The Foreign Service Journal, November 2003

A FSA and State management have approved a new EER form. It’s a pilot program, and for now, it applies only to 01s andmembers of the Senior Service. The new form will be evaluated at the end of the first year with a view toward scrapping it, improving it or keeping it as it is and extending it to mid-level tenured employees. There are several significant departures from the previous form. The first — and most important — change is that the ratee’s statement comes first. The ratee prepares a document describingwhat he/she did. This page is tied to thework require- ments and the ratee must include at least three of them. It is not an assess- ment of how well or poorly the employee performed. Some employ- ees have complained toAFSA that this change simply puts the “suicide box” first. Nothing could be further from the truth. The so-called suicide box is usually one of three things: a perfunctory statement to the effect the employee enjoyed working with the rater and reviewer and is grateful for their glowing assessment; or some description of additional accomplishments that didn’t make it into the rating because of space constraints; or a rebuttal of what the ratee perceives as an incomplete, unfair or prejudicial rating. This often becomes very emo- tional. This new formgives you an opportunity to talk about what you did and why it was important. You get to put your best foot forward … first! Here at AFSA, lots of members come by, call or e-mail us about their EERs. One common complaint we hear is that “I gave him examples of my work for my EER, but he didn’t use any of them.” Another is that, “I am being asked to sign that counseling took place, but it never did. Do I have any recourse? Do I have to sign?” With the new EER form, there will be examples because you have put them there. The rater will have to work fromyour list of accomplishments. The rater will have to comment on what you think was important. AFSA expects there to be a lively give- and-take between the ratee and the rater. And, finally, if counseling never took place, you don’t have to sign that box. In June, AFSA asked employees to comment on the pro- posed new forms, and we heard frommany of you. Youwant- edmore space for the work requirements: we got it. Youwant- ed the “special circumstances” section restored: it was. You wanted more space for the reviewer’s comments: that’s there. You also insisted on an obligatory independent and substan- tive comment from the reviewer, not just one in the event the reviewer and the rater disagreed: that’s now SOP. The newEER form is shorter than the old. The rater is now limited to only one page, not two, and the space for the reviewer’s input is also small- er. Before we agreed to this, we con- tacted every State member of last year’s selection boards and a lot of this year’s too. (We did not think it appropriate to ask those whowere still sitting on selection boards.) We asked them if an independent substantive comment from the reviewer was important to their deliberations. Most of those who replied said yes. Those who did not say yes said it was essential when there was a difference between the views of the rater and the reviewer. We asked if the job of making decisions on pro- motions would be harder with shorter ratings; i.e., one fewer page of prose from the rater. The answer was a unanimous “No!” Many said the second page is often repetitive and does not add anything substantive. AFSA will meet with those who sit on next year’s selection panels and ask them what they think of the new form. Does it need tweaking? Or junking? Did it help you do your job? We will also ask those whose evaluations were written using the new form. And we will ask if it is appropriate for mid-level employees. This is a pilot program and AFSA encourages comment. Sock it to me — to use a nostalgic phrase — at cranelk@ afsa.org . ▫ This new form gives you an opportunity to talk about what you did and why it was important. V.P. VOICE: STATE BY LOUISE CRANE 4 AFSA NEWS • NOVEMBER 2003 New EER Form: Putting Your Best Foot Forward ... First!