U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

Agencies Discover the Value of Evaluation

The first step towards improving a performance management program is to evaluate it. Evaluation is vitally important because it can provide valuable information that demonstrates the success of a program or shows what adjustments need to be made. However, an agency must focus on gathering the right data. It should show whether or not the program is complying with relevant regulations (i.e., is the agency doing things right?) and whether or not the program is having the desired effect (i.e., is the agency doing the right things?) Two agencies have evaluated their performance management programs and are using that information to make improvements.

• Social Security Administration (SSA).
• The Corporation for National Service.

Social Security Administration (SSA).  SSA, in a partnership effort with its union, moved from a five-level appraisal program to a pass/fail program. It completed its first full appraisal cycle in 1997 and chose to evaluate its program.

SSA evaluated its program by adding questions to a survey administered as part of a review of all human resources functions by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The results of the survey showed that:

• supervisors were not always conducting progress reviews; and
• employees wanted more dialog and feedback, but did not always receive it.

In an effort to correct these deficiencies, SSA has sent a memorandum to senior management officials requiring that organizations establish mechanisms to assure that reviews and dialogs are taking place.

Overall, SSA is very pleased with the evaluation and feels that the problems identified will be corrected.

The Corporation for National Service.  The Corporation for National Service was established in 1993. It merged the ACTION agency, the Commission on National and Community Service, the White House Office of National Service, and new AmeriCorps programs into one organization. As a Government corporation, it is exempt from the performance appraisal statute at chapter 43 of title 5, United States Code. Because the Corporation is exempt from chapter 43, it was able to adopt a pass/fail appraisal program in 1994, a year before it was allowed in most other Government organizations.

As part of its 1996 appropriation, Congress directed the Corporation to ask the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) to conduct a study of the Corporation's structure, organization, and management, including the Corporation's pass/fail appraisal program.

NAPA conducted the evaluation using mail-in surveys sent to all staff; interviews with selected managers, employees, and employee representatives; and site reviews in headquarters and selected field offices.

With regard to performance management, the most positive finding was that Corporation supervisors gave sufficient feedback and emphasized employee development. This means that they do far more than merely "check the box" on the appraisal form to indicate whether employees passed or failed. The negative findings were that 27% of employees did not have a written performance plan and 23% had not received annual ratings.

Based on this evaluation and other NAPA research, the Corporation decided to more clearly define human resources management expectations for their supervisors, to include in every supervisory performance plan a critical element dealing with human resources management responsibilities, and to monitor compliance with these requirements.

If you would like more information on these performance management program evaluations, contact Harriet Paige of the Social Security Administration, at 410-965-1047 or the Corporation for National Service, via electronic mail. OPM guidance is also available. Evaluating Performance Appraisal Programs: An Overview which contains general information on how to evaluate a performance management program. If you cannot access the publication electronically, it is available in hard copy by calling us at 202-606-2720.

Originally published on August 1999