HR Week 8c

performance evaluation system

a systematic way to examine how well an employee is performing in his other job.

Considerations when designing performance system:

frequency, rewards, goals

360-degree performance appraisal method

 a way to appraise performance by using several sources to measure the employee’s effectiveness

Ways to prevent errors

• specific performance metrics and job expectations

• proper training on how to manage performance appraisal interviews to prevent halo effects

• create a timeline and educate managers and employees on the process

Errors in appraisals

• reliability

• halo effect

• accessibility

• validity

Performance reviews

crucial tool for employers in Ontario to evaluate and optimize worker performance, provide constructive feedback, and promote an atmosphere of wellness at work. They act as a crucial aspect to an employee’s professional development and advancement as they give companies the chance to assess employee performance, celebrate achievements, and identify areas where improvement is required.

relevant legal framework governing performance reviews

The Employment Standards Act (ESA), The Ontario Human Rights Code (Code), and the Occupational Health & Safety Act (OHSA) each place significant obligations on the employer.

Manager/Supervisor Evaluation

Usually has extensive knowledge of the employees performance and abilities but has bias and favortism

Self performance evaluation

self analysis can help with employee growth but employees tend to inflate their ratings

Peer evaluations

works well when the supervisor doesnt directly observe, can bring different perspective, but confidential could increase mistrust, bias, could be awkward if tied to pay

Customer/client performance evaluation

best view, can enhance long term relationships with customer but possible bias and expensive

Subordinate performance evaluation

how well manager treats employees, determine if employees feel favortism, subordinates may not understand big picture, self development tool for managers, but retaliation if bad results, rating inflation, mistrust, nothing changes could create motivational issues amoung employees

Graphic Rating Scale:

• This type of evaluation lists traits required for the job and asks the source to rate the individual on each attribute.

• A discrete scale is one that shows a number of different points. The ratings can include a scale of 1–10; excellent, average, or poor; or meets, exceeds, or doesn’t meet expectations, for example

Mixed standard statements

• The employee gets along with most coworkers and has had only a few interpersonal issues.

• This employee takes initiative.

• The employee consistently turns in below-average work.

• The employee always meets established deadlines

Essay Appraisal:

•  the source answers a series of questions about the employee’s performance in essay form.

• This can be a trait method and/or a behavioral method, depending on how the manager writes the essay.

• These statements may include strengths and weaknesses about the employee or statements about past performance

• managers writing ability can contribute to the effectiveness

Checklist Scale:

• a series of questions is asked, and the manager simply responds yes or no to the questions, which can fall into either the behavioral or the trait method, or both.

• Another variation to this scale is a check mark in the criteria the employee meets, and a blank in the areas the employee does not meet.

Critical Incident Appraisals

manager records examples of the employees effective and ineffective behavior during the time period between evaluations, tendency to record only negative events, works well when specific jobs vary from week to week

Work Standards Approach:

results-focused approach, a minimum level is set, and the employee’s performance evaluation is based on this level. For example, if a salesperson does not meet a quota of $1 million, this would be recorded as nonperforming. The downside is that this method does not allow for reasonable deviations, long-term situations

Ranking Methods: (stack ranking)

employees in a particular department are ranked based on their value to the manager or supervisor. This system is a comparative method for performance evaluations. To make this type of evaluation most valuable (and legal), each supervisor should use the same criteria to rank each individual. Otherwise, if criteria are not clearly developed, validity and halo effects could be present

Management By Objectives:

Peter Drucker, This method is results oriented and similar to the work standards approach, with a few differences. First, the manager and employee sit down together and develop objectives for the time period, then they sit down and discuss evaluation together, creates buy in

Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS):

• A BARS method first determines the main performance dimensions of the job, for example, interpersonal relationships.

• Then the tool utilizes narrative information, such as from a critical incidents file, and assigns quantified ranks to each expected behavior.

• The advantage of this type of system is that it focuses on the desired behaviors that are important to complete a task or perform a specific job.

Essay Adv Vs DisAdv

Easily provide feedback on positive abilities BUT subjectivity, writing ability impacts validity, time consuming

Checklist scale Adv Vs DisAdv

Measurable traits specific behavioral expectations BUT no detailed answers or explanations

Critical Incidents Adv Vs DisAdv

Specific examples BUT time consuming, negative incidents only

Work Standards Approach Adv Vs DisAdv

Ability to measure specific components of job BUT no deviations

Ranking Adv Vs DisAdv

high-performance work culture BUT validity depends on interaction between employees, possible bias

Best Practice In Performance Appraisals:

1. Make sure the evaluation has a direct relationship to the job

2. Involve managers when developing the process

3. Consider involving the employee in the process

4. Use a variety of methods

5. Avoid bias by standardizing

6. Give feedback on performance throughout the year

7. Make sure the goals of the performance evaluation tie into the organizational and department goals.

8. Ensure the performance appraisal criteria also tie into the goals of the organization

9. Review the evaluation for each job title

Steps of performance appraisals

1. goal setting with employees

2. performance monitoring, feedback and coaching

3. the performance appraisal

six main components to an employee improvement plan

1. Define the problem.

2. Discuss the behaviors that should be modified, based on the problem.

3. List specific strategies to modify the behavior.

4. Develop long- and short-term goals.

5. Define a reasonable time-line for improvements.

6. Schedule “check-in” dates to discuss the improvement plan.

considerations to effectively manage the performance appraisal process

1. Provide each manager with a job description for each employee. The job description should highlight the expectations of each job title and provide a sound basis for review.

2. Provide each manager with necessary documents, such as the criteria and rating sheets for each job description.

3. Give the manager instructions and ground rules for filling out the documents.

4. Work with the manager on pay increases for each employee, if your organization has decided to tie performance evaluations with pay increases.

5. Provide coaching assistance on objectives development and improvement plans, if necessary.

6. Give time-lines to the manager for each performance review he or she is responsible for writing. Most HR professionals will keep a spreadsheet or other document that lists all employees, their manager, and time-lines for completion of performance evaluations

Tell and Sell Interview

manager does most of the talking and passes his or her view to the employee

Tell and Listen Interview

Manager communicates feedback and then addresses employees thoughts about the interview

Problem solving interview

the emoployee and the manager discuss the things that are going well and those that are not going well which can make for a productive discussion

Considerations for providing the best feedback

1. Be direct and specific. Use examples to show where the employee has room for improvement and where the employee exceeds expectations, such as, “The expectation is zero accidents, and you have not had any accidents this year.”

2. Do not be personal; always compare the performance to the standard. For example, instead of saying, “You are too slow on the production line,” say, the “expectations are ten units per hour, and currently you are at eight units.”

3. Remember, it is a development opportunity. As a result, encourage the employee to talk. Understand what the employee feels he does well and what he thinks he needs to improve.

4. Thank the employee and avoid criticism. Instead of the interview being a list of things the employee doesn’t do well (which may give the feeling of criticizing), thank the employee for what the employee does well, and work on action plans together to fix anything the employee isn’t doing well. Think of it as a team effort to get the performance to the standard it needs to be.

Results of feedback/appraisal

1. The employee now has written, documented feedback on his or her performance.

2. The organization has documented information on low performance, in case the employee needs to be dismissed.

3. The employee has performed well and is eligible for a raise.

4. The employee has performed well and could be promoted.

5. Performance is not up to expectations, so an improvement plan should be put into place.

6. The employee hasn’t done well, improvement plans have not worked (the employee has been warned before), and the employee should be dismissed.