Employees Show Lack of Confidence in Ratings

Data released by MSPB from an employee survey conducted last year shows significant mistrust by federal employees regarding performance evaluation systems—and little difference in views between employees under pass-fail systems and those under five-level rating systems—which agencies are being urged to adopt in the name of greater accuracy in performance evaluations. For example, just 38 percent of employees in pass-fail systems are satisfied with their organization’s rating system compared with 43 percent in five-level systems. Employees in the former group also were slightly less likely to believe that ratings accurately reflect performance (47 to 53 percent), that objective measures are used (49 to 52 percent), or that the standards used to evaluate their performance are appropriate (66 to 69 percent).