Paige Hinkle-Bowles, deputy assistant secretary for civilian personnel policy at the Defense Department, has said DoD has begun to implement an enterprisewide appraisal program for civilian staff performance through its New Beginnings initiative, DoD News reported Tuesday.Hinkle-Bowles told DoD News reporter Jim Garamone in an interview that DoD will start the transition of its 14,500 civilian employees into the Defense Performance Management and Appraisal Program in April.
She noted that the Pentagon plans to achieve full implementation of the program by October 2018 and cover the department’s more than 600,000 General Schedule and Wage Grade employees by that time.
DoD will use “outstanding,” “fully successful” and “unacceptable” as the three rating levels for the program and link performance-based actions and bonuses to the employees’ performance, she told the publication.
Hinkle-Bowles added that the department will require supervisors to document at least three feedback sessions with each employee throughout the annual rating cycle as part of the program.
