President Donald Trump is ordering a major overhaul to the process by which agencies evaluate probationary federal workers before they can gain full employment status and job protections.
In an April 24 executive order, titled “Strengthening Probationary Periods in the Federal Service,” the president directs federal agency heads to actively certify that continuing employment for any probationary employee “advances the public interest” before they can gain tenure.
Agencies must also use probationary and trial periods, usually within a year, to assess employees’ fitness and alignment with agency needs before granting them full federal employment status.
Trump’s order accuses agencies of previously failing to remove poor performers, and alleges they “often retained and [gave] tenure to underperforming employees who should have been screened out during their probationary period.”…