PUBADM 505
2026-10-19
42.7%
Rated Outstanding, the highest level
21.7%
Rated Exceeds Fully Successful, the next level down
0.5%
Rated below Fully Successful (FY 2022–2024)
Non-SES federal employees on five-level rating systems.
If almost two-thirds of employees rate above “fully successful,” what does a rating tell a manager?
OPM, Performance Appraisal for General Schedule, Prevailing Rate, and Certain Other Employees, proposed rule, 91 FR 8780 (Feb. 24, 2026), citing agency ratings data.
The highest rating
Above the standard
Meets the standard
Below the standard, but not failing
Fails at least one critical element
In FY 2024, 64 percent of employees on five-level systems were rated in the top two.
Agencies may use as few as two levels (pass/fail). Each employee gets one summary rating a year, the rating of record.
“Inflated ratings carry no meaningful signal about who is performing at an exceptional level, deprive agencies of the information needed to direct the largest rewards to the employees who have earned them, and dilute awards across the workforce at the expense of top performers.”
No more than 40% of each agency’s employees rated Outstanding or Exceeds, combined
Level 2, Minimally Successful, is eliminated
A rating can no longer be challenged through a grievance procedure
Every supervisor gets a supervisory critical element
OPM Director Scott Kupor, memo on FY 2026 rating distribution, Sept. 21, 2026 (the cap “is a ceiling, not a target”) · Final rule, 91 FR 41521 (July 7, 2026), effective Aug. 6, 2026
The highest rating
Above the standard
Meets the standard
Eliminated
Fails at least one critical element
A weak performer is no longer “minimally successful.” Which rating do you give them now?
Training
Development
Is this MPA training or development?
Organizational intelligence
Know-how accumulates in the workforce over time
Fresh skills
Keep skills up to date as the work changes
Employees want it
They view access to training as important
A win-win
For organizations and for people
Which is more expensive for the employer: the cost of training, or the cost of not training?
“The collective knowledge of the workforce that the organization relies on to get things done.”
“When turnover is high, there are fewer employees left to teach newcomers.”
P-O fit
“The congruence or alignment between employee and employer,” when a person’s “values, goals, and ethics align with those of the organization.”
Development builds fit over time, one reason employers have more confidence in internal candidates.
In a federal agency, what is “the organization”? The agency and its mission, or the president’s agenda? (Week 7)
An advocateA leader who champions the program and protects its budget
Needs assessmentThe gap between the skills people have and the skills the work needs
AlignmentTraining needs tied to the mission and to the initiatives coming next
RelevancyContent trainees can apply to the work they do
BenchmarksLearning targets set up front, so you can tell whether it worked
Post-training reinforcementSupervisors follow up on the job, so trainees use what they learned
Which of the six is most often missing where you work?
Orientation
Occurs on the employee’s start date: “informing new hires about the details of the organization, of the job, and of employment processes.”
Onboarding
Extends through the first few months: helping the new hire “learn the culture of the organization, understand why ‘we do things this way,’ and develop an identification as someone who belongs.”
Onboarding starts with the interview (Week 7), when the recruiter describes the work and the mission.
In your current job, which did your employer invest in: your first day, or your first 90 days?
Assess needs
→
Deliver
→
Evaluate: what is the ROI?
The best training you’ve had, and the biggest failure: what made the difference?
Performance is threatened when good employees leave.
Career stages
A new employee needs something very different from one with 5, 10, 15, or 20 years
Stay interviews
Held “well before they indicate they are considering quitting”
Job enrichment
New responsibilities for employees who no longer find their job challenging
Satisfaction surveys
“Taking the temperature” of the workforce, ideally once a year
Why do people leave organizations? What has kept you in a job?
Each group gets one employee, each at a different career stage.
A caseworker at a state child welfare agency. Heavy caseload; orientation was two days.
A federal IT specialist with an offer from a private firm for 30 percent more.
A nonprofit program director, eligible to retire in two years, the only one who knows the grant reporting.
8 minutes in groups, then each group introduces its employee and its plan
Developing is one of four steps. Performance management is the whole sequence.
1
What worked well?
2
What worked poorly?
3
Have you delivered performance feedback? How did it go?
No appraisal yet? Think of feedback from a coach, or from a professor.
Building capacity is training and development
Is one step of five, not the whole cycle
of federal employees agree: “In my work unit, differences in performance are recognized in a meaningful way.” The lowest‑scoring item on the 2024 FEVS.
It takes management time and skill, not just a form
An annual meeting can’t carry the whole load
Developmental feedback has to come often
2024 FEVS as reported in OPM’s proposed rule, 91 FR 8780 (Feb. 24, 2026).
Judgmental feedback
A summary of performance across a period, “an evaluation or ranking of that performance,” often “followed with some sort of personnel action (reward or sanction).”
Developmental feedback
“Future oriented,” building on the employee’s strengths and competencies. “More immediate and on-going than a regularly scheduled evaluation.”
What goes wrong when one annual meeting tries to do both?
360-degree appraisals give a holistic view for development, but present problems “when used for judgmental feedback,” such as raises.
Behaviors
How employees carry out the core components of the job, starting from the job description (Week 6)
Results
Whether employees meet their goals or targets for the period
Comparison-based
How employees rank against their peers. Risks “a climate of competition and zero-sum behavior”
In public service, both means and ends are important.
Where does a 40 percent cap fit on this slide?
Performance element: what the employee has to do
Critical element: so fundamental that unacceptable performance on it means unacceptable performance overall
Performance standard: how well the employee should perform the element. Objective, measurable, and realistic, and written at each level
U.S. Office of Personnel Management definitions.
Element: Process public records requests (records specialist, city clerk’s office)
Every request answered within the legal deadline; complex requests scoped with the requester early
Every request answered within the legal deadline; redactions accurate when reviewed
Legal deadlines missed, or redaction errors found on review
Your turn: pick one duty from your own job. Write the “fully successful” line in one sentence.
Halo effect
One strength colors the whole rating
Horns effect
One weakness colors the whole rating
Central tendency
Rating employees in the middle “to avoid high or low judgments”
Recency bias
The last few weeks outweigh the whole year
Leniency
Rating everyone high to avoid a hard conversation
Personal bias
Liking, disliking, or not knowing the employee
Raters need training on the standards and the process.
Which of these have you seen where you work?
Coaching
Supervisor and employee work on it together
→
Improvement plan
Specific gaps, targets, support, and a timeline
→
Progressive discipline
Verbal warning, written warning, warning with sanctions
→
Adverse action
Suspension, reduction in grade or pay, termination
A PIP should be undertaken “with the expectation that the employee will improve,” not to “document offenses to terminate later.”
Notice
Of the action that will restrict rights
→
Explanation
Of what is occurring, and why
→
A chance to respond
Usually a hearing
→
The decision
And an explanation of it
The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments: an employee with a property right in the job is owed due process before an adverse action.
What a cap could fix
What a cap could create
October 26: Labor relations and collective bargaining
Guy & Sowa, Chapter 10
Case: Navigating Labor Unrest
PUBADM 505 · Personnel Management