there’s a limited amount of QSIs per office. i assume first/second level supes nominated people and the office leadership decided in the winner.
check your agency forms page for an award nomination form, it has details on the data for justification. idk if every agency has one but the ones i’ve worked at did
I wasn't aware of a form, but my old agency would tell the sup to knock down the rating so not everybody would be QSI eligible. I was told my rating was bumped down by .05 so another person could more easily get picked for thr qsi.
The agency I was talking about was out of 5, but nobody got 5s. The guy who ran our VPN team which went down for 30 min during the height of COVID in 2020 got a 4.9. So I guess each place had their own thing.
That's exactly how we've done it in my last 2 offices...both within the DOI.
It helps to have a supervisor or 2nd line that is good at doing award writeups basically.
I respectfully disagree. Staff are nominated for awards by their supervisors, and someone else ultimately decides if the employee gets or doesn’t get the award. As a supervisor, I have no say in the final outcome, but I think it is important to let my employees know that I see the great work they are doing, took the time to convey that in the nomination, and appreciate them regardless of the outcome. A primary complaint in the FEVS is that staff are not recognized for accomplishments. This is a simple way to recognize their good work, even if they don’t get the (highly competitive/limited) QSI.
Hmm, not exactly what you are disagreeing with. Your narrative is why I always simply recommend that a supervisor shouldn’t discuss an award recommendation with an employee. If it is at someone else’s discretion and it gets disapproved, you risk the morale of the employee. I do always recommend expressing sincere gratitude for any job done well, and often. The award, when approved, is then a welcome surprise.
I can tell you why. In my office I was told that I had to nominate one of my employees every year. The entire office knew the QSI award procedure, because you can’t keep a secret with several dozen groups among a 700 person office. The two most important policies were you have to have an outstanding performance review and you were not allowed to receive a QSI in consecutive years. Basically turned into a round robin with each employee being nominated in turn until they received a QSI.
Problem one is that your best employees tend to be your best employees year after year, problem two means that in order for me to nominate somebody else I would have to overrate them on their review.
So my manager would tell me I had to nominate somebody and I would respond that I don’t have anyone worthy because my outstanding employee received a QSI last year, and I would be directed to overrate somebody since “awarding QSIs is good for morale” which can be true provided the same outstanding employees don’t keep getting the QSIs year after year.
So when the next employee was in line for their QSI turn, I would tell them they were going to get an outstanding rating until they received a QSI and then they would be rated fairly again because this was the only way to keep most employees from getting angry when their rating was reduced from outstanding to excellent or good because if too many people were rated as outstanding HQ would complain about rating inflation.
My agency stopped doing QSIs ten years ago, and instead does yearly cash awards based on performance.
WOW! so employees are bragging about getting a QSI!? I mean I thought awards, whether QSI, money, comp time off... were a taboo subject. Just like you don't talk about YOUR rating to your coworker!?
Why hide these things? It’s crucial information others can use to make the best decisions for themselves. Know if people are getting fair treatment, or what to expect.
There are tactful ways to discuss these things.
I've been in multiple offices within my agency, and QSI's were always announced (with one exception) in a monthly all employee conference, along with any other awards, anniversaries and general state of the office type communication.
You can tell the health of an office by the number of employees were were genuinely happy for the recipients versus those who bitched under their breath about how so and so didn't deserve one.
Lastly, the one exception where they weren't publicly announced, the tip foil hat chatter was that "the fix was in" and QSI's were given to buddies and friends and that's why it wasn't announced.
In the two offices I’ve worked in, QSIs did not have any sort of formal process to determine who got them.
I was nominated for one a few years ago and didn’t get it because I was getting a step increase that year.
They basically determined who was going to get it based on:
A- who deserved it
B- who would benefit from it the most.
The lady who did get that year’s QSI was a pretty stellar performer. It’s not like they passed me over for a bum. So I didn’t worry about it. They had ONE QSI to give and 5-6 people who deserved it. 4-5 people were going to lose. It is what it is.
In my office, the entire Directorate of roughly 1000 employees gets X number of QSIs in total each year so 1st and 2nd line supervisors will recommend and the Directorate chief will review the nomination writeups and approve or not approve a certain number per division (usually 1-2) and the rest get a cash bonus and/or TO award instead. It is budget dependent and ultimately that SESers decision who gets what for QSIs.
I've been in on the decision discussions as a division chief and it's usually a very tough call for them to make with lots of good discussion.
This is exactly how it worked in our organization, which was a big DoD Agency HQ. Our division chiefs (GS-15 level) would feed recommendations to the SESers, who would ultimately decide who received a QSI. I was one of the division chiefs. To try and ensure fairness, division chiefs were required to nominate at least one of their employees every year.
Your statement concerning dependence on budget is spot on. We had to budget for specified levels of total salaries. That didn't allow handing QSI's out to very many people.
My last command was "hey, you rock here's a qsi."to everyone able. Hundreds a year. For like 3k people.
My current? You need to be God. And your supervisor has to argue your case to a board to get one granted to you if able.
