Performance Evaluations

MANAGEMENT MOXIE Nimble News

PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS: BEYOND LARGE AND EXTRA LARGE

There is no delicate way to say this: glossing over employee performance issues at evaluation time will come back to bite you. Even worse are employers who do not evaluate employees in any formal, regular way. Most performance evaluations are like olives: they start at large and go up in size. But employers are squandering an excellent management tool each time a large to extra large evaluation is written. Think of the written performance evaluation as your chance to improve performance and move your company in the right direction. A comprehensive written performance evaluation system allows you to address and record deficiencies and strengths over time and assist in your employment decisions. So where do you start?

EVALUATIONS: To begin with, a good performance evaluation process analyzes individual performance and sets individual employee goals in the context of organizational goals and objectives. A performance evaluation policy should clearly state standards for a particular job and an accurate statement of job objectives by:

Identifying job responsibilities;
Providing measures of each job component;
Providing examples of satisfactory and unsatisfactory performance for each component.

The evaluation rating system should be uniform and useful, in addition to accounting for situational factors effecting job performance. A performance evaluation goes hand in glove with a current, accurate job description. Use this time to update job descriptions if necessary. The evaluation time period should be defined in each evaluation as well.

EVALUATORS: Although it sounds obvious, every evaluator must guard against bias. For example, it should be clear that the evaluator’s standing is not dependent on the outcome of subordinate’s ratings. There are several sources of rating errors to be avoided:

The Halo Effect: over-rating based on a favorable impression of a single incident or personality trait;
The Pitchfork Effect: rating based on a negative impression of a single incident or trait.
The Recency Effect: rating based on the most recent incident.
The Central Tendency Effect: clustering all ratings near the mean.
Length of Service Bias: assuming that past performance is an accurate measure of present performance.
Jealousy Rating: under-rating based on personal feelings, including competitive feelings, toward employee.
The Demanding Rating: under-rating based on unrealistically high standards.

Tips for Evaluators include:

Grade overall performance of employees during the evaluation period, not just single incidents
Tell the truth. The legal and economic benefits of performance evaluations are lost if an evaluation is dishonest, even if it is to the employee’s benefit.
Cite specific facts to support conclusions.
Rate employee performance, not personality, except to the extent those personal characteristics embody bona fide job qualifications.
Undertake evaluations in confidence and limit access to the information collected to a need to know basis. Careless disclosure and breach of confidentiality may result in liability for defamation, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, public policy violations, negligent maintenance of records, or breach of contract, despite qualified privilege protecting employee appraisals.
Administer evaluations regularly and on time.
Gather information from a variety of sources. This will insure:

Objectivity;
That no evaluation will be distorted based on a single incident;
That consistent standards will be applied to similarly employed individuals;
That relevant external factors will be identified, such as the diversion of an employee’s time and effort to support other personnel.

Compare current evaluation among supervisors to prior evaluations and to relevant statistical date (e.g. attendance records and performance test results) to resolve any questions or inconsistencies
Provide the employee with the results.
Provide a mechanism for appealing a negative evaluation.
Develop a performance improvement plan as needed.

Final Thought

Think of employee evaluations as the foundation for good management. Well-written performance evaluations can assist the workforce in performing the duties they were hired to perform. If there are performance issues, the evaluation is the time to document them to safeguard against liability in the future.

We can help.

Contact info@neworkplacelaw.com or call 508-548-4888

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