lives. Employees who successfully secure our transportation network deserve to be rewarded. Pay for performance helps accomplish that.
Through surveys, data was compiled that led to the design and launch of the first incarnation of PASS in April 2006, with the first payouts the following December.
Transportation security officers have had a direct voice in making major changes to pay for performance through TSA's National Advisory Council, composed of TSA employees from around the country who are selected by their peers to interact with agency leadership.
That direct participation has contributed to the workforce becoming a motivated TSA stakeholder. And a motivated transportation security workforce is just what a terrorist doesn't want.
Additional Reading
- Click here to read the facts on attrition rates.
- Click here to read about officer training requirements.