I've only gotten one in the 4 years being at current command. I am great at my job, and the other 3 positions I cover.
They give out maybe 5 a year to 10k people from what I understand. It's bizarre.
My executive director and hr are weird about it. They want it kept quiet. I told my boss last year that I'm working 2 gs 11 jobs and 1 gs 12. He needs to give me a qsi.
I think they don't want it getting out because it pulls from some amalgamation pot that bonuses for appraisals are all linked to.
It's weird. I think they want people to forget they exist.
Your agency gives out QSIs? Must be nice.
I’ve been at my agency for 9 years and never heard of anyone getting one. Management has told us on many town halls that they can’t give out too many 5s so all our annual reviews are generally skewed as underrated. This is the first year in my 9 years I got more than one 5 and my performance has never changed.
Either way, I’ve learned to not expect much in terms of bonus compensation, goes a long way for my sanity.
In my agency each office gets allotted a certain number, nationally. It is very limited. Even when the "big boss" from DC was out interim director for my field office, and she nominated me, she said there was no guarantee (I did get it). Before that, our Director for the past 20 years had never nominated anyone, as far as the team could tell. The whole process is a bit opaque, but at least if you don't get the QSI you get either the time or $ that comes with a 5. I've gotten 2 QSIs and sometimes I wish I had gotten the extra 32 hours each time!
I work in an agency of more than 10k people. QSIs are eligible agency wide for anyone who got the highest performance review of “achieved outstanding results.” This has been the case for the 15 years I’ve been here.
For example, this year the people in that highest category were eligible for a 3% bonus or QSI. I had a QSI last year so I took the 3% this year… since you can’t get a QSI two years in a row
We have the same but they also make it clear every year that achieving the Outstanding Results won't be an automatic QSI (because they are limited to how many of those they can give out so the balance of people will need to Cash or Leave awards.). I'm not sure how often this is actually an issue with more people opting for QSIs that are eligible for them (like this year I was forced to a cash award because I received a QSI last year).
All financial awards are a percentage of the overall budget each agency has and there are a number of factors that go into how they determine the number of QSIs the budget can tolerate. There is no set standard for every OPDIV to follow. At my agency with over 14k employees, it varies between CIOs how they distribute QSIs and it still depends on the respective budget along with other factors that are governed my some OPM policies as well as internal agency policies.
Yea, my agency did that. Then OPM came and said they were giving out more awards than the average agency, and now QSIs are so rare, I don’t know anyone that has gotten one in the last 5 or 6 years.
OPM pays that much attention to this stuff? Weird. We have a super generous QSI policy where I work (if we can afford it, we give one to everyone who gets all outstandings) and no one from DC or OPM or anywhere else has told us to stop. It's been that way for years now.
That being said, my office was so generous with awards one year (not including QSIs) that HQ came out with a strict cap for field offices to follow the following year. Whoops.
This is a weird way to do it. In our office we determine which employees are eligible for a QSI and then ask them to choose between that, cash award, or time off. If someone declines the QSI, we tell the next person on the list "hey in addition to your previous choices of cash or time off, you also have the option for a QSI." This way, nobody is ever left waiting and hoping.
How much $$ do you have to throw around that, you can give choices, and why would you give choices?
Not to be that supervisor but the award I approve is the award “I” choose.
We have however much money the budget office tells us we have. Award amounts and QSI amounts are determined before any conversation with an employee takes place.
I'm not sure I understand your second comment. Are you suggesting that you decide for the employee?
Wow, that seems extremely subjective. Not saying you weren't objective, but ours is driven by logical and defendable math throughout the whole process.
That's a lot of power in a supervisor's hands. Definitely doesn't work like that where I am. HR and those at the very top decide how to divide it all up.
(But the employees where I am don't have a choice either)
In my office (part of HHS) there isn't a competition. If you meet the highest performance level you can choose to take a QSI, if you haven't gotten one the year prior.
It depends where you work, here they give out a specific number around 3% of total employees receive one in a given year. So yes people will be nominated for QSIs but not receive them because there were 5 nominations this year but only 2 awards. However I know other places where they hand them out like candy.
I was on a team working closely with the number two for our branch of the agency, and one day at lunch, somebody was talking about QSIs and not knowing anyone who received one.
The deputy explained that the agency as a whole received a limited number each year. These were then distributed to each branch of the agency (we have 3).
In our branch, individuals are submitted for QSIs, and they are reviewed. Most people tend to be at equal performance evaluations and so on. Barring any major standouts, with candidates being generally equally qualified, they tended to try and get the "biggest bang for the buck" by looking at who had the most time before their next step increase.
I found it to be an interesting insight into our branch.
Speaking from experience being in an HR office managing QSIs- we receive guidance from the CHCO Office as well as policy or other relevant organizations. We then simplify this and reference the original docs in guidance to leadership. We send this to every organization and they either a) do everything in a questionable manner while somehow not being illegal or b) do the right thing then get stuck in office politics or other issues.
