F OCUS - American Foreign Service Association

S P E A K I N G
O U T
guage-designated positions are often
tied to language training, but IRM positions
are rarely tied to training that
will result in an LIP. One of the primary
reasons I pursued self-study to
increase my Mandarin level from 2/2
to 3/3 was because as an IRM specialist,
I would never be sent to further
training to achieve a 3/3 in the language.
Had I expected to be given
that opportunity, it is unlikely I would
have pursued it on my own.
Encouraging Language
Self-Study
Fortunately, the following adjustments
to the ground rules for Language
Incentive Pay could produce
significant dividends, both for individuals
and the Foreign Service as an institution.
Delink writing and speaking requirements:
Currently, an officer with
a score of 3+ Speaking and 2+ Writing
in Mandarin — thereby falling just
short of the required 3/3 rating — receives
the same incentive pay as that
of an officer who knows no Mandarin
at all: none. Offering separate rewards
for achieving each component
of the FSI rating makes much better
sense and would undoubtedly attract
more applicants.
Reward the pluses: Moving from a
3 to a 4 during one’s career may not be
possible, but moving from a 3 to a 3+
is certainly achievable. Giving the 3+
level a higher incentive pay than a 3
level would encourage some mid-level
officers to pursue this more realistic
goal over the long term through selfstudy.
Lower the first LIP level from 3 to
2+: Currently, entry-level officers are
given enough language instruction in
Mandarin to achieve a 2 in speaking.
Lowering the minimum LIP level
from 3 to 2+ would lead to more selfstudy,
because lifting one’s hard language
level from 2 to 2+ during the
two years of a first tour is achievable, if
difficult.
Make LIP pay retroactive: If an
employee attains a higher incentive
level at any time while at a hard-language
post, provide back pay to him or
her at the higher level for the entire
tour. Because language pay is only received
while the recipient is in the
country, motivation levels and the
amount of time until departure are inversely
related. Receiving back pay
for becoming more fluent in an incentive
language would sustain motivation
levels throughout the tour.
Raising Overall Capacity
Based on the success seen in the information
technology Skills Incentive
Pay program, decreasing the distance
between language reward levels would
likely raise overall hard language capacity
in the State Department.
Because the current testing system
already captures proficiency in sufficient
detail, delinking requirements
and rewarding the pluses in order to
motivate self-study may not require
major structural changes or excessive
budget increases.
And while lowering the first LIP
level to 2+ and making language incentive
pay retroactive to the length
of a tour would definitely cost more,
it could be an attractive alternative to
removing staff from the work force
for a year or more to attend long-term
training. ■
Mark Allen is an Information Management
Specialist in Beijing. Since
joining the Foreign Service in 2001, he
has also served in Tokyo and Guangzhou.
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