I testified against the Flat Goal Pilot implementation at a hearing last week (POPA vs. USPTO management something or other). I seriously felt like I was on an episode of Law and Order and my palms were sweating like crazy the whole time! The length of the questioning (almost two hours) did not help to calm my nerves either. After it was all over, the POPA president told me that I gave a very good testimony and that my situation was viewed as "very credible". I'm assuming that is in view of my past production, performance reviews, and promotion history. A decision will not be made about the merits of the Flat Goal pilot implementation until sometime this fall and even then, either side will have the opportunity to file an appeal. So, any chance of being compensated for all those hours of voluntary overtime I worked while on the pilot are a long ways off.
Anyway, I haven't posted in a few months because I've been so ridiculously busy. I just finished up the 2nd quarter of FY08 and received my promotion to GS-12 (finally). I was due for promotion the quarter before, but due to the time I spent on "Flat-Goal-Hell", my production was not high enough 13 consecutive bi-weeks until now. It's really unbelievable ... I was on "Flat-Goal-Hell" for two quarters and it took me another two whole quarters to get my workflow and production back to where I was at before I went on the horrid pilot.
But, I must get to work now. I have a busy day today, but I'll be back soon.
Upcoming topics: applying for a training academy "assistant" detail, telecommuting one day/week, and performing classification duties.
Showing posts with label flat goal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flat goal. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Saturday, January 5, 2008
I think I might receive a subpoena to testify agains the flat goal!
At least that's the impression I got from an attorney I spoke with last week who is representing POPA. I went through all of my production reports since I started this job about 2.5 years ago ... that was a trip -- I had forgot how much paid OT I used to work ... I miss those paychecks, man! I haven't worked a single hour of paid OT since going on the Flat Goal Pilot or since getting off.
*Sigh*
I'm about to finish my first quarter back on the original production system. I'll finish at 110% production, 70% examining time and 0 hrs paid OT. I spent most of the quarter trying to catch up on all of my amendments that piled up while I was on the Flat Goal. Pain.In.My.Butt. Not to mention, my promotion to the GS-12 examining level has been delayed ... I won't receive promotion until March or April now. BS.
*Sigh*
I'm about to finish my first quarter back on the original production system. I'll finish at 110% production, 70% examining time and 0 hrs paid OT. I spent most of the quarter trying to catch up on all of my amendments that piled up while I was on the Flat Goal. Pain.In.My.Butt. Not to mention, my promotion to the GS-12 examining level has been delayed ... I won't receive promotion until March or April now. BS.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Flat Goal
Generally viewed as a Raw Deal or a Nightmare by most Examiners, I am one of the few who can complain about this new Performance Appraisal idea where my complaints are not fabricated or forecast or related to what "might happen", but rather they stem from issues I personally dealt with and experienced for the last two quarters of FY07 ~ a.k.a. the longest 6 months of my life!
I went on the Flat Goal Pilot thinking that it would work out for me because I generally worked paid OT at 110% production, maintained my examining hours percentage between 75%-85% and knew that I would be starting part-time graduate courses in FY08. With the advertised flexibility, management made it sound like the program was the next best thing since sliced bread. My primary tried to talk me out of it, as did some other Examiner's in my AU, but I still wanted to give it a try.
Worst.Idea.Ever. It is very true that that Flat Goal increases production levels in a system that doesn't give adequate time for examining as it is (at least in my technology. For my first two years, I averaged between 110%-120% with about 10-20 hours of paid OT/biweek. Let me point out, that this is well above the average for Examiners in my technology and let me also point out that we've lost 10+ Examiners in the last two years. My technology has one of the worst attrition rates in the Office for a whole host of reasons that I won't get into within this post. On the Flat Goal Pilot, I barely achieved 110% without feeling like a hamster in a wheel and I picked over my cases (something I had never really done before) in order to get enough counts in. This tactic was ultimately what drove me to want lie out in the middle of the beltway over the course of the second quarter on the pilot on more than one occasion because I just kept getting more and more behind and my amendments just kept piling up.
I was also sick for 20 hours the first quarter of the pilot and had to essentially "make up" that time because those hours did not count as non-examining hours. It was really hard to gauge if I was making up the time appropriately due to not having a bi-weekly production report generated for my work. Also, I was on strong antibiotics that made me tired and cranky. I was technically not feeling well for a whole week, but not wanting to use a ton of sick leave, I only took 20 hours. Even still, you would never in a million years be able to convince me that being expected to produce when sick is a good idea -- or a fair one -- now that I've been through it. No way. Not gonna do it. I would rather go back to my college job of waiting tables in a major city where half the guests don't even tip as a full profession than be expected to produce when I'm sick.
