Driving Behavior Through Programs like Telecommuting
March 10, 2006
One of the questions we posed to change agents in the War on Terror is: How do they drive behavior in federal bureaucracies? In the private sector, there are many things to align incentives on behalf of shareholders or owners, and few such perks exist in the federal world.
Several change agents we interviewed lamented that there was little available to them in terms of economic incentives to drive behavior (read: salaries on par with private sector, variable components of compensation, bonuses except in limited ways). Thus change agents become adept at ensuring that the people working for them are adequately rewarded in other ways. Work/life balance is frequently emphasized in the Federal government and you see small programs such as Teleworking created as a means to meet employee’s needs while ensuring that their mission is met. The Patent and Trade Office recently implemented such a program.
As the year unfolds, it is likely that we will see many more such examples of change agents advocating on behalf of their employees in ways that meet the mission (actually can reduce costs), meet individual needs, and drive behavior.
Thoughts or reactions? Please send them to us.