MSPB: Probationary Period Not Being Used Effectively

The Merit Systems Protection Board has released a study on the issue of probationary periods, that period after hiring in which a new employee is assessed and can be removed more easily than after gaining career tenure. It found, for example, that the probationary period “is not being used as a tool to assess probationers to determine if an appointment to the civil service is in the government’s best interest” and that probationers “are treated as if they are not much different from non-probationers who have received a finalized appointment to the federal service.” It said that 43 percent of supervisors had experienced performance problems with probationers in the prior three years and 36 percent had experienced conduct problems. However, many of the supervisors MSPB surveyed indicated that they did not intend to remove probationers who were not an asset. They attributed that reluctance to complicated processes, agency culture of not firing probationers and concern about being hit with discrimination complaints.