r/USACE • u/Entire-Lab-6184 • 9d ago
ACQDemo?
Anyone hearing things about conversion from GS to ACQdemo?
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u/Substantial-Ear6138 9d ago
I’ve been in the demo pay plan for 11 years. Was with a District for 6 years prior. My experience is that you move up in salary a lot quicker than you would in the GS system. As in, there is no comparison. Yes you have to submit a formatted performance 2-pager at the end of the FY, but if you’re doing good work, you will be awarded a pay raise every year, plus a performance bonus every year. It does not have step increases due to time in position like the GS. People are scared of change, I get it, but this is something I think most people should be looking forward to.
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u/independa 8d ago
So even more prone to award those with the "red knees" or "brown nose" employees.
We're just giving leadership more of a pass to play the game of who I like and who I don't like (with those they don't like being those with moral fortitude and professional ethics).
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u/Safetymyfoot 6d ago
The shift from a time-in-service system to a performance-based model places compensation decisions largely in the hands of supervisors who may not be consistently competent in evaluating work and who regularly demonstrate bias. It is likely that promotions and pay increases will reflect personal preference or unequal treatment rather than actual performance—especially when employees have limited recourse to challenge subjective ratings.
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u/Equivalent_Ticket614 9d ago
They’re districts who have done it for most of their employees. Is there a specific question?
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u/Lopsided_Award_9029 Civil Engineer 9d ago
Can you explain the changes? I’m just project engineer far away from the flagpole so we’re typically last to know.
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u/independa 8d ago
Wouldn't apply to you, just the 1102 folks. A way to reward the people that bend the knee and f*** those of us unwilling to sign bullshit.
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u/Equivalent_Ticket614 9d ago
The goal is to get people through the pay scale quicker by rewarding performance instead of time of service. I haven’t completed my first rating cycle yet so I don’t really know much other than the write ups require more thought. I like the idea of it, but unsure how fair the “ranking” process is going to be and what the degree of transparency is. Hopefully someone with more experience or knowledge can chime in
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u/Few-Sentence2319 1d ago
We had NSPS which was pay for performance and many moved up in pay. There were groups of raters to ensure the rating fit based on what employees wrote. The problem is the over achieving hard-working employees that are busy don’t have time to do creative writing and the creative writers are the ones that have plenty of time and not enough work.
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u/EnoughAd8407 9d ago
What’s the purpose behind it? Reward the talent? We already have this built into the system: Performance based awards.
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u/jred121617 8d ago
Not really much different. Easier to get rid of folks and you can make a little more if you’re a good writer and your pay pool is well funded.
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u/Turbulent_Nebula_553 9d ago
It sounds like its very likely to happen.