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U.S. OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
Employee Services, Partnership & Labor Relations
Addressing and Resolving Poor Performance
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introducon ............................................................................................................................1
What Is the Purpose of This Guide? ....................................................................................................................... 1
How Should I Use This Guide? ................................................................................................................................ 1
Why Should I Address Poor Performance? ............................................................................................................ 2
What Can I Do To Prevent Poor Performance? ...................................................................................................... 4
Step One: Communicang Expectaons and Performance Problems .......................................5
Why Counsel an Employee? .................................................................................................................................. 5
What’s the Dierence Between Poor Performance and Misconduct? .................................................................. 5
How Can I Eecvely Counsel an Employee? ........................................................................................................ 5
Step One Checklist ................................................................................................................................................. 7
Q&A Step One Quesons and Answers ................................................................................................................. 8
Counseling Employees About Performance Problems ........................................................................................ 10
Preparing for a Counseling Session ...................................................................................................................... 10
Conducng the Counseling Session ..................................................................................................................... 11
Step Two: Providing an Opportunity To Improve ...................................................................13
Providing an Opportunity To Improve .................................................................................................................. 13
The Opportunity Period ....................................................................................................................................... 13
Special Consideraons ........................................................................................................................................ 15
Requests for Accommodaons ............................................................................................................................ 15
Requests for Leave ............................................................................................................................................... 16
Deciding What Comes Next .................................................................................................................................. 17
No Improvement During Opportunity Period ...................................................................................................... 17
Step Two Checklist................................................................................................................................................ 19
Q&A Step Two Quesons and Answers ............................................................................................................... 20
Step Three: Taking Acon ...................................................................................................... 23
Taking Acon ........................................................................................................................................................ 23
A Supervisor’s Authority ...................................................................................................................................... 23
Figure A. Elements of a Part 432 Acon ............................................................................................................... 24
Figure B. Elements of a Part 752 Acon ............................................................................................................... 24
Figure C. Comparison of Part 432 vs. Part 752 ..................................................................................................... 25
Appeal Rights ....................................................................................................................................................... 27
Step Three Checklist ............................................................................................................................................. 29
Q&A Step Three Quesons and Answers ............................................................................................................ 30
Special Topics ........................................................................................................................33
The Probaonary/Trial Period .............................................................................................................................. 33
Within-Grade Increase Denials ............................................................................................................................. 34
Special Topics: Key Points To Remember .............................................................................................................. 35
Probaonary Employees ...................................................................................................................................... 35
Within-Grade Increases ........................................................................................................................................ 36
Q&A Special Topics: Quesons and Answers ...................................................................................................... 37
Appendix ...............................................................................................................................39
Contents ............................................................................................................................................................... 39
Sample Memorandum of Counseling: Example #1 .............................................................................................. 41
Sample Memorandum of Counseling: Example #2 .............................................................................................. 42
Sample Opportunity Noce: Example #1 ............................................................................................................. 43
Sample Opportunity Noce: Example #2 ............................................................................................................. 47
Sample Proposal Noce ....................................................................................................................................... 52
Sample Decision Noce ........................................................................................................................................ 56