Fed execs get consistent performance measures

Senior administration officials have announced the launch of a new performance appraisal system that will give agencies a standardized method to managing Senior Executive Service employees.

The new system aims to provide agencies a more consistent and uniform way of evaluating their employees, according to a Jan. 4 memo from the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget. In addition, the new framework promotes “greater, clarity, transferability and equity in the development of performance standards, the delivery of feedback, the derivation of ratings, and the link to compensation,” the memo said.

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Federal agencies can choose to move to the new system immediately or as soon as their current system certifications expire. To help agencies adopt the new system, OMB is coordinating interagency work groups to create strategies for implementation, communication and training, as well as to enhance the SES performance appraisal system certification process. 

The new system “incorporates best practices for performance management from the private sector (through the President’s Management Advisory Board) as well as the federal government, Steve Shih, OPM’s deputy associate director of executive resources and employee development, said in a statement.

The initiative was originally slated for launch in September 2011, after OPM and OMB highlighted the need to streamline cumbersome personnel management processes. One of the issues was that agencies were using many different SES performance management systems and approaches to communicate and evaluate executive performance, and the lack of uniformity made it hard for the federal government to promote simplicity and accountability in managing executive performance, OPM Director John Berry said in an Aug. 2, 2011 memo.