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Contents

Form Designer Considerations

From an HR Viewpoint

Cautions on Revising Forms Later

Legal Considerations

Deciding on Sections

Overview of Section Considerations

Explanations of Each Section

Deciding on Competencies

Performance Competency Considerations

Explanations of Each Competency

Deciding on Ratings

Overview of Rating Considerations

Why Use Five Levels?

What Does the Middle Mean?

Which Rating Descriptions Should You Use?

When to Exclude or Include Ratings on the Review Form

Deciding on Weighting

Overview of Weighting Considerations

Weighting the Sections

Weighting Individual Performance Competencies and Goals

Deciding on Review Heading Fields

Overview of Review Heading Field Considerations

Assigning Substitute Names


From an HR Viewpoint

The Form Designer function of Performance Now Enterprise Edition is intended for centralized use by the people within the organization responsible for establishing and implementing the performance review process. The review forms you design will guide managers to do reviews consistently and correctly.

While designing review forms for use in your organization is technically a very easy process, there are some administrative and implementation considerations you should think about before designing forms.

Performance Now gives you numerous options that will determine if managers have more or less discretion in how reviews must be completed. For example, depending on how you set up the review forms in Form Designer, you can:

•	Require managers to complete all competencies on a review form, or allow them to select the competencies for the review.

•	Restrict managers from changing the relative weighting of the goals and competencies sections on a review form, or allow them to differentiate the relative weights of each section per employee.

Since you can create as many review forms as you need, you may use these various options differently from review form to review form. However, from a human resources, legal, and practical perspective, you need to be sure that you can substantiate why you create different forms for different employees. For legal reasons, you need to be comfortable that employees in similar positions are being evaluated across consistent criteria.


Cautions on Revising Forms Later

It is likely that you will need to make changes to your review form formats as your organization and needs change. However, once a manager has created a review using a particular review form, every time that saved review is reopened (or review data is reported upon or extracted), it relies on the review format set up in Form Designer.

Therefore, it is suggested that you do not change the format of a review form once managers have created and saved reviews with that form in Performance Appraiser. Instead, if you want to change a review form format, open that form, make the changes, but save it under a new form name. You can then use the Review Form Availability option to deselect the original version to make it unavailable for use by managers in Performance Appraiser.

Also, for the same reason, it is a good idea to not delete forms that managers have already used for reviews. If you do not want managers to continue using an outdated review form, just deselect that form using the Review Form Availability option on the Setup menu.


Legal Considerations

There are no federal or state laws requiring performance reviews (although some legislative bodies have regulations requiring reviews for their own employees). But there are federal laws requiring your employment actions to be non-discriminatory. And, the EEOC's Uniform Guidelines on Employment Selection Procedures includes criteria for employment selection and rating.

In addition to discrimination charges, employees increasingly are suing employers for other reasons, most commonly wrongful termination. The documentation supporting performance, including performance reviews, becomes critical in such cases. The quality of your performance reviews is important. More important is that you even have them!

In addition to discrimination and wrongful termination, other legal issues that have involved performance reviews include:

•	Employment-at-will

•	Progressive discipline

•	Defamation

•	Confidentiality

If you don't do performance reviews and are legally challenged, you are vulnerable to having difficulty in supporting your employment actions. If you do performance reviews, your program needs to conform to the expectations of the laws regulating employment actions.

Additional Information:

The Uniform Guidelines on Employment Selection Procedures

How to Comply with the Uniform Guidelines

Federal Discrimination Laws

State Discrimination Laws


The Uniform Guidelines on Employment Selection Procedures

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released the Uniform Guidelines on Employment Selection Procedures in 1978 to provide guidance on how to comply with federal discrimination legislation. While the Guidelines do not use the exact terms performance appraisals or performance reviews, the concept of employment selection procedures, testing, and rating is covered.

Courts have widely interpreted the Uniform Guidelines to include performance reviews as selection procedures because employment decisions such as promotion, pay, discipline, training, and retention can be impacted by them.

Compare your performance review program to these criteria to evaluate how well you comply with the Uniform Guidelines.

•	You must be able to prove business necessity. In the case of a performance review program, you want to be sure that the objectives of the program relate to the safe and efficient conduct of your business and its goals.

•	If your process has an adverse impact on a protected class, you must be able to demonstrate that your review program is valid, that is, it is job-related and accurately measures significant aspects of job performance.

•	You must be able to demonstrate that the process is the best available method, and that no other available method would be less discriminatory.


How to Comply with the Uniform Guidelines

•	Make sure your program is not having an adverse impact on any protected class. If it is, determine if the program is valid and not the cause of the adverse impact.

•	Make sure you have up-to-date and accurate job descriptions. To help keep your job descriptions complete, use KnowledgePoint's Descriptions Now to help create them. As you evaluate performance, relate the performance competencies you evaluate to the essential duties and qualifications from the job descriptions.

