The U.S. EPA and AFGE Council 238 entered into an agreement which is entitled, “Article 34, Employee Performance Evaluation.”  This Article sets forth the procedures and appropriate arrangements for the implementation by the U.S. EPA of the Performance Appraisal and Recognition System (PARS).  Both the U.S. EPA and AFGE Council 238 endorsed the following principles:

• PARS must be fair, equitable, and solely related to job performance.
• Management will establish and communicate to employees performance elements, critical elements, non-critical elements, and performance standards subject to law and regulations, and this Article.
• Employee participation or input into the establishment of performance standards will be made in collaborative manner.
• Performance elements, critical elements, non-critical elements, and performance standards that assess an employee’s performance must be job-related, documented and measurable.
• There must be a nexus between the expected manner of performance and the expected job results.
• Supervisors have the responsibility for helping employees maximize their performance, which can best be accomplished through constructive and positive performance management.
• Performance management is an inherent and significant element of supervision.

Please download and read PARS Article 34 Effective January 1, 2008, which is a PDF.  This will require the use of free Acrobat Reader.

Guidance

• Performance Appraisal and Recognition System (PARS) Tutorial – Measuring Employee Performance (Agency Intranet) The President’s Management Agenda (PMA) addresses five government-wide initiatives, including Strategic Management of Human Capital. Under the umbrella of Strategic Management of Human Capital, EPA needs to ensure that individual performance plans for all employees are linked to our Strategic Plan goals. This tutorial provides a quick refresher of EPA’s Performance Appraisal and Recognition System (PARS), and an 8 Step process to develop the performance plan.
• SOP on Interim Performance Appraisals Aug 2009