Reform of toxic performance management, “a triumph for common sense”

Prospect will work to ensure that the civil service has a performance management system that has the confidence of staff following Cabinet Office moves to reform the much-reviled assessment framework.
toxic

Prospect will work to ensure that the civil service has a performance management system that has the confidence of staff following Cabinet Office moves to reform the much-reviled assessment framework.

The union, which represents 30,000 professionals, managers and specialists in the civil service and government agencies, has particularly welcomed a move away from so-called forced distribution that sought arbitrary quotas for performance categories including under performers. The reforms will give departments and agencies flexibility to develop and design their own performance management systems in future within a framework of guiding principles. This is much-needed good news,” said Prospect deputy general secretary Garry Graham. “Prospect will be engaging both at a national level with Civil Service Employee Policy and at a local level with employers to ensure that we develop performance management systems that are fit for the future and, fundamental to that, have the confidence of staff.”

Forced distribution
Graham continued: “The system of arbitrary quotas was seen as toxic both by managers tasked with operating the system and staff subject to the process. Many saw the process as demotivating, unfair and potentially discriminatory with it often leading to the perverse situation that those performing to acceptable standards and meeting their objectives were marked down to meet artificial targets.” Heralding the decision as a “triumph for common sense”, Graham added: “The hard work starts here and the prize is a win-win situation where the performance management process works both in terms of supporting staff and the organisation they work for. He concluded: “It is good to see that the arguments and evidence brought forward by Prospect and our members have ultimately been listened to and we will be seeking to engage positively with employers and the Cabinet Office”.

Read more

Latest News

Read More

Why so many smart leaders are terrible at leading people

29 July 2025

Talent Management

29 July 2025

Deepfake interviews. Synthetic faces. Tampered documents. As generative AI reshapes identity fraud, traditional screening methods are being put to the test. Giant Screening CEO Mathew...

Worklife Balance

28 July 2025

The issue isn’t just about time management; it’s about mental bandwidth. The cognitive load of managing multiple priorities can leave little room for self-care, creativity,...

Newsletter

Receive the latest HR news and strategic content

Please note, as per the GDPR Legislation, we need to ensure you are ‘Opted In’ to receive updates from ‘theHRDIRECTOR’. We will NEVER sell, rent, share or give away your data to third parties. We only use it to send information about our products and updates within the HR space To see our Privacy Policy – click here

Latest HR Jobs

Queen Mary University of London – IT Services DirectorateSalary: £54,617 to £60,901 per annum

University of Sussex – Human Resources Salary: £25,733 to £29,179. Grade 4, per annum, pro rata if part time

UCL – Chemistry Department / Faculty of Mathematical & Physical SciencesSalary: £54,172 to £63,752

University of Oxford – Department of PsychiatrySalary: £31,459 to £36,616 (discretionary range to £39,749) per annum. Grade 5

Read the latest digital issue of theHRDIRECTOR for FREE

Read the latest digital issue of theHRDIRECTOR for FREE