Featured Proposals
Our Proposals
Why This is Important
Allowing for more scheduling flexibility is one of the Agency’s central goals as we evolve the National Weather Service to better align our resources to work, to be more agile and responsive to emerging needs, and create a better work-life balance for employees.
Scheduling flexibility is an important component of building a Fully Integrated Field Structure, which will change the way the National Weather Service works, in part by engaging all forecasters and meteorologists in the critical work of impact-based decision support services (IDSS).
Today, there often is a mismatch between resources and needs. Under the current collective bargaining agreement, every field office is staffed 24 hours, seven days a week. In addition, a past practice has been followed that at least two staff members be duty at all times. The reality is that level of staffing is simply not necessary in all places and at all times.
A stronger system is more flexible and puts the people in those jobs when and where they can best serve our partners in the field, who typically work regular business hours. That makes it easier for them to be meeting with partners in the field, and creates more positions working days – the clear preference of most NWS employees.
Improved flexibility also means the leaders in the field aren’t bound by rigid staffing requirements and can adjust staffing as necessary to respond to emergencies or support other offices in the region when necessary.
Questions
Q: Are these proposals designed to reduce jobs?
A: No, our proposals would not reduce FTEs. As part of the Agency’s strategic efforts, we are examining ways to realign staff and functions to deliver weather forecasts and warnings more effectively. All forecasts and warnings would continue to be issued by local forecast offices to their communities, at the same time we plan to expand the role and capabilities of regional operations centers and national centers, including training facilities and testing grounds for new initiatives.
Q: Is it true that one goal of your proposals is to move the Weather Service away from having local forecast offices?
A: Absolutely not, despite what you may have heard to the contrary. A local presence is a critical component of our service. More than 90 percent of our Impact-Based Decision Support Services are required and provided at the local level. But there are elements of our work that may work better in a regional model that not only relies on local input, but also frees up time for local forecasters to focus on directly supporting their local emergency managers, law enforcement, the general public, and other stakeholders.
Our proposals would provide more flexibility to test different models in ways that would not reduce jobs, but explore different roles for the people in those jobs.
Q: Could some offices move from 24/7 to part time only?
A: Right now the project for evolving The National Weather Service does not plan to move any forecast offices to part-time operations. As part of a test and evaluation process that will be designed from the beginning to involve our stakeholders and employees, we will be evaluating ways to more efficiently conduct our operations, deploy our staff, and ensure that our staff are supporting their local stakeholders how and when they need them. In the future this may mean taking advantage of advances in modeling, technology, and using our own forecasts to anticipate fair weather and incoming severe weather events to place staff in the office when they're needed and when they can work with their counterparts at the national, state,and local level. The current outdated contract does not afford the flexibility that this would require.
Our Proposal
Our proposal creates the foundation for a strong, five-level performance management system at NWS that would:
Why This is Important
A comprehensive performance management system establishes a scale that appropriately differentiates between poor, average and superior performance.
The benefit to employees is a system that recognizes and rewards top performers. The benefit to the Agency and our mission is that the new system would encourage and reward great job performance, improving upon our already strong and committed team.
Facts & Information
In the 2016 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey of NWS employees, highest employee dissatisfaction areas were often related to assessing workplace performance. Of those employees who completed the survey:
Our Proposal
Our proposal establishes a merit-based structure to help identify the best qualified candidates for vacant job positions in the bargaining unit. The proposed Merit Assignment Plan would apply to promotions, transfers and reinstatements, reassignments and temporary promotions of more than 120 days.
The proposal also supports our development model for GS levels 5-12, creating a faster career progression for meteorologists that ensures they spend more time on high-value activities.
Why This is Important
Strong organizations structure their operations to take merit into account when making hiring and promotion decisions. It is a philosophy that not only helps rank and identify the strongest candidates for jobs, but also creates opportunities for our best performers.
The goal of our proposal is to put in place a plan that helps managers find the strongest internal candidates for open positions, and also to fill vacancies faster.
Our Proposal
Our proposal speeds the grievance resolution process, in part by clarifying each step with a focus on resolving issues at the local level -- where it matters most -- whenever possible. It would:
Why This is Important
Workplace disputes happen. However, they can often be resolved at the local level with a face-to-face dialogue and a process designed to hear, record and address an employee’s concern.
Under the current process, grievances are too often pushed up the organization – driving up costs and prolonging any resolution or remedy -- without an effort to settle the matter at a level closer to the the employee.
Questions
Q: What if an employee's problem stems with a particular manager and this process requires it be resolved with that manager?
A: There may be cases in which an issue can't be resolved at the local level, and the proposed grievance procedure includes a stepped process in which a grievant can seek a second or third level review.
Our Proposal
Our proposal clarifies issues related to employees who move from one office to another through a promotion, transfer or reassignment. It:
Why This is Important
The proposal is designed to save taxpayer money by limiting what has become an expensive entitlement that pays some relocation expenses in a program not available elsewhere in the federal government.
Importantly, managers can still offer relocation benefits if necessary to attract qualified candidates for jobs in remote regions that may otherwise be hard to fill.