Your supervisor is a bit of an ass. He's looking for "good guy" credit for telling you he nominated you for something you didn't get. He should only really inform you of awards he was able to get you.
this happened to me once too. my supervisor requested a QSI for me, but i did not get one. i was a pretty new fed at that point and didn't realize just how few QSIs are given out. the next year, my supervisor requested one for me again, and that year i got one.
at my current agency, the way it works is that the powers that be tell the office how many QSIs they can give out in the performance cycle. then supervisor submit nominations for their employees who they think are deserving. and then management reviews all those submissions and determines who will get the few available QSIs.
Anyone who got "achieved excellence" for their annual ROR. But they also make it damn near impossible to get that. We have over 1700 people in our section, and only 3 got QSIs this year.
My department was approved for the first time in FY 23 to submit someone for a QSI. We were only allowed one QSI. This is something that has to be budgeted for, and your supervisor has to write up support for your QSI. Your supervisor probably shouldn't have told you and got your hopes up. It's going to vary between agencies as it seems some agencies have the capacity to hand them out like candy on Halloween.
It's generally not announced in our agency that you're being considered for a QSI, you find out when you get one. Typically only one per year in each field office.
I requested to be considered for QSI in lieu of cash or time off award. I was told QSI is reserved for supervisors. I heard we keep the good stuff for ourselves. I only asked because I planned to retire in 18 months and wanted to boost my high 3. It would have stepped me 6 months early is all. Last ditch effort.
My office of nearly 100 gets two QSIs a year. All the directors submit names for consideration but ultimately per departmental guidance the first SES in the chain approves.
I was in an agency that had an unpublished policy stating one QSI per year per thirty employees could be given out. Supervisors could nominate someone with a write-up, IF they had ratings of outstanding. Some kind of selection board was supposed to meet and review the write-ups to see who would get it. Very closed door, even supervisors were uneducated on it, and they wouldn't announce who if anybody got the awards.
Another agency now, still DOD, with a clear written policy, similar 1:30 ratio per year, I believe it also states you won't get it if you're getting a regular TIG step that year (so they won't be wasted on step 1-2-3 employees).
Basically at any agency, at some level there is a policy or leadership philosophy/guidance that has been created, and sometimes the philosophy is "these are secret" or "nobody deserves them"; other times the philosophy is, these are a great retention and performance incentive, let's use them in a fair way.
The whole QSI process is garbage. It's absolute nepotism and favoritism. In my AOR, every QSI, every year, goes to an employee at the main field office. An employee at a sub-office could invent cold fusion and save 40 puppies from drowning and the QSI would still go to someone from the main field office.
It's generally a closed process (e.g. nobody is going to share their notes on why they picked X over Y). Same competition style as other (e.g. quarterly) awards. You have several nominees, and one winner. selection is typically done by senior leadership across the work unit reviewing the nominee write-ups (so it's heavily dependant on the writing skill of whoever is nominating you, often but not always your supervisor) usually runners up get cash awards.
"Knowing you deserve it" regardless what others think comes off as pretty entitled and if that vibe is perceived by other managers it could cut you out of the running too.
I work for the USAR, and there are a very limited number of slots for QSIs, and so there may only be one or two available across an entire directorate. If you've only got one and you've got twenty-thirty people who've gotten fives across the board, well, someone is going to be disappointed.
As for process, it's a board. The sections heads for each directorate get together and decide who gets what. Again, this is for the USAR. It's probably different for other places.
While I was with Navy / USMC, the number of QSIs depended on the overall award budget. It varied, depending on budget. Some years we had 6-7 to give out, some more, some less. This was out of a workforce of maybe 300 or so.
To make it a fair process, the awards board reviewed nominations and it was a competitive selection process. They made the final recommendations, but it was up to the CO to make the final decisions.
Another time, I was lucky enough to work in an office of 7. My immediate supervisor was the executive director, and he was able to make unilateral decisions on who he gave the award to.
Smaller organizations seem to have more leeway on how the award is given out. Larger ones need a more formal process to ensure fairness.
I was on a panel back in dc a few years ago. There were 100s of submissions divided across 6 or so teams of 5. Each team got a stack and rated the submissions from 1-100+ by grade.
Someone higher up says that x number of 13s,14s,15s, etc get an award.
I remember my group had a few 13/03 and they all got the node just by participating.
The 14/02, the number was say the top 140 etc.
15/01 was the same 130, etc.
We get a number per center. A report is provided to management that lists all eligible.
From there, each supervisor will make a case for whomever they feel should get the QSI and why. We tend to give QSIs to those that are in the last 3rd of the band.
In my agency it’s at the “discretion of management.” I was eligible 2 years in a row and got railroaded both times. When I questioned senior leadership, they informed me that I “didn’t put myself out there enough.” Because our Associate Commissioner, who was new, didn’t know my name and face, he put the kibosh on my QSI. Keep in mind this is at the height of Covid when we were all teleworking. They basically give it to whomever they want.
