Government Executive email It's Time to Rethink Employee Performance Management The Trump administration’s plan to link layoffs to performance ratings is not credible because the ratings themselves are not credible. Workforce Management Consultant An Office of Personnel Management proposal to link layoffs to performance ratings was unexpected. If the ratings were valid, it would make sense but ratings have little credibility. Jacque Simon, speaking for the American Federation of Government Employees, was correct in saying, “There’s nothing objective about performance ratings.” Simon’s opposition is understandable; the proposal appears to be intentionally antagonistic. In the absence of badly needed changes in the way performance is managed, the proposal is not tenable.