Posted on Oct 16, 2014
How many have supervised GS civilian employees? The appraisal/feedback rating system seems like a joke to me.
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How many other members out there have supervised GS employees before? I've had military subordinates before throughout my career, but the new job I just got moved to has me directly supervising some GS civilians.
I know we've recently revamped the EPR system in the AF in order to get rid of the culture of "Firewall Five's" (time will tell if it will change things), but the civilian system seems even worse.
I got to look through records for people today and EVERY ONE of them was given an 8 or 9 (out of 9 possible points) in the 9 separate appraisal categories. Also one EVERY ONE of their feedback forms, the members were marked on the far right side of the scale of "needs significant improvement" up to "needs little or no improvement." That must mean every one of the civilians in the organization is just awesome and needs no improvement or something is wrong with this system. Just like every enlisted member can't be a firewall 5 - every civilian should not be getting all 8's and 9's on appraisals if they are to be used effectively.
Has anybody else noticed this with GS employees?
I know we've recently revamped the EPR system in the AF in order to get rid of the culture of "Firewall Five's" (time will tell if it will change things), but the civilian system seems even worse.
I got to look through records for people today and EVERY ONE of them was given an 8 or 9 (out of 9 possible points) in the 9 separate appraisal categories. Also one EVERY ONE of their feedback forms, the members were marked on the far right side of the scale of "needs significant improvement" up to "needs little or no improvement." That must mean every one of the civilians in the organization is just awesome and needs no improvement or something is wrong with this system. Just like every enlisted member can't be a firewall 5 - every civilian should not be getting all 8's and 9's on appraisals if they are to be used effectively.
Has anybody else noticed this with GS employees?
Posted in these groups: 
GS Civilians
GS Civilians
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 2
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Maj Matt Hylton, I have supervised GS civilians and I agree with you that the evaluation system is worse than the military system (OER/NCOER).
Our Army system is slightly different from what you describe, but I have seen only one evaluation be really negative (i.e., honest) in eight years, and it had virtually no impact on the employee. I guess the biggest impact is that she did not get a cash award or a time off award.
They say that the only way to hurt a civilian with an evaluation is to roll it up and poke it in their eye!
Our Army system is slightly different from what you describe, but I have seen only one evaluation be really negative (i.e., honest) in eight years, and it had virtually no impact on the employee. I guess the biggest impact is that she did not get a cash award or a time off award.
They say that the only way to hurt a civilian with an evaluation is to roll it up and poke it in their eye!
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SGT Steven Montgomery
This is generally total crap in my humble opinion.....when I was in the Army we didn't have civilians doing our jobs and please don't get me wrong. They don't fill in for the combat positions but for the 80-90% of military who have office jobs the contractor personnel probably do more work than the military in just about every instance. I'm sure anyone who sees this will disagree but I work as a contract specialist as a civilian for DLA and we hire/contract for so many civilian contractors that it makes me wonder what the military folks do - manage their contractors? Seems so to me. This is also true for civilians getting contractor support so please don't think I'm singling out the military, I was one for 6 years and never had one iota of civilian support. So what are you evaluated on? On how well you manage your contractor support? This touches a nerve for me because I know and see how much we spend on contractor support for every aspect of the US Government!!!
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SGT Steven Montgomery
Well, it's easy to sit back in your chair and say "Get that contractor" I'll be busy working on your next assignment! You can't fool me - I've seen it too much for too many years!!
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I was Officer in Charge of the Navy Submarine Base, Groton, Ct., back in the 70's. Had 150 GS and 50 military. Largest commissary in the New England Region, 3rd largest in US Navy, 7th largest in DOD system. I have always graded on a curve. Officers who rate everyone 1% do a great dis-service to all.
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