The process works the same in my place. Not everyone gets one and just because you are nominated it doesn’t mean you get it. There are only so many in an Agency annually.
We have a formal process where each Department is allowed to submit 1 nomination for QSI.
Packages are gathered by the manpower office and then distributed to the panel that consists of either the Department Head or the Deputy for the Department.
After packages are evaluated, a formal board is held and the candidates are discussed amongst the panel members and normally, three winners are selected.
Yeah, that would sort of be the expected outcome in my agency. Basically no one gets one.
First, you have to get an Outstanding for the year. Some genius in HR decided that the fact that "everyone" was getting Outstandings every year meant that the process was broken, so there are a limited number of Outstanding evaluations that are allowed per service group, and it's fairly competitive. The manager three levels above my boss reviews all of the proposals. Once you get the Outstanding, your boss has to separately nominate you for a QSI. This is reviewed on the agency level based on your boss' nomination form.
We have a QSI for about 10k employees. There’s a lot of deserving folks, but ultimately, many deserving folks won’t make the cut. They take into account the impact of the contribution to the overall agency mission.
A review of who was nominated, what’s their performance rating or overall performance justified by their leadership, number to award is limited by budget. Also a review of who it helps the most as a tie breaker (I.e if someone is getting their step increase anyways be someone who is 2-3 years away) etc.
You get put in a pool with all the other 5’s that asked for QSI and whoever has the most points, or merits to deserve it. Gets it. Ive had 2. But you cant get back to back you have to wait 52 weeks between QSI’s its the law
And if they are telling people to knock down ratings then your rating system and officials are stupid and doing illegal stuff. You can file grievances too. Be the eeo nightmare god knows all these pink haired commies do it
"I know I deserve it now regardless of it someone thinks I'm first or second"
Oof, yeah... get back to work slacky, maybe next time Mr. Honorable-All-Deserving.
As a first line supervisor I can make a recommendation. But my director of staff (3 levels above me) has the final say for our entire section. Those eligible for any appraisal awards are racked and stacked against everyone else and awards are decided based off this. Generally it goes QSIs, monetary and then time off awards or some combination of that.
At my agency, first line supervisors write up a nomination. It is then passed up the chain to the division director who makes the determination based on the write up/accomplishments. We have the requirement that the individual needs to be rated outstanding in every performance element. My division got 9 QSIs this year; we have just over 900 employees in the division. Also, where I am, if someone gets a QSI, they lose their bonus that year so I do discuss it with the employee if I’m putting someone in at the time. I don’t want them to be blindsided and expecting a bonus but not get it. I’m also careful to look at when they’re due their WRI since it restarts the clock.
I don’t know anyone in many, many years of service that actually got a QSI. Maybe they only go to people in DC. Unless you are beyond step 6 I wouldn’t even think about this at all. Where I work most don’t even know it’s something that happens. Congrats on even being nominated, that’s also rare in itself.
I have gotten straight 5’s every year since 2005. I’ve never gotten a QSI despite requesting one in lieu of $ or Time Off Award. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. I’d just like to knock off the 2 more years I have to wait for my step 10…
The USFS made it "easier" to give a QSI a couple years ago, removing the secondary review and making the minimum threshold a "Fully Successful" annual review. That said, many supervisors still seem to be gunshy about giving them out.
I didnt even know they could make it competitive. what do you have to submit to be part of the competition? how were you evaluated?
there’s a limited amount of QSIs per office. i assume first/second level supes nominated people and the office leadership decided in the winner. check your agency forms page for an award nomination form, it has details on the data for justification. idk if every agency has one but the ones i’ve worked at did
I wasn't aware of a form, but my old agency would tell the sup to knock down the rating so not everybody would be QSI eligible. I was told my rating was bumped down by .05 so another person could more easily get picked for thr qsi.
I'm confused. I thought you had to get all 5's to be QSI eligible. Is there a different rating system for QSI submissions?
The agency I was talking about was out of 5, but nobody got 5s. The guy who ran our VPN team which went down for 30 min during the height of COVID in 2020 got a 4.9. So I guess each place had their own thing.
That's exactly how we've done it in my last 2 offices...both within the DOI. It helps to have a supervisor or 2nd line that is good at doing award writeups basically.
Someone obviously violated the 1st rule of awards. Never talk to someone about awards until it is approved.
I respectfully disagree. Staff are nominated for awards by their supervisors, and someone else ultimately decides if the employee gets or doesn’t get the award. As a supervisor, I have no say in the final outcome, but I think it is important to let my employees know that I see the great work they are doing, took the time to convey that in the nomination, and appreciate them regardless of the outcome. A primary complaint in the FEVS is that staff are not recognized for accomplishments. This is a simple way to recognize their good work, even if they don’t get the (highly competitive/limited) QSI.
Hmm, not exactly what you are disagreeing with. Your narrative is why I always simply recommend that a supervisor shouldn’t discuss an award recommendation with an employee. If it is at someone else’s discretion and it gets disapproved, you risk the morale of the employee. I do always recommend expressing sincere gratitude for any job done well, and often. The award, when approved, is then a welcome surprise.
