Federal executives can no longer count on automatic top performance ratings

The US government has removed rules that made it hard to give federal executives low performance ratings. This means agencies can now limit how many top ratings they hand out.

For years, most senior federal executives received the highest possible performance ratings, even when agencies reported problems. This made it difficult to hold them accountable for poor performance. The new rule means agencies can now be more honest about who is performing well and who is not, which could lead to real consequences for underperforming leaders.