Performance Appraisals That Work

Features 150 Samples for Every Situation

Corey Sandler, Janice Keefe

• Publisher: Adams Media
• Year: 2005
• Print ISBN: 9781593374051
• eBook ISBN: 9781440518447
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

It's review time again, and yet you can't find the time or the energy to write those appraisals. You draw a blank when faced with those intimidating HR forms. You struggle to document productivity and behavioral issues. You wish there were an easier way.With Performance Appraisals That Work, you'll never fight to find the right words for evaluations again. Chock full of more than 150 sample performance appraisals for all job types, this comprehensive reference guide gives you everything you need to write appropriate evaluations with ease and accuracy - from documenting and rewarding stellar performance to laying the groundwork for disciplinary action.Writing employee performance reviews need never stress you out again. With Performance Appraisals That Work, you'll improve the quality of your evaluations, save time and increase your productivity, and stop dreading review time for good.

CHAPTER 1

AN EVALUATION WITH PURPOSE

WE BEGIN WITH THE PREMISE that employee evaluations serve important purposes. Set up and performed properly, they are a key element of the way a company organization, or institution accomplishes its goals.

We are, after all, dealing with people and not machines.

We can look at a tool and say that it is effective and worth the money spent on it for purchase, maintenance, and upkeep because it produces a specific number of widgets of a measurable quality in a certain period of time. The tool can be monitored—by a human or by a computer—on a minute-by-minute basis to assure that its performance stays at an expected, acceptable level.

When the point comes that the tool is no longer performing adequately—because of old age, technological obsolescence, or a change in the organization's needs or goals—it can be dispassionately removed from service. There are no laws, union grievance processes, or human rights that attach to a machine. Sell it, scrap it, or push it to the side.

Not so with the people on your staff. There is a significant cost in hiring, training, supervising, and evaluating human beings. But people also have legal protections against discrimination in hiring, their treatment in the workplace, and safeguards against unjustified dismissal. They may be a member of a union or other bargaining unit and have special contract provisions. And they have feelings.

As an employer or a supervisor, all of these factors are important. The bottom line is that as an employer or supervisor you simply must treat people fairly and with respect. It is also the right thing to do. It is that responsibility that underlies the various purposes for making an employee evaluation:

Making an appraisal of performance for a satisfactory employee—The appraisal may be scheduled to assess an employee's eligibility for promotion, for an increase in pay grade, or the appropriateness of a transfer to a new department or assignment. As part of this appraisal, it may be determined that the worker needs new training or education or other support to help him or her continue to climb the corporate, institutional, or agency ladder.

Setting the path for an employee seeking upward mobility in the workplace—Workers may welcome clear guidance from a supervisor on how to position themselves for higher-paying and/or more responsible jobs in the organization. The employee evaluation can help them set goals and understand pathways to those goals. It is also important to understand that not all workers have their eye on the ladder; some are perfectly happy with delivering satisfactory or exemplary performance at the job level they currently hold. As a supervisor, you may need to recognize this sort of person; some organizations may be perfectly happy with someone with that sort of attitude, while others may not. In any case, as a supervisor you may know more than the employee does about the future of a particular job classification; it may fall to you to inform the employee that it may be necessary for them to prepare for a change in responsibilities as the organization itself changes.

Performing an assessment of performance for a worker delivering a less-than-adequate level of performance—The goal here is to set reasonable and specific goals and objectives for improvement, evaluate the need for additional training and education, or set the path for demotion or reassignment to a less-demanding job.

Measuring the progress toward goals set in a previous review—The employee may have been asked to seek additional training or education or may have been specifically directed to make changes in behavior or techniques used on the job. The worker may have been directed to accomplish specific goals, for example, an increase in productivity, an improvement in cooperation with other departments or individuals, or better service to customers or clients. The evaluation should be able to review progress or the lack of progress against specific elements of the previous review.

Initiating a consistent, fair, defensible, and legal process that leads to the dismissal of an employee delivering an unacceptable level of performance—In a properly run organization, this is the action of last resort. It comes after the worker has received one or more unsatisfactory evaluations and has been offered education, training, and other options intended to help him or her get back on track. In most organizations, the dismissal process may require the involvement of the human resources department, in-house or outside legal counsel, and other services. The organization may choose (or be required) to offer outplacement assistance or referrals. Be sure you understand your organization's policies and follow them exactly.

An important note: The process discussed here for using an employee evaluation to dismiss or suspend an underperforming worker, or one who does not adhere to clearly stated and enforced rules of conduct, assumes that the staffer has not broken any laws or been credibly accused of such violation.