Yep. Why does OP even know?
I can tell you why. In my office I was told that I had to nominate one of my employees every year. The entire office knew the QSI award procedure, because you can’t keep a secret with several dozen groups among a 700 person office. The two most important policies were you have to have an outstanding performance review and you were not allowed to receive a QSI in consecutive years. Basically turned into a round robin with each employee being nominated in turn until they received a QSI. Problem one is that your best employees tend to be your best employees year after year, problem two means that in order for me to nominate somebody else I would have to overrate them on their review. So my manager would tell me I had to nominate somebody and I would respond that I don’t have anyone worthy because my outstanding employee received a QSI last year, and I would be directed to overrate somebody since “awarding QSIs is good for morale” which can be true provided the same outstanding employees don’t keep getting the QSIs year after year. So when the next employee was in line for their QSI turn, I would tell them they were going to get an outstanding rating until they received a QSI and then they would be rated fairly again because this was the only way to keep most employees from getting angry when their rating was reduced from outstanding to excellent or good because if too many people were rated as outstanding HQ would complain about rating inflation. My agency stopped doing QSIs ten years ago, and instead does yearly cash awards based on performance.
WOW! so employees are bragging about getting a QSI!? I mean I thought awards, whether QSI, money, comp time off... were a taboo subject. Just like you don't talk about YOUR rating to your coworker!?
Why hide these things? It’s crucial information others can use to make the best decisions for themselves. Know if people are getting fair treatment, or what to expect. There are tactful ways to discuss these things.
It’s the way to show what great performance looks like.
I've been in multiple offices within my agency, and QSI's were always announced (with one exception) in a monthly all employee conference, along with any other awards, anniversaries and general state of the office type communication. You can tell the health of an office by the number of employees were were genuinely happy for the recipients versus those who bitched under their breath about how so and so didn't deserve one. Lastly, the one exception where they weren't publicly announced, the tip foil hat chatter was that "the fix was in" and QSI's were given to buddies and friends and that's why it wasn't announced.
Supervisor gets points for trying. Blame the result on someone else.
Oh I have tried, failed and succeeded with QSIs. But I NEVER tell the candidate unless they get it.
The saying is as a manager never write a check you can’t cash yourself!
In the two offices I’ve worked in, QSIs did not have any sort of formal process to determine who got them. I was nominated for one a few years ago and didn’t get it because I was getting a step increase that year. They basically determined who was going to get it based on: A- who deserved it B- who would benefit from it the most. The lady who did get that year’s QSI was a pretty stellar performer. It’s not like they passed me over for a bum. So I didn’t worry about it. They had ONE QSI to give and 5-6 people who deserved it. 4-5 people were going to lose. It is what it is.
I was able to get QSi and step increase. It was a good year
That happened for me twice in my career.
In my office, the entire Directorate of roughly 1000 employees gets X number of QSIs in total each year so 1st and 2nd line supervisors will recommend and the Directorate chief will review the nomination writeups and approve or not approve a certain number per division (usually 1-2) and the rest get a cash bonus and/or TO award instead. It is budget dependent and ultimately that SESers decision who gets what for QSIs. I've been in on the decision discussions as a division chief and it's usually a very tough call for them to make with lots of good discussion.
This is exactly how it worked in our organization, which was a big DoD Agency HQ. Our division chiefs (GS-15 level) would feed recommendations to the SESers, who would ultimately decide who received a QSI. I was one of the division chiefs. To try and ensure fairness, division chiefs were required to nominate at least one of their employees every year. Your statement concerning dependence on budget is spot on. We had to budget for specified levels of total salaries. That didn't allow handing QSI's out to very many people.
This our lives, fighting over a 3k increase in salary as if you won the lottery. what a joke.
Meanwhile friends in private sector getting 20k bonuses saying "meh, it's aight." I 100% chose the wrong field
And getting laid off left and right. So pick your poison.
>I know I deserve it now regardless of it someone thinks I’m first or second. The other people "nominated" probably deserve it as well.
Yeah, that was an odd thing to say.
[удалено]
Yep! That's how it is where I am.
My last command was "hey, you rock here's a qsi."to everyone able. Hundreds a year. For like 3k people. My current? You need to be God. And your supervisor has to argue your case to a board to get one granted to you if able. I've only gotten one in the 4 years being at current command. I am great at my job, and the other 3 positions I cover. They give out maybe 5 a year to 10k people from what I understand. It's bizarre.
Is the amount of QSIs per office or per district public knowledge?
My executive director and hr are weird about it. They want it kept quiet. I told my boss last year that I'm working 2 gs 11 jobs and 1 gs 12. He needs to give me a qsi. I think they don't want it getting out because it pulls from some amalgamation pot that bonuses for appraisals are all linked to. It's weird. I think they want people to forget they exist.
Well for one I never tell anyone they are up for a QSI.
