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OPM's proposed performance rules suggest not all Artemis 2 astronauts can be Outstanding
By now some of you have probably seen OPM's proposed rule on non-SES performance appraisals (91 FR 8780, published February 24th). Comment period just closed March 26th, so it's sitting in OPM's inbox right now being "considered." The rule would give OPM authority to cap how many federal employees can receive top performance ratings government-wide. Jack Welch's vitality curve, essentially, but for your agency's HR system.As I write this, four astronauts are floating in space farther from humanity than anyone before them. Two of them — Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch — are NASA civil servants covered by the very performance appraisal system OPM wants to overhaul. They strapped themselves to a rocket, left the planet, swung around a celestial body 240,000 miles away, and are hopefully on their way back alive. By any reasonable measure, both should earn 5's this performance period. Hell, maybe even a step increase.But under the proposed framework? Sorry, Reid. Sorry, Christina. Numbers are numbers. We can't have everyone at Level 5. One of you may have only been Fully Successful at going to the moon. Your trajectory work was solid, but frankly the other one's suit checks were more consistently documented.I picture some GS-12 HR specialist at NASA HQ staring at a spreadsheet right now. "Yeah, but did they both perform at the same level or did someone clearly stand out?"They. Went. To. The. Moon.The rule is careful to note the actual distribution percentages will be set later by OPM guidance — could be 20%, could be 10%. The proposed regulation literally just says OPM can "establish and refine as needed." Refine as needed. For the people who went to the moon.Obviously this is a far-fetched, tongue-in-cheek example. But the broader point stands: sometimes everyone in an office genuinely is outstanding. Sometimes they are not. Usually there is a natural distribution. But forcing that distribution doesn't make the ratings more accurate — it just makes them more artificial. If an organization legitimately has 80% of its people performing at Level 4 or 5, that's worth examining through better objective measures. Forcing those people into lower categories isn't rigor. It's just math cosplaying as accountability.
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