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OPM.gov / Policy / Performance Management / Performance Management Playbook
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Awards and Recognition

Awards, both monetary and non-monetary, support a culture in which individuals who have demonstrated genuinely exceptional performance and contributions to the agency receive the largest performance awards, pay adjustments, and rates of pay adjustments.

Organizational & Team Level Awards

Group Incentive Program

  • Delivers awards to groups of employees who meet or exceed pre-established levels of organizational performance

  • Awards may be in the form of cash payments, time-off, and/or informal recognition

  • Can cover groups as large as the entire agency or as small as a work unit or team

Gainsharing and Goalsharing

  • Gainsharing allows employees to share in an award based on productivity gains or savings beyond a predetermined baseline

  • Gainsharing programs are self-funding vs Goalsharing which is funded through an agency’s award budget

Individual Awards

Agency-level Awards (All Career Employees)

  • Rewards individual and team accomplishments identified by the agency’s senior leader

  • Fosters agency-wide culture of rewarding goal achievement and outstanding performance

Special Act Awards (All Career Employees)

  • Individual contribution award that should be awarded in real time throughout the year

  • Agencies are highly encouraged to reward employees who identify actionable opportunities for the Government to increase its operational efficiency

Presidential Rank Awards

Career Senior Executive Service (SES) and Senior Professionals (SP) Employees

  • Annual award given by the President to the top-performing career SES and SP employees

    • Distinguished
    • Meritorious

  • OPM releases a call to agencies for nominations

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