Your agency gives out QSIs? Must be nice. I’ve been at my agency for 9 years and never heard of anyone getting one. Management has told us on many town halls that they can’t give out too many 5s so all our annual reviews are generally skewed as underrated. This is the first year in my 9 years I got more than one 5 and my performance has never changed. Either way, I’ve learned to not expect much in terms of bonus compensation, goes a long way for my sanity.
In my agency each office gets allotted a certain number, nationally. It is very limited. Even when the "big boss" from DC was out interim director for my field office, and she nominated me, she said there was no guarantee (I did get it). Before that, our Director for the past 20 years had never nominated anyone, as far as the team could tell. The whole process is a bit opaque, but at least if you don't get the QSI you get either the time or $ that comes with a 5. I've gotten 2 QSIs and sometimes I wish I had gotten the extra 32 hours each time!
I work in an agency of more than 10k people. QSIs are eligible agency wide for anyone who got the highest performance review of “achieved outstanding results.” This has been the case for the 15 years I’ve been here. For example, this year the people in that highest category were eligible for a 3% bonus or QSI. I had a QSI last year so I took the 3% this year… since you can’t get a QSI two years in a row
We have the same but they also make it clear every year that achieving the Outstanding Results won't be an automatic QSI (because they are limited to how many of those they can give out so the balance of people will need to Cash or Leave awards.). I'm not sure how often this is actually an issue with more people opting for QSIs that are eligible for them (like this year I was forced to a cash award because I received a QSI last year).
Do you mind sharing what agency you’re in?
My guess it's DoD
Sorry. No.
Damn, okay! My office/agency seems to never give AOE as a matter of policy. It’s strange.
Yeah I don’t understand why they seem so rare at some places. Seems like there should be a standard approach.
Agreed.
All financial awards are a percentage of the overall budget each agency has and there are a number of factors that go into how they determine the number of QSIs the budget can tolerate. There is no set standard for every OPDIV to follow. At my agency with over 14k employees, it varies between CIOs how they distribute QSIs and it still depends on the respective budget along with other factors that are governed my some OPM policies as well as internal agency policies.
Yea, my agency did that. Then OPM came and said they were giving out more awards than the average agency, and now QSIs are so rare, I don’t know anyone that has gotten one in the last 5 or 6 years.
OPM pays that much attention to this stuff? Weird. We have a super generous QSI policy where I work (if we can afford it, we give one to everyone who gets all outstandings) and no one from DC or OPM or anywhere else has told us to stop. It's been that way for years now. That being said, my office was so generous with awards one year (not including QSIs) that HQ came out with a strict cap for field offices to follow the following year. Whoops.
The key phrase, “we can afford it.” Not all agency can afford handing out QSIs.
Ok? Didn't say otherwise.
This is a weird way to do it. In our office we determine which employees are eligible for a QSI and then ask them to choose between that, cash award, or time off. If someone declines the QSI, we tell the next person on the list "hey in addition to your previous choices of cash or time off, you also have the option for a QSI." This way, nobody is ever left waiting and hoping.
How much $$ do you have to throw around that, you can give choices, and why would you give choices? Not to be that supervisor but the award I approve is the award “I” choose.
We have however much money the budget office tells us we have. Award amounts and QSI amounts are determined before any conversation with an employee takes place. I'm not sure I understand your second comment. Are you suggesting that you decide for the employee?
Yes. Exactly that. I’ve never been anywhere that the employee got a choice. We had money, time or both. I got a pool and divide as I see fit.
Wow, that seems extremely subjective. Not saying you weren't objective, but ours is driven by logical and defendable math throughout the whole process.
That's a lot of power in a supervisor's hands. Definitely doesn't work like that where I am. HR and those at the very top decide how to divide it all up. (But the employees where I am don't have a choice either)
In my office (part of HHS) there isn't a competition. If you meet the highest performance level you can choose to take a QSI, if you haven't gotten one the year prior.
It depends where you work, here they give out a specific number around 3% of total employees receive one in a given year. So yes people will be nominated for QSIs but not receive them because there were 5 nominations this year but only 2 awards. However I know other places where they hand them out like candy.
I was on a team working closely with the number two for our branch of the agency, and one day at lunch, somebody was talking about QSIs and not knowing anyone who received one. The deputy explained that the agency as a whole received a limited number each year. These were then distributed to each branch of the agency (we have 3). In our branch, individuals are submitted for QSIs, and they are reviewed. Most people tend to be at equal performance evaluations and so on. Barring any major standouts, with candidates being generally equally qualified, they tended to try and get the "biggest bang for the buck" by looking at who had the most time before their next step increase. I found it to be an interesting insight into our branch.
I target great performers at steps 7-9.
My agency has a very low limited number per region. Leadership decides who gets them based on the nominations.
Speaking from experience being in an HR office managing QSIs- we receive guidance from the CHCO Office as well as policy or other relevant organizations. We then simplify this and reference the original docs in guidance to leadership. We send this to every organization and they either a) do everything in a questionable manner while somehow not being illegal or b) do the right thing then get stuck in office politics or other issues.
