Federal Managers Association

In the News

• Make ‘Full Use’ of Probationary Period, OPM Tells Agencies - December 20, 2023

• Following is a memo in which OPM told agencies to make “full use” of the probationary period, the (generally) one year period after federal employees are hired in which agencies evaluate them and may fire them without the legal protections that apply to employees who successfully complete the period.

  FEDweek

  As the nation’s largest employer, the federal government regularly recruits new talent into the federal workforce. To give agencies an opportunity to assess, on the job, new hires’ overall fitness and qualification for continued employment and permit the swift termination when performance or conduct does not meet acceptable standards to deliver on the mission, new employees must generally complete a probationary period. A probationary period is the final evaluative step in the hiring process of a new employee and is an essential and highly effective supervisory tool to evaluate a candidate’s potential to be an asset to the agency before the candidate’s appointment becomes final.

  To read the full article, click here.

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