If you find yourself involved with an employee accused of discrimination, sexual harassment, theft, abuse of controlled substances, or any other such possible criminal or civil violations, you should immediately contact your organization's human resources and legal departments and follow their guidance.

It is not your job to attempt to rehabilitate someone who has been accused or convicted of violating the law, no matter what your personal opinion of the staffer or the law may be. Seek guidance from the responsible department.

The Enterprise: Private, Public, Educational, Governmental

The authors of this book have, in their own careers, worked for small, privately held companies, several major corporations, a multibillion dollar privately held international company, a law firm, a lobbying organization, state agencies, state authorities, a large business cooperative, a prestigious university, and a privately funded research center, among other jobs.

In this book we may use the terms company, organization, institution, or enterprise in the various evaluations. In doing so we are intending to refer to private companies, corporations, educational institutions, government agencies, and any other type of workplace. Although there are differences in specific processes for employee evaluations, they are more alike than they are different.

In any case, no one book about employee evaluations can claim to offer all of the possible variations among private enterprise; corporations; educational institutions; and local, state, and federal government. Union contracts, collective bargaining agreements, state laws, and company policies also vary considerably.

However, all of these organizations must operate within the boundaries of laws against workplace discrimination, harassment, and employment regulations. Any of the sample employee evaluations in this book can be adapted to fit the particular needs of your organization.

Similarly, we cannot predict all of the possible types of employees and particular situations with which you will have to deal. But the samples in this book are intended to give you a model that can be used for a wide range of human interactions.

Think of this book as a collection of recipes that can be easily modified to meet a wide range of needs. Depending on your situation, you can mix and match, adapt and change, and use bits and pieces of language from the evaluations here as you need.

We should also note that some organizations use a numerical rating system together with a written report and occasionally even use a numerical system as a complete substitute for words and phrases. In theory, this is supposed to help standardize the evaluation process. However, it's still a subjective matter: How do you decide whether a customer service representative's support of the company's mission statement is worth an 87 or an 88 or a 5 or a 6 on a scale of 7?

Even in an enterprise that exclusively uses numerical ratings, the sample appraisals in this book can be used to help you explain your ratings in an oral presentation to the employee or in any written report you may attach to the ratings or later file.

Possible Outcomes for Evaluations

For a successful employee, the evaluation process can and should be a very positive experience. We all like to hear praise about our accomplishments and positive evaluations of our prospects for advancement in responsibilities and pay.

The successful worker may also welcome the opportunity for an uninterrupted face-to-face meeting with a supervisor to be able to make suggestions for greater productivity or new programs. It is also the chance to make clear—and put on the record—interest in advancement and new challenges.

Your goal as a supervisor is to make sure a successful employee clearly understands the organization's appreciation and to listen carefully to the hopes and needs of a valuable staff member.

For a struggling employee, an evaluation can also be an opportunity for positive change. The supervisor can offer a lifeline to success in the form of training, education, and mentoring.

The employee can use the evaluation as a forum to explain past difficulties and to make clear the desire to improve. It is the goal of the supervisor to engage the staffer in a respectful discussion of shortcomings.

Among the possible results of a meeting with a struggling employee are:

• Development of a program to help him or her succeed with measurable goals that can be assessed at a future evaluation;

• Recognition of a problem with the resources offered this particular employee or an entire department and a plan to rectify that situation; or

• Acknowledgment that the employee has been given a job or a responsibility that is not appropriate.

Once again, each of these outcomes can be cast as a constructive and valuable process intended to retain a staff member. At the same time, any goals set should be specific and measurable; it is not helpful to the employee or the organization to merely demand an improvement in performance.

For a failed employee—someone who has not responded to previous evaluations that sought to improve skills and performance—eventually the situation will arrive at a final appraisal.

This is not a happy ending for the worker or for the company, which has invested a considerable amou...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• INTRODUCTION: Nailing Jell-O to the Wall
• CHAPTER 1: An Evaluation with Purpose
• CHAPTER 2: Financial and Accounting
• CHAPTER 3: Sales and Marketing
• CHAPTER 4: Manufacturing
• CHAPTER 5: Purchasing, Warehousing, and Shipping
• CHAPTER 6: Human Resources
• CHAPTER 7: Office Support
• CHAPTER 8: Management Information Services
• CHAPTER 9: Secretarial and Clerical
• CHAPTER 10: Legal and Governmental Affairs
• CHAPTER 11: Health Care and Medical Services
• CHAPTER 12: Academic
• APPENDIX A: Thesaurus of Nouns and Adjectives
• APPENDIX B: Thesaurus of Verbs and Adverbs