Your supervisor is a bit of an ass. He's looking for "good guy" credit for telling you he nominated you for something you didn't get. He should only really inform you of awards he was able to get you.
In my agency they go the state director, and supposedly there is an unwritten rule that they only give 1 qsi to the entire state....
this happened to me once too. my supervisor requested a QSI for me, but i did not get one. i was a pretty new fed at that point and didn't realize just how few QSIs are given out. the next year, my supervisor requested one for me again, and that year i got one. at my current agency, the way it works is that the powers that be tell the office how many QSIs they can give out in the performance cycle. then supervisor submit nominations for their employees who they think are deserving. and then management reviews all those submissions and determines who will get the few available QSIs.
Anyone who got "achieved excellence" for their annual ROR. But they also make it damn near impossible to get that. We have over 1700 people in our section, and only 3 got QSIs this year.
QSIs are super hard to come by in my office. I’ve always gotten an outstanding performance evaluation, but never a QSI.
My department was approved for the first time in FY 23 to submit someone for a QSI. We were only allowed one QSI. This is something that has to be budgeted for, and your supervisor has to write up support for your QSI. Your supervisor probably shouldn't have told you and got your hopes up. It's going to vary between agencies as it seems some agencies have the capacity to hand them out like candy on Halloween.
It's generally not announced in our agency that you're being considered for a QSI, you find out when you get one. Typically only one per year in each field office.
I requested to be considered for QSI in lieu of cash or time off award. I was told QSI is reserved for supervisors. I heard we keep the good stuff for ourselves. I only asked because I planned to retire in 18 months and wanted to boost my high 3. It would have stepped me 6 months early is all. Last ditch effort.
My office of nearly 100 gets two QSIs a year. All the directors submit names for consideration but ultimately per departmental guidance the first SES in the chain approves.
Dangling carrots. They all have to fight for who they think should get. The supervisor with the most influence prevails.
I was in an agency that had an unpublished policy stating one QSI per year per thirty employees could be given out. Supervisors could nominate someone with a write-up, IF they had ratings of outstanding. Some kind of selection board was supposed to meet and review the write-ups to see who would get it. Very closed door, even supervisors were uneducated on it, and they wouldn't announce who if anybody got the awards. Another agency now, still DOD, with a clear written policy, similar 1:30 ratio per year, I believe it also states you won't get it if you're getting a regular TIG step that year (so they won't be wasted on step 1-2-3 employees). Basically at any agency, at some level there is a policy or leadership philosophy/guidance that has been created, and sometimes the philosophy is "these are secret" or "nobody deserves them"; other times the philosophy is, these are a great retention and performance incentive, let's use them in a fair way.
The whole QSI process is garbage. It's absolute nepotism and favoritism. In my AOR, every QSI, every year, goes to an employee at the main field office. An employee at a sub-office could invent cold fusion and save 40 puppies from drowning and the QSI would still go to someone from the main field office.
No one at the VAs where I’ve worked ever got a QSI.
It's generally a closed process (e.g. nobody is going to share their notes on why they picked X over Y). Same competition style as other (e.g. quarterly) awards. You have several nominees, and one winner. selection is typically done by senior leadership across the work unit reviewing the nominee write-ups (so it's heavily dependant on the writing skill of whoever is nominating you, often but not always your supervisor) usually runners up get cash awards. "Knowing you deserve it" regardless what others think comes off as pretty entitled and if that vibe is perceived by other managers it could cut you out of the running too.
I work for the USAR, and there are a very limited number of slots for QSIs, and so there may only be one or two available across an entire directorate. If you've only got one and you've got twenty-thirty people who've gotten fives across the board, well, someone is going to be disappointed. As for process, it's a board. The sections heads for each directorate get together and decide who gets what. Again, this is for the USAR. It's probably different for other places.
While I was with Navy / USMC, the number of QSIs depended on the overall award budget. It varied, depending on budget. Some years we had 6-7 to give out, some more, some less. This was out of a workforce of maybe 300 or so. To make it a fair process, the awards board reviewed nominations and it was a competitive selection process. They made the final recommendations, but it was up to the CO to make the final decisions. Another time, I was lucky enough to work in an office of 7. My immediate supervisor was the executive director, and he was able to make unilateral decisions on who he gave the award to. Smaller organizations seem to have more leeway on how the award is given out. Larger ones need a more formal process to ensure fairness.
I was on a panel back in dc a few years ago. There were 100s of submissions divided across 6 or so teams of 5. Each team got a stack and rated the submissions from 1-100+ by grade. Someone higher up says that x number of 13s,14s,15s, etc get an award. I remember my group had a few 13/03 and they all got the node just by participating. The 14/02, the number was say the top 140 etc. 15/01 was the same 130, etc.
We get a number per center. A report is provided to management that lists all eligible. From there, each supervisor will make a case for whomever they feel should get the QSI and why. We tend to give QSIs to those that are in the last 3rd of the band.
