GS Proposed Pay Raise 2021
The White House proposed the FY 2021 budget. Although the GS proposed pay raise for 2021 isn’t going to make everyone happy, at least the pay raise is ahead. In February, the White House proposed the 1% pay raise for federal civilian workers.
Surely, this is significantly lower than what was proposed in previous years. From 2018 to 2020, the pay raise has been above 1%. In 2020, federal employees received one of the highest pay raise in the last decade. The 2.6% pay raise in 2020 — added with the 0.5% locality pay increase was a big boost to federal employees’ paychecks. While the pay raise is for 2021 likely to be at 1%, there are a few other things in extra that may get your attention though.
Increased Cash Awards for 2021
The proposed pay raise isn’t at a level where it is satisfying for many as the lawmakers are pushing for a higher pay raise, there will be increases in financial awards and cash bonuses. There are plenty of financial awards and cash bonuses given to federal employees based on their performance. Each of the financial bonuses and cash awards that can be given to federal employees must meet the OPM’s guidelines.
Other than the financial awards, there are time-off awards. It is unclear whether or not there will be an adjustment for time-off awards. We should know more about it when the pay raise is certain.
All federal workers — depending on their performance — get a lump-sum cash award based on the task they complete. The financial awards and cash bonuses are given based on how successful they are at the tasks they are given. At the time of writing, it is unclear how these awards and bonuses are going to be broadened to make it available to more workers, we will know it in the upcoming months.
With the increased financial awards and cash bonuses, it is clear that the White House is demanding everyone to work as hard as they can to earn more. Since we still have a few months to go for the GS pay raise to be certain, we can only speculate. In the meantime, check the updated GS Pay Scale 2021 based on the 1% proposed pay raise.