Another worthy thing to note is that there has been a substantial increase in mandatory examiner training initiatives given the recent KSR decision, patent reform issues and the Final Rules package. The number of hours I have spent in training over the last year is twice the number hours I spent in training the previous year. Such a huge jump in training hours was not anticipated (by me) when I signed up for the pilot. So essentially, for the entire two quarters I was on the pilot, if I had been on the traditional production I would have been closer to 68-72% examining time NOT 80%!
I finished my second quarter of the pilot just over 80% of what I was expected to produce for that quarter. Had it not been a pilot, I would have received a written warning and probably would have ended up being terminated. Pretty Scary considering how well I actually do perform on the current outdated system that gives me less time than I need anyway. Needless to say, I was booted off the pilot -- but it didn't matter to me since I had been asking to get off of it since the first bi-week of that second quarter!!
It's been three bi-weeks since I've returned to the standard production system. I'm averaging 110% and finally starting to rack-up my workflow points again. I no longer feel like a hamster in a wheel -- and I even started grad school part-time. That's something. I'm taking two graduate level engineering courses, working 90 hours/bi-week and producing at 110% (70% examining time).
I told my SPE that if they made the Flat Goal a mandatory program, my two-weeks notice would be on his desk the very day management made the announcement. I am not a slave, nor a robot, nor a mindless drone who enjoys working for free. Thanks.
I went on the Flat Goal Pilot thinking that it would work out for me because I generally worked paid OT at 110% production, maintained my examining hours percentage between 75%-85% and knew that I would be starting part-time graduate courses in FY08. With the advertised flexibility, management made it sound like the program was the next best thing since sliced bread. My primary tried to talk me out of it, as did some other Examiner's in my AU, but I still wanted to give it a try.
Worst.Idea.Ever. It is very true that that Flat Goal increases production levels in a system that doesn't give adequate time for examining as it is (at least in my technology. For my first two years, I averaged between 110%-120% with about 10-20 hours of paid OT/biweek. Let me point out, that this is well above the average for Examiners in my technology and let me also point out that we've lost 10+ Examiners in the last two years. My technology has one of the worst attrition rates in the Office for a whole host of reasons that I won't get into within this post. On the Flat Goal Pilot, I barely achieved 110% without feeling like a hamster in a wheel and I picked over my cases (something I had never really done before) in order to get enough counts in. This tactic was ultimately what drove me to want lie out in the middle of the beltway over the course of the second quarter on the pilot on more than one occasion because I just kept getting more and more behind and my amendments just kept piling up.
I was also sick for 20 hours the first quarter of the pilot and had to essentially "make up" that time because those hours did not count as non-examining hours. It was really hard to gauge if I was making up the time appropriately due to not having a bi-weekly production report generated for my work. Also, I was on strong antibiotics that made me tired and cranky. I was technically not feeling well for a whole week, but not wanting to use a ton of sick leave, I only took 20 hours. Even still, you would never in a million years be able to convince me that being expected to produce when sick is a good idea -- or a fair one -- now that I've been through it. No way. Not gonna do it. I would rather go back to my college job of waiting tables in a major city where half the guests don't even tip as a full profession than be expected to produce when I'm sick.
Another worthy thing to note is that there has been a substantial increase in mandatory examiner training initiatives given the recent KSR decision, patent reform issues and the Final Rules package. The number of hours I have spent in training over the last year is twice the number hours I spent in training the previous year. Such a huge jump in training hours was not anticipated (by me) when I signed up for the pilot. So essentially, for the entire two quarters I was on the pilot, if I had been on the traditional production I would have been closer to 68-72% examining time NOT 80%!
I finished my second quarter of the pilot just over 80% of what I was expected to produce for that quarter. Had it not been a pilot, I would have received a written warning and probably would have ended up being terminated. Pretty Scary considering how well I actually do perform on the current outdated system that gives me less time than I need anyway. Needless to say, I was booted off the pilot -- but it didn't matter to me since I had been asking to get off of it since the first bi-week of that second quarter!!
It's been three bi-weeks since I've returned to the standard production system. I'm averaging 110% and finally starting to rack-up my workflow points again. I no longer feel like a hamster in a wheel -- and I even started grad school part-time. That's something. I'm taking two graduate level engineering courses, working 90 hours/bi-week and producing at 110% (70% examining time).
I told my SPE that if they made the Flat Goal a mandatory program, my two-weeks notice would be on his desk the very day management made the announcement. I am not a slave, nor a robot, nor a mindless drone who enjoys working for free. Thanks.
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