The air in the breakroom felt thin. Alex had just poured his coffee when Jack cornered him, lowering his voice to a near whisper.
“Alex,” Jack began, cutting to the chase, “who’s on the list to be RIF’d?”
Alex, who had known Jack for nearly two decades, set his mug down. He considered Jack a good worker—not the best, but reliable, okay. They were friends, outside the office politics. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Jack, let’s sit for a second.” They moved to a small, empty table in the corner.
“Look, each year, everyone gets an evaluation,” Alex explained quietly. “That process does a lot of things, but primarily, your question has to do with a Reduction in Force; a RIF.”
He leaned in slightly, keeping his tone measured and professional. “The evaluations are compiled into one comprehensive list, ranked from best to worst. The lower end, the bottom quartile? Internally, they’re the ‘deadwood’.”
He paused, letting the harsh term sink in. “If the agency needs to cut costs and you’re at the top of that compiled list, you’ll likely survive, just fine. However, if you’re consistently near the bottom based on years of those evals, I personally wouldn’t make any long-term plans.”
“I hear they’re cutting about five or eight of us,” Jack pressed, his eyes wide. “There are twenty of us here in the office. How do they decide if we’re all generally good workers?”
Alex took a slow sip of coffee. “It’s not just the list, though the list is paramount. Once the performance ratings create a pool of people who might be equal on paper, there are four main retention factors that decide who gets RIF’d:”
He started ticking them off on his fingers:
- Tenure with the agency.
- Veteran Preference status.
- Creditable military or civilian experience that applies to the job series.
- The performance ratings themselves—best in, worst out—which we already discussed.
Jack chewed on his lip, processing the criteria. The silence hung heavily for a moment before he finally asked the question, they both knew it was coming.
“Where do I rate on that list, Alex?”
Alex picked up his mug, the professional boundary snapping back into place instantly. “Did you complete the OSHA’s injury report I asked for last week?”
