Emphasis on Using Probationary Period for Thorough Evaluation
On April 24, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14284 entitled, “Strengthening Probationary Periods in the Federal Service.” The Executive Order announced new rules and policies for managing probationary and trial periods in competitive and excepted services.
OPM issued initial guidance to agencies for implementing the new Order. That guidance explained, for employees whose probationary or trial period ends on July 23, 2025, or later, for their appointment to be finalized and for them to remain employed beyond the probationary or trial period, the agency head or designee has to affirmatively certify, within 30 days prior to the end of the probationary or trial period, that such individual’s continued employment would “benefit the Federal service.”
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has recently issued new guidance for federal agencies on probationary employees.
By introducing detailed questions and answers (Q&As) and standardized templates for agencies to follow, the guidance clarifies how agencies should evaluate probationary and trial period employees. It also formalizes the use of affirmative certification only when continued service aligns with the public interest.
These revisions reflect more deliberate and performance-based personnel practices in the federal workforce. It is part of the Administration’s push for a high-performing, accountable federal service.
Federal employees implementing human resources policies and procedures, including those pertaining to probationary employees, will need to thoroughly review the 18 pages of the new guidance. Some of the changes modify initial OPM instructions or suggestions on this topic.
Quick Summary
For those pressed for time or, perhaps, those without a strong personal interest in the future of probationary employees working for Uncle Sam, here is a quick summary of the new guidance.
The updated guidance and the appendices to the document supplement OPM’s initial April 28 memo on Executive Order 14284, “Strengthening Probationary Periods in the Federal Service,” signed April 24, 2025. The updates include:
- Revised Q&A (Appendix A) provides more clarity on the new probationary and trial requirements.
- Updated Templates (Appendices B, C, and E) are for official agency use. This includes certification determination notices, notifications to employees, and termination notices.
- Brand-new Templates (Appendices G, H, and I) for onboarding or job announcement materials, including pre-employment statements, employee acknowledgments, and probationary language in job postings.
- Designated Evaluators: Agencies should not designate first-line supervisors as the evaluators of probationary or trial period employees. This should be a second-line supervisor, and ideally an official who is either politically appointed and/or is at the Senior Executive Service (SES) or equivalent level (such as a component or office head).
- What about current employees? The new probationary/trial period requirements generally apply to current employees.
Impact on Federal Employees
Under the new Civil Service Rule XI (replacing the former subpart H of 5 CFR part 315), probationary or trial period employees will no longer gain permanent employee status by default. Instead, agencies and employees are required to engage in the process to weed out employees who may not be a good long-term fit with the federal government.
President Trump’s fact sheet accompanying the initial Order noted, “The Government Accountability Office has documented that agencies often fail to screen out unsuitable employees during their probationary period, contrary to congressional intent in the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978.” All that follows is an attempt to try and correct that failure.
- Agencies must affirmatively certify that the employee’s continued employment “advances the public interest” before the probation or trial period ends.
- This policy now extends to the excepted service, imposing mandatory trial periods and evaluation standards there, too.
- Employees bear the burden of demonstrating their suitability, with criteria including performance, conduct, agency needs, and contribution to governmental or organizational goals.
- Agencies have new communication tools and templates to document determinations, notices, and job-related language. This is an attempt to standardize the process and to avoid some of the major differences among federal agencies in their implementation of this issue.
These changes mean federal workers in probation or trial status will face a more structured, stricter evaluation of their fitness for federal employment before receiving a more permanent federal employment status.
Appeals by Probationary Employees
The new guidance also includes information about appeals from employees who were appointed to a position in the competitive service before April 24, 2025 (the date of the Executive Order) and were serving a probationary period.
The question was whether the employee is entitled to appeal a termination under the procedures of 5 C.F.R.§315.806 which has been revoked? The answer given is, “Employees may seek to file an appeal with the Merit Systems Protection Board. The Board will determine whether or not it has jurisdiction to hear the appeal under 5 CFR 315.806.”
For probationary employees who were hired after the date of the Order, the Executive Order removed Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) jurisdiction to adjudicate terminated probationary employees’ appeals, while allowing the OPM Director to set forth by regulation appeals procedures for terminated probationary or trial period employees.
Why Guidance on Probationary Employees Was Issued
Directions on how agencies are to implement hiring new federal employees is part of a larger program to optimize the federal government and to create a more efficient workforce. The updated guidance supports the Executive Order’s broader objectives.
One objective is to dismantle outdated regulatory barriers and give agencies greater flexibility to assess and retain only high-performing employees. The guidance is designed to ensure only those with the best chances of being a successful federal employee are hired.
The guidance reinforces the intention behind the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978: probationary periods should act as an extension of hiring, allowing formal assessment of employee performance.
The updated materials are intended to ensure consistency, transparency, and clarity in how probationary or trial decisions are executed across agencies.
