Performance Management
Appraisal and Promotion Results at the U.S. Customs Service Gao ID: GGD-90-40 May 18, 1990Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO tested whether and to what degree certain employee characteristics related to performance ratings and competitive promotions, focusing on U.S. Customs Service employees in two types of pay plans, the General Schedule (GS), and General Management (GM).
GAO found that: (1) age was directly related to GS employee ratings, whereas other variables such as sex and ethnicity, sex and grade, and step and grade had indirect relationships; (2) age, grade and years were directly related to GM employee ratings, whereas sex and ethnicity had indirect relationships; (3) for promotions, indirect relationships existed in GS employee data, which included sex and age, sex and location, ratings and location, and ratings and grade; (4) only step in grade had a direct relationship to GS promotions; (5) these were only direct relationships to GM promotions; and (6) in the GM group, ethnicity, sex, rating, age, grade, years in grade, and location each had a direct relationship with the odds of being promoted.