During his state employee town hall this afternoon, Gov. Bob McDonnell announced a proposal to implement a performance incentive in his budget that will result in up to a three percent bonus to full-time state employees on Dec. 1, 2012.
In order for the bonus to be paid, statewide discretionary unspent general fund appropriations on June 30, 2012 must meet or exceed twice the general fund cost of the bonus. It is estimated that $160 million will have to be saved statewide in general fund spending and targets to provide the bonus, which totals approximately $77 million if all state employees qualify In addition, state employees will have to meet certain criteria on their personal performance evaluations to quality for the bonus.
“We saw last year that by implementing the private sector principles of rewarding fiscal discipline and encouraging greater performance among employees, we can successfully change the environment within our state government. Today, I thank our great state employees for their hard work and ask them to rise to the challenge and help us reduce waste and increase efficiency across the state,” McDonnell said.
Details of Gov. McDonnell’s Performance Bonus Proposal:
· Full-time employees must be employed by the Commonwealth as of April 1, 2012, and still employed as December 1, 2012.
· State employees will have to meet certain criteria on their personal performance evaluations to quality for the bonus.
· In order for the bonus to be paid, statewide discretionary unspent general fund appropriations on June 30, 2012, must meet or exceed twice the general fund cost of the bonus.
· Cabinet secretaries will set savings targets for agencies within their secretariat based on size and funding sources. Each agency will be responsible for funding the bonus out of its unspent discretionary appropriations, meaning that each agency must save enough to fund the bonus for its agency’s employees.