A version of this piece originally ran in FEDmanager.com as an FMA partner column.

Imagine going to the doctor for a routine check-up. The doctor notices some unspecified issues that don't seem to be causing a problem thus far, and she decides to run some expensive tests. Fair enough — she's the expert. Then, while you await the results of the tests, she informs you she's gone ahead and decided to remove your kidney without any proof that anything is wrong with it. The results of the tests that will say if that was necessary will not arrive until after you've gone under the knife.

Is this Ridiculous? Sure. Malpractice? Definitely. Yet, this is precisely what the House of Representatives has voted to do in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022 (NDAA). The Act's two-year probationary period at the Department of Defense (DOD) bypasses an NDAA that repeals new hires' current two-year probationary period.

Before the probationary period extension in 2015 from one year to two, DOD supervisors frequently decided to retain or dismiss employees who were less than halfway through the position's training period due to the difficulty of removing an employee following the probationary period. This disfunction produced chaos, as managers could not correctly assess whether an individual would shape up (or not) without additional time.

It was also pointlessly cruel to employees; many of them may eventually have been fantastic federal employees.

If signed into law, the probationary period reduction will remove the opportunity for a future fed to prove themselves. Other’s incapable of the work could land a position adequately proficient in performing. This is terrible for workforce morale and even worse for navy personnel stationed on nuclear submarines where incompetent employees might be assigned to perform maintenance.

In 2019, Congress ordered a comprehensive study on the efficacy of the two-year probationary period. Though the study is not yet complete, we can expect the report's release within months. However, the House has voted to ignore the (expensive, already paid-for) study and reduce the two-year probationary period at DOD to a single year. It's inexplicable not to wait a little longer to make an informed decision, backed up by data requested by Congress.

Fortunately, this change has not made it into the Senate version of the NDAA, and though it won't be easy, the Federal Managers Association (FMA) is working to keep it that way.

Keeping it out of the final report to President Biden will take hard work and your help. FMA is working closely with Congressional staffers and Senators across the political spectrum to advocate for feds on this issue. Some of our contacts have asked us to reach out to DOD employees to ask how this two-year probationary period has helped them. The support of those Senators will be decisive, one way or another.

Are you a manager at DOD? Has this extended probationary period helped you or your colleagues to better train and assess your employees? We want to help share your story. Contact Adam Kay at akay@fedmanagers.org to tell us how the two-year probationary period has impacted you.