HOW DID YOU LIKE YOUR PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL?

By now, most of us have received our end-of-year performance appraisal. AFGE is aware that many employee are not content with their appraisals. Management in many offices has advised employees that no one will receive a Level 5 rating in any critical element. Level 5 should be achievable, and in most offices there should always be one or more employees whose performance stands out. [Note: If you received any Level 1 ratings, you should be worried about your job and should contact your AFGE union representative immediately. The more you delay in addressing (with union representation) this assessment of your work, the more likely you will be demoted or fired from your position]. For those of you who feel Level 3 is not an accurate portrayal of your performance, you may challenge your rating by filing a grievance or an EEO complaint.

By law, performance must be accurately evaluated using objective criteria to the maximum extent feasible. Was your appraisal fair, accurate, objective & based on facts? Employees report that, throughout the appraisal year, management has been vague, and has made unsupported negative performance comments. Obviously, not every employee can be rated Level 5 in every critical element, but we believe that many employees have been rated below their actual proven level of performance. We believe management officials will be rewarded with many more Level 5s than they give their employees who actually do the work.

A SUGGESTED APPROACH TO ANALYZING YOUR APPRAISAL RATINGS

Isolate the critical element(s) that you believe you were rated too low on. Compare the language in the “Performance Discussion” given mid-term and the “Final Rating Discussion” just issued, to the language of the Level 5 standard in that critical element. Be focused. For example, if the Level 5 standard states: “Contributes to developing trust, respect and cooperation among unit members” (see “Interpersonal Skills”), look for words in the description of your performance that suggest you developed trust/respect/cooperation in your unit. Disregard comments about other aspects of your work for now. If you met Level 3 you have proved you met those aspects of your performance. Level 5 only measures what it says in the Level 5 narrative (e.g., only your relationship with your unit in this example).

If there is no language that indicates you meet that Level 5 standard, what else did you do during the appraisal year that promoted trust/respect/ cooperation that you can prove? Do you have any supporting documentation? Did you place documentation in your 7B file during the appraisal year that was disregarded? If you believe yourself to be a unifying force in your unit, you will need to have some basis for arguing that. This is a very subjective area.

If you believe Level 5 is deserved for “Achieves Business Results”: did you, per the Level 5 standard, complete extra work assignments, use your time effectively, point out barriers to completing work timely or develop better uses of the technology? If you can’t say that you did, you may not be able to argue for a higher rating. Level 5 in this critical element measures things that management should do: improve the work processing and use of technology.

Are the standards fair, achievable, measure what we actually do all day? If not, blame management: they developed the appraisal system and performance standards. By law, this is their call exclusively. Management is responsible for any wrong-minded system or warped performance standards. As employees, you can grieve or file an EEO complaint if you feel the performance standards were not applied fairly and equitably to you (your performance was not accurately measured, actions and performance measured by the standard were not taken into consideration, etc…).

THIS NEW APPRAISAL SYSTEM IS A BIG CHANGE FROM THE PRIOR SYSTEM

We used to have a pass/fail system where everybody was rated the same. Management’s new system, I believe, was intended to promote divisiveness, competition, and may have the effect of lowering morale. It is up to each of us individually how to respond. If you decide to challenge your rating, either because you feel it is wrong or you seek an award, stay focused on what you can prove and what evidence you can prove it with. There is language in the Article 21 of the contract that can be used in grievances to support higher appraisal ratings:

Section 6B: “Supervisory conclusions based upon observations of an employee by management will be timely communicated to the employee during informal discussions and/or the progress review. If the employee disagrees with the supervisory conclusions on individual cases or overall performance to date, he/she may provide management with written rebuttals that will be placed in the SF-7B file”. “An employee may inform his/her appraising official in writing, which includes Email, of factors beyond his/her control that have affected his/her performance. The appraising official will consider such factors when evaluating performance for the appraisal period. The written documentation will be placed in the employee’s SF-7B Extension File”.


Section 6C: “To ensure that all performance related activities are identified and documented, employees should provide feedback about their contributions to managers”.

Section 6G1: “The agency, when assessing performance, will consider factors which affect performance that are beyond the control of the employee”.

Section 6G2: “When numerical goals, guidelines, indicators and pars are factors in appraising an employee in a given critical element, management will consider the employee’s other job assignments and the actual amount of time available to perform the job function being appraised under that critical element”.

Section 6G3: “Management will also consider the approved use of official time when evaluating employee performance”.

Section 6G4: “In the performance of and accounting for agency work, statistical measures and their application will be reliable”.

Section 6G5: “The procedures that are used to gather information in order to evaluate employee performance must reasonably ensure the accurate evaluation of performance”.

Section 6G6: “Management will timely disclose to each employee all records that relate to his/her performance appraisal”.

ALSO

Article 3 Section 2A: “All employees shall be treated fairly and equitably in all aspects of personnel management…”. This includes performance evaluation and appraisal.

Article 3 Section 4D: To summarize contractual controls on management “memory joggers” or “personal notes”: they may not be a Privacy Act protected record nor can they circumvent timely disclosure of information that should be kept in the 7B file. it must be kept in a secure location. If management shows them to anyone or uses them in violation of these terms and conditions, they become records subject to the Privacy Act, which means you have to be advised of the record, where it is housed, what it will be used for and after you have been given notice, it must be placed in your 7B file.