U.S. President Donald Trump walks on the day of the annual National Prayer Breakfast at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., February 6, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
The Trump administration on Thursday ordered all federal departments and agencies by March 7 to submit lists of employees who received less than “fully successful” job performance ratings in the past three years.
The order from the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management said that “OPM is developing new performance metrics for evaluating the federal workforce,” and requires agencies to identify any barriers to making “meaningful distinctions” between employees’ job performance relative to one another.
The memo also orders agencies to identify any barriers to an agency having “the ability to swiftly terminate poor performing employees who cannot or will not improve.”
Acting OPM Director Charles Ezell said the new performance metrics will align “with the priorities and standards” in recent executive orders by President Donald Trump.
CNBC has requested comment from OPM on the memo.
The memo orders agencies to disclose the name, job title, pay plan, duty station and other details of employees who received a performance rating below “fully successful’ in recent years.
It also asks if that “employee is under or successfully completed a performance improvement plan within the last 12 months,” and whether the agency “has already proposed and issued a decision” on efforts to demote or remove that worker for performance-based reasons.”
The memo additionally asks if such an action “is currently appealed or challenged and under what procedures,” and any outcome of those proceedings.”
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