Firing poor performers isn't the answer, report says

The popular belief that the federal government is hampered by an inability to discipline or fire poor performers isn't entirely true, according to a new report from the Merit Systems Protection Board.

The report reviews 18 years of data as well as information collected from recent employee and supervisor surveys to assess what factors influence performance management in the federal government.

"While it is popular to blame failures in performance management on either inadequate supervisors or the government's system for dealing with poor performers, the problem is actually much more complicated," MSPB researchers concluded in the report, "Federal Supervisors and Poor Performers."

It is true that employees are rarely demoted or fired in the federal government, but that fact should not reflect poorly on the government, MSPB said. "The government's measure of success in dealing with performance problems is not and should not be simply the number of employees it fires," the report said.

The report said that supervisors have simply learned that informal measures, such as counseling, work better than threats in improving job performance. In addition, such factors as organizational culture, the selection process for employees and supervisors, and the environment managers work in all play a role in failed performance management.

For example, MSPB data shows that supervisors often are not given support in dealing with unacceptable employees. MSPB's 1996 Merit Principles Survey, for example, revealed that 62 percent of supervisors said their decisions were influenced by "concern that upper level management would not support their actions."

In addition, internal agency regulations sometimes make it difficult to take action against poor performers. Fear that formal actions taken against poor performers may be challenged sometimes results in complex requirements for documentation of employee performance, MSPB said. Such documentation becomes a disincentive for managers to address performance problems.

To combat inaction in dealing with poor performers, agencies should focus on the human-relations side of supervisory work, the report said. Supervisors need to be recruited and rewarded for excellence in managing people, not just for technical skills.

"Supervisors often need special strengths, particularly in communications and human relations, in order to deal candidly and effectively with unacceptable employees," the report said.

Better selection should also be used to choose non-supervisory employees. If employees' skills match their job requirements, the problem of poor performance is often avoided, MSPB noted. "An investment in an ounce of prevention will more than pay for itself in avoiding the costs associated with firing or tolerating unacceptable employees," the report said.