•	Make sure all managers know how to write and deliver complete and consistent performance reviews.


Federal Discrimination Laws

The following are statutory restrictions on employment actions. Each law is far more complex than the thumbnail description provided here. Compliance requirements vary across the laws for organization size, type of business, government contractual obligations, and other factors.

This is not intended to be a comprehensive list, but merely to provide a brief overview of the federal legislation that might impact your performance review process.

Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act stipulates that an employer may not discriminate in hiring and promotion practices or the terms and conditions of employment because of the individual's race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, amending Title VII, prohibits discrimination against female employees because of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 says that employees who perform similar jobs must be paid equally.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 states that employers may not discriminate against employees and applicants older than 40 years old in their hiring and promotion practices.

Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) prohibits discrimination against employees who have been injured on the job, refuse to work in what they consider unsafe and/or unhealthy jobs or environments, or "blow the whistle" on such conditions.

The Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 requires taking affirmative action to employ and advance qualified disabled veterans and veterans of the Vietnam era.

Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 forbids discrimination in the hiring and promotion of the handicapped by employers who receive federal funds.

Whistleblower Protection Statutes of 1989 protect employees of financial institutions and government contractors from discriminatory or retaliatory employment actions as a result of reporting violations of the law to federal authorities.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) prohibits discrimination in any terms or conditions of employment for a qualified individual with a current or prior disability, perceived to have a disability, or associated with a disabled person.


State Discrimination Laws

Some states have passed legislation prohibiting discrimination because of sexual preference, a category not included in federal discrimination laws. Also, states may include the same protected classes as federal laws but expand the definitions of covered employers more broadly than federal laws. Be familiar with state employment legislation for any state in which you have employees.


Overview of Section Considerations

When deciding which sections to include on a performance review form, consider what is important both for the evaluation and for the review discussion meetings that will be held (see Explanations of Each Section for detailed information on each section).

The forms you create will have the organization name and the review form title at the top. You also have the option of adding the organization logo. That is followed by the review heading information such as employee name, job title, etc. The sections you select then follow the review heading information.

All sections are optional. You select the order and rename the sections as needed. On the review form, under a section name, you can also add explanatory text to further define that section.

One of your most important decisions is whether employees will be evaluated on:

•	Performance goals

and/or

•	Performance competencies

Additional Information:

The Difference Between Competencies and Goals

Adding Explanatory Text to Sections


The Difference Between Competencies and Goals

If you want to include performance competencies on your review form, you must include the Performance Competency section in your form and also select which competencies are to be evaluated. If you decide to include goals in the review form, you must include the Current Goals section in your review form but not list the specific goals to be evaluated.

Performance competencies are usually:

•	Common to most employees who do the same or similar work. Examples of performance competencies are:

- Job Knowledge

- Written Communications

- Problem Solving

•	Ongoing criteria for performance as opposed to being limited to a specific time period.

Within Performance Appraiser, the competencies to be rated are determined by the person who sets up the review form in Form Designer.

NOTE: If you want managers to decide which competencies are to be rated per employee, put all possible competencies on the review form and, if weighting is selected, select the option to allow managers to adjust weights.

There are over 35 competencies in Performance Now and each competency consists of from two to six factors which describe specific aspects of performance for that competency. In Performance Appraiser, as the manager rates each of the factors within a competency, language (Intelli-Text) is created that becomes the foundation for the manager's narrative description of performance for that competency.

Organizations can create their own custom competencies, factors, and Intelli-Text using KnowledgePoint's Intelli-Text Designer.

Performance goals are usually:

•	Specific to each employee (although several employees may have the same goal).

•	Specific to a time period as opposed to being ongoing criteria for performance. Examples of goals might be:

- Complete the XYZ project on budget by 1/1/97.

- Reduce accident rate by 5% by 12/31/96.

- Improve production output by 3.5% over last year by 8/31/97.

Within Performance Appraiser or Performance Manager, goals are intended to be set up by the manager prior to the review period. For each goal, managers must supply a goal title and due date. Optionally, they will be allowed to enter a description of the desired outcome, how the goal will be measured, a goal category, and weight. In rating performance of each goal, the manager will be asked to enter the achievement and rating into Performance Appraiser.

NOTE: Because goals are determined by each manager, if the review form includes weighting, it will always be up to the manager to set the weight for each goal.


Adding Explanatory Text to Sections

You can add additional text to appear directly following a section heading on the review form by using the Add Explanatory Section Text function in Form Designer.

Suggested uses:

•	A definition statement of the section. The following is an example of explanatory text for the Current Goals section:

The goals that are listed below were agreed upon by the manager and the employee in a goal setting meeting prior to this review.

•	Instructional information. For instance, by selecting a User-Defined section and assigning the substitute name Instructions, you could enter explanatory text that contains instructions on the flow of the performance review process. A section called Instructions would then appear on every review.

