OPM offers help in dealing with poor performers

Managers aren't supposed to be afraid of much in the workplace, but there's one issue that can strike fear in their hearts: dealing with poor-performing employees.

Consider this: More than 110,000 of 200,000 federal managers surveyed by the Merit Systems Protection Board last year said they were supervising employees with performance problems. Still, less than one percent of government employees received a performance rating of unacceptable. In fact, "exceeds fully successful" has been the average performance rating for federal employees over the past five years.

What's going wrong? Confusion about procedures and reluctance to confront poor performers, says Steve Cohen, director of the Office of Personnel Management's Office of Workforce Relations.

But with the help of today's technology, Cohen said OPM hopes to remedy the situation. OPM has just released an interactive CD-ROM called "Addressing and Resolving Poor Performance: An Interactive Tool for Supervisors."

"We must create the culture that makes it clear that supervisors need to be accountable," Cohen said. "It is a matter of making supervisors more comfortable with the process."

The CD-ROM and accompanying manual detail the three-step process that OPM recommends to address and resolve poor performance. First, the supervisor should communicate expectations and performance problems to the employee. Next, the supervisor must provide the employee an opportunity to improve. Finally, the supervisor must take action, whether it be removal or some lesser sanction.

The CD features segments with current federal managers talking about their experiences in dealing with poor performers and reenactments of supervisor-to-employee counseling sessions. The disc also contains a "toolbox" with samples of documentation provided by a supervisor to an employee at different stages in the performance problem process. Supervisors can also get information on specific topics, such as within-grade increase denials and employee appeal rights.

"What we are hoping is that as managers begin to view the disc, they can begin to deal with these issues," Cohen said. "We hope they become more comfortable with the process and realize that the earlier they deal with a problem, the better."

Cohen said OPM's renewed interest in the employee performance issue stems from the government's recent downsizing binge.

"Some supervisors are new and some personnel people may not be readily available," he said. "But as the government gets smaller, it's all the more important that every employee carries his or her own weight."

The National Partnership for Reinventing Government estimates that during the Clinton Administration, 350,000 positions in the federal government have been cut.

OPM says that in the new environment, it's especially important that supervisors be aware of their options in dealing with poor performers.

"We want the managers to be happy," Cohen said. "And our objective is not to have employees fired. Our objective is to take good employees and make them better."

The CD-ROM costs $4 and the accompanying booklet is $1.50. To order, call Monyca Wright in the Office of Workforce Relations at 202-606-2920. The booklet will also be available on OPM's Web site by mid-April.