Part 7, Chapter 7: Manual Exhibit 7-7-C

All elements of the performance plan are critical and must support the organization's goals and ultimately the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Strategic Plan.  The elements must be related to the employee's duties and responsibilities.

All employees will be rated on the Administrative Requirements critical element (Part II.A of the performance plan.)  The supervisor, along with input from the employee will develop and establish specific outcomes to support Agency strategic initiatives to be included as critical elements in the Individual Performance Outcomes section (Part II.B of the performance plan).  Each objective should include at least one accompanying metric that is quantifiable and results-based, and each metric should contain a specific target result to be met at the Achieved Expected Results level.

The performance plan should be signed and dated by the supervisor and the employee in Part I.A prior to implementation.

Progress Review

Supervisors will conduct at least one progress review, at approximately the midpoint in the appraisal cycle.  While only one progress review is required, additional reviews are encouraged to maximize employee feedback.  The supervisor must provide written documentation if performance on any element is less than Achieved Expected Results.  The supervisor and employee should sign and date Part I.B after a progress review is conducted.  If the employee refuses to sign, the supervisor should annotate the form, "Employee declined to sign.  Progress review conducted on (date)."  The employee should be provided a copy of such progress review.

Year End Performance Appraisal

The supervisor will assign a rating to each critical element (Administrative Requirements and the Individual Performance Outcomes/Elements).  The rating level definitions will be assigned a numerical score as follows (no decimal points):

After rating and assigning a score to each critical element, the rating official will total the points and divide by the number of critical elements, to arrive at an average score (up to two decimal places).  This score will be converted to a summary rating based on the following point values:

Exceptions to the Mathematical Formula

If an employee receives Partially Achieved Expected Results on one or more critical elements, he or she cannot receive a summary rating of higher than Achieved Expected Results, regardless of the average point score.  A summary rating of Achieved Unsatisfactory Results will be assigned to any employee who is rated Achieved Unsatisfactory Results on any critical element.

The rating official must submit the rating to the reviewing official for concurrence and signature prior to presenting the final plan to the employee.  The supervisor or rating official will conduct a performance discussion with the employee.  The employee should sign and date Part I.C.  If the employee refuses to sign, the supervisor should annotate the form, "Employee declined to sign.  Rating discussed on (date) and copy provided to employee."

The employee will be provided with a copy of the complete final rating of record and the original forwarded to the Servicing HR Office for retention.