Hundreds of thousands of civilian employees in the Department of Defense will transition to a new performance appraisal system this April in what is the largest-to-date test of the New Beginnings labor-management system. 

The first wave of 15,000 employees moved into the system in the spring of 2016, while a smaller group transitioned in October. The biggest move to date will occur in April, 2017 when about 280,000 employees will move to the new system. 

Here’s who’s moving into New Beginnings in April, 2017: 

• Nearly all Air Force employees 
• Army employees at West Point, in Europe, and select commands 
• Navy employees in administration, manpower and personnel, the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Chief of Naval Operations, and Navy Installations Command 
• Defense Contract Audit Agency 
• Defense Logistics Agency 
• National Guard bureau 
• Defense Media Activity 
• Defense Human Resources Activity 
• Office of the Inspector General 
• Joint Staff 
• Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences 
• Interns and recent graduates at the Missile Defense Agency 

New Beginnings relies on a 3-tiered evaluation system, where 1 is unsuccessful, 3 is fully successful, and 5 is outstanding. All employees must have written performance plans, developed jointly with their supervisors, that detail the critical elements of their job and set goals for the year ahead. 

To ensure the success of this effort, employees must be trained on how to write effective performance plans, how to evaluate their own performance, and what to do if their evaluation doesn’t meet expectations. 

AFGE has developed detailed training on the new system. The next New Beginnings training will be held in Atlantic City in January as part of the District 4 training conference.

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