Challenging a federal performance appraisal

[Anonymous]

You may be able to change the words on a sheet of paper but you will not be able to change how they feel about you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You may be able to change the words on a sheet of paper but you will not be able to change how they feel about you.

I don’t give a sh** about their feelings, this is my career, not My Little Pony. I work, I perform, and I want a fair rating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have heard from more than one Fed that they often only give “meets” rating in the first year after a promotion. One person was directly told that the reason for receiving a meets was because it is the first year in the new position.

But that’s not what happened when I was promoted to a 13, even though that was the previous manager.

This is where I wish I had a mentor, navigating this stuff by myself is so hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You may be able to change the words on a sheet of paper but you will not be able to change how they feel about you.

I don’t give a sh** about their feelings, this is my career, not My Little Pony. I work, I perform, and I want a fair rating.

My point was you can argue over the words on the paper but they already think they gave you a "fair rating."

[Anonymous]

I tried one time, but was told that I could only challenge it if I had done something not assessed in the original review. So, basically it’s subjective and I could do nothing. It was a good review. I was in a pay band and my boss at the time thought I should be grateful for the $500 raise he gave me, and said a raise means I’m doing a good job so what did I want. I wanted the same raise my peers got, but he had a limited pool and gave the money to someone else because the glowing words in my review apparently only lined up to $500 that year.

The whining though did get me more the following year. He didn’t want to deal with it again, I’m sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You may be able to change the words on a sheet of paper but you will not be able to change how they feel about you.

I don’t give a sh** about their feelings, this is my career, not My Little Pony. I work, I perform, and I want a fair rating.

My point was you can argue over the words on the paper but they already think they gave you a "fair rating."

I don’t think she put much thought into it at all, honestly. There’s really nothing on the paper for me to go by so I’m assuming laziness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You may be able to change the words on a sheet of paper but you will not be able to change how they feel about you.

I don’t give a sh** about their feelings, this is my career, not My Little Pony. I work, I perform, and I want a fair rating.

My point was you can argue over the words on the paper but they already think they gave you a "fair rating."

I don’t think she put much thought into it at all, honestly. There’s really nothing on the paper for me to go by so I’m assuming laziness.

I think actually it’s more what the PP said…..you were promoted. You may be working now at grade level, and that’s why you’re working so hard, but your output is as expected. The first year I was a 14 was a lot for me. I just took a demotion this year back to a 13 at a FinReg and it’s a lot less stressful. You may think you’re doing the same but your expectations are also higher now. Don’t worry, you will get back up to it. It’s common for this to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You may be able to change the words on a sheet of paper but you will not be able to change how they feel about you.

I don’t give a sh** about their feelings, this is my career, not My Little Pony. I work, I perform, and I want a fair rating.

My point was you can argue over the words on the paper but they already think they gave you a "fair rating."

I don’t think she put much thought into it at all, honestly. There’s really nothing on the paper for me to go by so I’m assuming laziness.

I think actually it’s more what the PP said…..you were promoted. You may be working now at grade level, and that’s why you’re working so hard, but your output is as expected. The first year I was a 14 was a lot for me. I just took a demotion this year back to a 13 at a FinReg and it’s a lot less stressful. You may think you’re doing the same but your expectations are also higher now. Don’t worry, you will get back up to it. It’s common for this to happen.

I don’t know if that is the norm in our agency as this didn’t happen when I was promoted to a 13.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You may be able to change the words on a sheet of paper but you will not be able to change how they feel about you.

I don’t give a sh** about their feelings, this is my career, not My Little Pony. I work, I perform, and I want a fair rating.

My point was you can argue over the words on the paper but they already think they gave you a "fair rating."

I don’t think she put much thought into it at all, honestly. There’s really nothing on the paper for me to go by so I’m assuming laziness.

I think actually it’s more what the PP said…..you were promoted. You may be working now at grade level, and that’s why you’re working so hard, but your output is as expected. The first year I was a 14 was a lot for me. I just took a demotion this year back to a 13 at a FinReg and it’s a lot less stressful. You may think you’re doing the same but your expectations are also higher now. Don’t worry, you will get back up to it. It’s common for this to happen.

I don’t know if that is the norm in our agency as this didn’t happen when I was promoted to a 13.

It depends on your agency, your job, your boss, your role, of course. But it’s not abnormal to think that when you are promoted the expectation of your performance changes. Having been rated exceptional for a while before being promoted is often a sign it’s time for a new role. It doesn’t mean you will take the new role and immediately work above that grade level also.

FWIW, my promotion from 12 to 13 was automatic, so there was no transition. The promotion to a 14 was much more than that for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You may be able to change the words on a sheet of paper but you will not be able to change how they feel about you.

Au contraire, there's quite an opportunity here to make them feel worse about you.

[Anonymous]

I'm a manager and a GS-14. I had a former boss who the first three years you were promoted, she would not rate you any higher than fully successful. However, when our boss retired, I got rated much higher. I never bothered contesting because I didn't want to be seen as being resistant to constructive feedback.

I have employees contest their ratings all the time. What is funny is it is usually an employee with over a 4.0. They will nit pick every comment.

In my experience, be able to quantify and provide any tangible results that show you performed at a higher level. And make sure you submitted a self-assessment. I supervise 24 people and only two EVER submit their self-assessment.

[Anonymous]

I had a boss who refused to rate anyone in their first year at the job at anything other than Fully Successful. Kick in the pants when she told me as long as I kept doing what I’m doing I should get Exceeds the following year (she never rated anyone Outstanding). I’ve had Outstanding the last three years under a different boss. Our ratings are tied to pretty significant bonuses, to include Quality Step Increases for the top performers.

I should have challenged it the first year but I didn’t know enough about the process then.

[Anonymous]

OP, if you’re this fired up by a federal government job review after just being promoted, you may not be a good cultural fit for the government. Then again, federal government employees complain about EVERYTHING. As a former federal government manager, you make me happy I retired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have always gotten “exceeds fully successful” and this year have been rated “fully successful.” I was recently promoted to a GS-14 but also I have been working my BUTT OFF for the past year. I believe it was my best performance ever, not that I deserve a downgrade.

If you just got promoted to a 14, how do you expect to get "exceeds fully successful"? Are you saying you are doing 15-equivalent work?

[Anonymous]

Did your supervisor change with the promotion? Did you get an interim rating for your previous position? Are you a supervisor now and we’re you one before?

Contesting your rating is hard, especially if you are a supervisor. The rating criteria is much more subjective and less quantifiable. Do you really think you could give enough support to overturn her rating? It would need to be pretty incontrovertible.

If you were just promoted to a 14, then your current rating wouldn’t likely affect any future promotions. You need at least a year at the 14 to apply for a 15 and I know of few places that would promote to a 15 without several years experience at the 14 level. You only submit your most recent appraisal with an application. But if you contest your rating as a newly promoted 14, word will spread. That is much h more likely to affect future promotions.