President Barack Obama’s administration raised the caps on bonuses for federal employees for the first time in six years, allowing agencies to give out higher incentives for the current fiscal year.
Federal agencies can give bonuses up to 1.5 percent of the employee’s annual salary, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), announced in a memo released Nov. 22. OMB sets guidelines for spending in the executive branch. Previously, agencies could only give bonuses up to 1 percent of the annual salary.
“The Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget recognize that awards programs are valuable tools to help agencies reward employee performance excellence and reinforce a high-performing culture that will help improve organizational effectiveness,” OMB director Shaun Donovan and Office of Personnel Management director Beth Cobert said in the memo.
The increase in bonuses apply to all levels of employees except senior agency staff. The half percent increase in bonuses is dwarfed by the 3 percent increase granted to senior executive staff earlier this year.
The administration raised bonus caps for senior executive staff from 4.8 percent of salary to 7.5 in October. (RELATED: Top Public Servants Will Soon Get Wall Street-Grade Bonuses)
The 1 percent bonus rule for non-senior staff has been in place since 2010, as a measure to reign in agency spending.
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