OPM memo on awards

[Anonymous]

another continuation of OPM's mission of killing fed workers morale. literally nothing new here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean you already weren’t trying, why should you get an award?

I am trying, but my productivity is diminished due to being exhausted. Also, pretty rich to do everything possible to demoralize employees and then punish them for being demoralized. My team members are in the same boat. I guess none of us will get awards.

Reminder that you just said your productivity was diminished.

Different posters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At some agencies, your rating directly affects your pay (salary increase, bonus amount).

Who gets salary increases based on performance? If I wanted my 15, I'd need to apply on usajobs and compete. There's no way I could get a salary increase. That's been true since I've been a GS 11.

We were told no bonuses this year, even for small amounts like $200.

We do at my agency! Non gs scale. Planning to leverage this for a pay bump.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought Feds cared about the mission?

You give good Feds a bad name.

Non sequitur. This is about caring deeply about the mission, working hard, and then getting only a 3/5 for "reasons." No one at my agency is expecting a $ award, but the least they can do is tell us we did well.

Your productivity has gone down because you have to work in an office like most of America? It doesn’t sound like you did actually do well.

This is lame. I’m in the private sector and I’ve been remote for 10 years through three different jobs. Quite a few of my private sector friends are at least hybrid.

Morale is important for performance. That’s how humans operate. Do you not manage people?

[Anonymous]

Please ignore the troll. Don't respond. Just trying to get your goat with obviously a-hole responses.

That said this is all ridiculous and we all know it. Everything this admin has handed down has one purpose...to demoralize.

None of their changes make sense on any level otherwise. They make all these false claims about working for the American people but they are just having fun torturing feds while they line their pockets. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please ignore the troll. Don't respond. Just trying to get your goat with obviously a-hole responses.

That said this is all ridiculous and we all know it. Everything this admin has handed down has one purpose...to demoralize.

None of their changes make sense on any level otherwise. They make all these false claims about working for the American people but they are just having fun torturing feds while they line their pockets. Period.

I think your response was the longest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean you already weren’t trying, why should you get an award?

I am trying, but my productivity is diminished due to being exhausted. Also, pretty rich to do everything possible to demoralize employees and then punish them for being demoralized. My team members are in the same boat. I guess none of us will get awards.

Reminder that you just said your productivity was diminished.

That is not the same as not trying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought Feds cared about the mission?

You give good Feds a bad name.

Non sequitur. This is about caring deeply about the mission, working hard, and then getting only a 3/5 for "reasons." No one at my agency is expecting a $ award, but the least they can do is tell us we did well.

Your productivity has gone down because you have to work in an office like most of America? It doesn’t sound like you did actually do well.

Working in an office is not a problem. Waking up at 5am every day and spending 3 hours a day in traffic or in transit is a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is this supposed to motivate anyone, if there is an arbitrary limit on how many people can receive 4s and 5s?

Why should I waste energy trying to be great when it’s unlikely I’ll receive an award?

I used to go above and beyond, but RTO and other things have already been incredibly draining and demoralizing, and now I have one less reason to go above and beyond.

Is there a recent memo? The only one I see is from August 2025

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is this supposed to motivate anyone, if there is an arbitrary limit on how many people can receive 4s and 5s?

Why should I waste energy trying to be great when it’s unlikely I’ll receive an award?

I used to go above and beyond, but RTO and other things have already been incredibly draining and demoralizing, and now I have one less reason to go above and beyond.

Is there a recent memo? The only one I see is from August 2025

Same. I don't see a memo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is this supposed to motivate anyone, if there is an arbitrary limit on how many people can receive 4s and 5s?

Why should I waste energy trying to be great when it’s unlikely I’ll receive an award?

I used to go above and beyond, but RTO and other things have already been incredibly draining and demoralizing, and now I have one less reason to go above and beyond.

Is there a recent memo? The only one I see is from August 2025

Same. I don't see a memo.

+1
Can you share it

[Anonymous]

Yes I believe this just dropped maybe a few hours ago.

[Anonymous]

This is the right call, awards s/b very limited.
They need to offer work life balance back or offer generous time off awards throughout the year. Would be a great incentive.

[Anonymous]

I think this is the memo folks are talking about:
https://www.opm.gov/news/secrets-of-opm/not-managing-performance/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the right call, awards s/b very limited.
They need to offer work life balance back or offer generous time off awards throughout the year. Would be a great incentive.

I'm completely not interested in time off awards. Many of us already don't use all our leave.

Fed "awards" already are limited. We're talking $250/$1500/$2500. These aren't the huge bonuses private sector gets.