The Foreign Service Journal, December 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2018 43 of LE staff contributions to the work of the U.S. government. The goal was ambitious, and the territory contentious; many of the stakeholders were highly skeptical, and the chances of success were deemed marginal. But as the saying goes, “Fortune favors the brave,” and the London HR staff pressed onward. More than 20 years later, London’s and many other LE staff worldwide sing the praises of the program that has come to be known as MBC. MBC gives managers the ability to directly link employee performance to the objectives of the section and mission. Man- agers can create specific objectives and weight them based on importance rather than time spent. A numerical rating system (0-3) combined with more specific objectives allows managers to differentiate the performance of staff along a range, rather than having to give employees an overall summary rating. At the end of the cycle, eligible employees receive a monetary reward com- mensurate with their performance, based on their total score. High performers have the opportunity to receive a higher reward than they would have received under the current within-grade increase or step system. Likewise, they also have the ability to move through the salary range faster than they otherwise would under the step system. Employees who are already at the top step of their grade are also eligible to receive a reward under MBC. They will not be able to increase their base salary, but they are eligible to receive a lump-sum payment to reward them for their hard work. At many posts, a significant percentage of employees have already reached the top step, and MBC will allow these employees to receive a performance reward for the first time in many years. Many of these employees are top performers that the mission wants to retain. MBC can be one additional tool to help managers retain high performers. In addition, MBC works on an annual cycle for all LE staff performance evaluations. Under MBC, supervisors need not track and complete Employee Performance Reports at random times throughout the year based on each employee’s hiring date. MBC runs on a uniform annual performance cycle, as it does for ten- ured American direct hires. The majority of posts adopt the rating cycle of Feb. 1 to Jan. 31, and all LE staff evaluations are due on the same date. Consequently, all LE staff evaluations are completed on time! The Supervisor’s Crucial Role MBC creates the opportunity for increased communication between managers and employees. Because the criteria in the employee’s Annual Work Plan can include specific projects and elements like teamwork and supervision, managers and employ- ees need to check in with each other more often to better gauge the employee’s progress. Because MBC results in a variable mon- Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Human Resources, Office of Overseas Employment.