{"id":434107,"date":"2026-01-28T04:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T04:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/434107\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T04:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T04:44:08","slug":"forced-distributions-for-all-coming-for-current-ratings-cycle-kupor-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/434107\/","title":{"rendered":"Forced Distributions for All Coming for Current Ratings Cycle, Kupor Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\tAs with the SES policy now in place and the preview of a government-wide expansion, Kupor termed performance ratings inflated.\t\t\t\t\t Image: Pasuwan\/Shutterstock.com
\n\t\t\t\tBy: FEDweek Staff<\/a><\/p>\n

OPM plans to require government-wide forced distribution of performance ratings in the current (fiscal 2026) evaluation cycle, director Scott Kupor has said, while adding that there will not be a requirement for rating a certain percentage of employees below the \u201cfully successful\u201d level 3.<\/p>\n

Kupor earlier had previewed<\/a> plans for applying forced ratings distributions government-wide, citing as a model policies<\/a> OPM made effective for the 2026 cycle for senior executives that limit to 30 percent the number who can be rated in the top two levels, 4 and 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working on similar guidance for other members of the federal workforce that we anticipate will also be in place for the FY26 cycle; but those have yet to complete their full regulatory review processes,\u201d he said in a posting. \u201cFor now, we have simply told agencies that they should seek a more normalized distribution of performance ratings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn no case has OPM implemented a forced rating percentage of \u2018below satisfactory\u2019 ratings, and we do not have any plans to do that . . . to be clear, OPM is not requiring or suggesting any forced ratings distributions at these levels,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cHowever, I don\u2019t think many people would argue that 0.3% [rated below 3] accurately reflects the expected level of underperformance in a two-million-person workforce (most organizations of that scale are likely to see 5-10% underperformance in any given review cycle).\u201d<\/p>\n

As with the SES policy now in place and the preview of a government-wide expansion, Kupor termed performance ratings inflated, a message OPM later highlighted<\/a> in launching a revised federal workforce data site. It showed that government-wide, 30 percent of employees rated under a five-level rating system were rated at level 5 in 2025, 18 percent at level 4, 51 percent at level 3, and less than 1 percent at levels 1 or 2. (Figures OPM had used in the announcement regarding the SES showed 96 percent rated at one of the top two levels and less than one-half of 1 percent below level 3.)<\/p>\n

OPM previously had not set a time frame for applying forced distributions government-wide, nor had it addressed the prospect of requiring that a certain share of employees be rated as a level 1 or 2, which can lead to agency moves to fire employees. Kupor had, however, raised the prospect of combining those two levels, an issue not part of the latest posting.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged that forced distribution of ratings \u201cis different from how things were being done in the previous administration and perhaps in a different environment than one may have signed up for.\u201d But he said that there is \u201cno shame\u201d in a fully successful rating because it reflects that an employee \u201cis achieving all expectations for their position and is contributing in a meaningful way to the agency\u2019s success in meeting its goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOutstanding or exceptional work is something completely different,\u201d he wrote, while \u201cnothing reduces morale more than a performance management system where virtually no one gets a low performance rating, and where poor performance is not met with any consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Forced Distributions for All Coming for Current Ratings Cycle, Kupor Says<\/a><\/p>\n

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See also,<\/p>\n

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FERS & CSRS Calculator: See Your Annuity Estimate!<\/a><\/p>\n

Federal Manager\u2019s Handbook, 7th Ed.<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As with the SES policy now in place and the preview of a government-wide expansion, Kupor termed performance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,147,530],"class_list":["post-434107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}