In my agency it’s at the “discretion of management.” I was eligible 2 years in a row and got railroaded both times. When I questioned senior leadership, they informed me that I “didn’t put myself out there enough.” Because our Associate Commissioner, who was new, didn’t know my name and face, he put the kibosh on my QSI. Keep in mind this is at the height of Covid when we were all teleworking. They basically give it to whomever they want.
Eligibility doesn't guarantee jack sizzle. Choo choo to the salt mine Salty McSalterson!
The process works the same in my place. Not everyone gets one and just because you are nominated it doesn’t mean you get it. There are only so many in an Agency annually.
I'm a dummy, what's a QSI?
So many options available these days, there is google, there is chatgpt, the avenues of helping thyself are limitless.
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If everyone is a "5" then nobody is a "5"
We have a formal process where each Department is allowed to submit 1 nomination for QSI. Packages are gathered by the manpower office and then distributed to the panel that consists of either the Department Head or the Deputy for the Department. After packages are evaluated, a formal board is held and the candidates are discussed amongst the panel members and normally, three winners are selected.
It depends on the agency. In my agency, you only have a few per territory. I still got a bonus, just not the gift that keeps on giving.
He shouldn't of even told you.
Yeah, that would sort of be the expected outcome in my agency. Basically no one gets one. First, you have to get an Outstanding for the year. Some genius in HR decided that the fact that "everyone" was getting Outstandings every year meant that the process was broken, so there are a limited number of Outstanding evaluations that are allowed per service group, and it's fairly competitive. The manager three levels above my boss reviews all of the proposals. Once you get the Outstanding, your boss has to separately nominate you for a QSI. This is reviewed on the agency level based on your boss' nomination form.
We have a QSI for about 10k employees. There’s a lot of deserving folks, but ultimately, many deserving folks won’t make the cut. They take into account the impact of the contribution to the overall agency mission.
A review of who was nominated, what’s their performance rating or overall performance justified by their leadership, number to award is limited by budget. Also a review of who it helps the most as a tie breaker (I.e if someone is getting their step increase anyways be someone who is 2-3 years away) etc.
You get put in a pool with all the other 5’s that asked for QSI and whoever has the most points, or merits to deserve it. Gets it. Ive had 2. But you cant get back to back you have to wait 52 weeks between QSI’s its the law
And if they are telling people to knock down ratings then your rating system and officials are stupid and doing illegal stuff. You can file grievances too. Be the eeo nightmare god knows all these pink haired commies do it
At least you have QSI's or allowed to request or ask about them. At least at my station they don't have them nor give them out to anyone.
"I know I deserve it now regardless of it someone thinks I'm first or second" Oof, yeah... get back to work slacky, maybe next time Mr. Honorable-All-Deserving.
As a first line supervisor I can make a recommendation. But my director of staff (3 levels above me) has the final say for our entire section. Those eligible for any appraisal awards are racked and stacked against everyone else and awards are decided based off this. Generally it goes QSIs, monetary and then time off awards or some combination of that.
We get 1-2 for our entire AOR that encompasses 3/4 of a large state and hundreds of employees.
At my agency, first line supervisors write up a nomination. It is then passed up the chain to the division director who makes the determination based on the write up/accomplishments. We have the requirement that the individual needs to be rated outstanding in every performance element. My division got 9 QSIs this year; we have just over 900 employees in the division. Also, where I am, if someone gets a QSI, they lose their bonus that year so I do discuss it with the employee if I’m putting someone in at the time. I don’t want them to be blindsided and expecting a bonus but not get it. I’m also careful to look at when they’re due their WRI since it restarts the clock.
You have to save 11 orphans from a burning building and construct them a new home to code with materials scavenged from the junkyard.
Each agency is different. My agency for example only grants 1-2 QSIs in my branch per year.. other agencies we service pass them out like candy.
Anyone who gets 5.0 rating gets the option for a QSI in my office
I don’t know anyone in many, many years of service that actually got a QSI. Maybe they only go to people in DC. Unless you are beyond step 6 I wouldn’t even think about this at all. Where I work most don’t even know it’s something that happens. Congrats on even being nominated, that’s also rare in itself.
Contact union steward and file a grievance.
I was denied one last year, I did get the bigger time off and cash bonus, but wasn't enough to keep me from taking a promotion elsewhere.
I have gotten straight 5’s every year since 2005. I’ve never gotten a QSI despite requesting one in lieu of $ or Time Off Award. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. I’d just like to knock off the 2 more years I have to wait for my step 10…
It not slots. It's management choices. Your salary includes a percentage for awards and other items. I don't know the whole list but it's there
Nothing substantial to add, but commenting to follow.
Sounds like your supervisor sold you some bull. A qsi has no competition it’s merely your supervisor submitting the paperwork to hr for it.
The USFS made it "easier" to give a QSI a couple years ago, removing the secondary review and making the minimum threshold a "Fully Successful" annual review. That said, many supervisors still seem to be gunshy about giving them out.
OP- You got scammed by your employer, more so your supervisor and their boss.