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

The Performance Management Mailbag

Our mail includes often-asked questions.

Question: OPM's Handbook for Measuring Employee Performance explains that supervisors and managers must carefully craft retention standards when defining them in employee performance plans. I'm a supervisor and I've never heard that term. What is a retention standard?

Answer: As defined in the Handbook, a retention standard describes the level of performance necessary to be retained in a job (i.e., the standard written for performance one level above the Unacceptable level). In appraisal programs where a Minimally Successful or equivalent level exists for appraising elements, the retention standard is the Minimally Successful or equivalent standard. In appraisal programs that do not have a Minimally Successful or equivalent level available, the retention standard is the Fully Successful standard.

The Merit Systems Protection Board and the courts have held that an agency must ensure that retention standards:

• are reasonably attainable;
• are not impermissibly absolute (allow for no error); and
• inform the employee of the level of performance needed to retain his or her job.

 

Question: Can an employee receive two awards for the same accomplishment or contribution?

Answer: Yes, under certain circumstances. In the Federal Government, awards may take four forms: cash awards, time off awards, honorary awards, and informal recognition awards. You may use any combination of award forms to reward a specific contribution. For example, an employee might receive both a certificate and a cash award as recognition for a single contribution. However, the overall value of the award in its combined forms should not exceed the value to the organization of the contribution recognized. Thus, the award should be commensurate with the contribution of the employee.

The same principle applies whether you are combining award forms or granting two awards of the same form for a single contribution. For example, an employee might receive two awards in the form of cash for a single contribution when, upon evaluating the contribution recognized, the organization realizes the value of the contribution to the organization is greater than originally determined and deserves a larger award than the amount of the original award recognizing it. However, the total value of both awards should not exceed the value of the contribution recognized.

When the award(s) is over $10,000 for a single contribution, agencies must seek OPM approval. In a case where an individual receives an initial award of $5,000 for a contribution, then receives another award for $6,000 upon re-evaluation by the agency for the same contribution, the aggregate amount is now $11,000.  The agency must request approval for $1,000 from OPM on the second award.

Originally published Spring 2001