•	Customized Employee Acknowledgment text. If you wish to change the text that automatically appears above the employee signature for every review, select Add Explanatory Text for Employee Acknowledgment section. You can then change the default text to the text of your choice.


Explanations of Each Section

The following information will help you select which sections to include (or modify) in your design.

Additional Information:

Current Goals Section

Employee Acknowledgment Section

Employee Comments Section

Future Goals Section

Performance Competencies Section

Development Plans

Rating Ranges Section

Reviewer Comments Section

Signature Sections

Summary Section

User-Defined Sections


Current Goals Section

This section is for the rated goals that fall within the period of the review. Managers must set up each employee's goals in Performance Manager or Performance Appraiser -- goals are not entered in Form Designer. You can, however, use Form Designer to add user-defined Goal Category names related to higher-level organization goals. Managers can then select from this list when setting goals.

By including the Current Goals section in the form, you provide a place for the goals to be shown once they are evaluated. You also ensure that rated goals will be considered as part of the overall rating calculation.

You can also include a Future Goals section on the form for goals that are due in the next review period.

WARNING: If you do not include the Current Goals section on the review form, and you set and rate a goal for an employee, that goal will automatically be placed at the end of the review form. However, the rating for the goal(s) and the weighting impact, if any, will be excluded from the Overall Rating Calculation.

Instead, the Overall Rating Calculation will equal the overall rating for the Performance Competencies section only. Therefore, if you do not include the Current Goals section on a review form, you are making the decision to exclude goal ratings from reviews done with that form regardless of the manager's actions.


Employee Acknowledgment Section

Most experts recommend including this section on every review form. It includes the acknowledgment text shown below followed by a signature/date line for the employee. The text that appears in this section states:

I have reviewed this document and discussed the contents with my manager. My signature means that I have been advised of my performance status and does not necessarily imply that I agree with the evaluation.

You can customize this text for any review form you design by using the Add Explanatory Text function.

The signature provides the official documentation that the contents of the review were actually seen by the employee.

NOTE: Within the Human Resources Advice in Performance Appraiser, managers are given advice on how to handle situations when the employee refuses to sign the Employee Acknowledgment section. Because of the legal importance of being able to document that an employee saw the review, whether or not there was agreement, make sure that your managers are aware of that information.


Employee Comments Section

This section provides a place for the employee to write comments about the review and the review discussion meeting. Very often an employee's comments may provide additional insight. This can be particularly important when there is a gap between the manager's review of the employee's performance and the employee's opinion.

NOTE: Within the Human Resources Advice in Performance Appraiser, managers are given advice on how to handle situations when an employee disagrees with the review.

Most organizations continue the practice of printing performance reviews and filing them manually. In these cases, the employee's handwritten comments are on the hard copy.

However, even in such situations, it is also a good idea for the manager to reopen the review in Performance Appraiser and copy the employee's comments into this section after the discussion meeting. This provides another record of the employee's comments when the manager wants to examine the review later or in the event the hard copy is not available.


Future Goals Section

This section is intended to include the goals that are forthcoming in the next review period. As the review is being written in Performance Appraiser, the manager indicates which goals are to be copied to the Future Goals section of the review.

NOTE: If you do not include the Future Goals section, a manager can still copy Future Goals to the review form, but they will automatically be placed at the end of the form.


Performance Competencies Section

This is the section that contains the essay and ratings (if you wish to show ratings on the review) for each performance competency. For more information, see When to Exclude or Include Ratings on the Review Form.

If you include this section on the review form, you will also be required to select at least one competency to appear on the list of competencies for rating.

NOTE: If you do not include this section, the manager will not be able to review any performance competencies. If you select the Current Goals section, but not the Performance Competencies section, the Overall Rating Calculation will equal the overall rating for the Current Goals section only.

For more information on selecting performance competencies and details on each competency, see Performance Competency Considerations.


Development Plans

Include this section on review forms when you want to ensure that managers include a plan for future development as part of the review. Using the Coaching Ideas function in Performance Appraiser, managers can find ideas for improving performance for each factor within a competency that is on the review form they are using. They can copy ideas to the section as well as enter their own plans directly into the review.

However, even without adding this section to the form, you can allow managers to copy Coaching Ideas to the review form for placement under the related competency. Use the Customize Coaching Ideas Placement button on the Sections tab to select this option.

Note: If you do not include the Development Plans section or the Customize Coaching Ideas Placement options, managers can still access the coaching ideas for any performance competencies that are on the review form. If they copy coaching ideas to the review form, the ideas will be automatically placed at the end of the form.


Rating Ranges Section

This section lists the numerical rating ranges that correspond to each rating level description. In the event that you decide not to include any rating numbers on your review form, you will probably not want to include this section.

NOTE: If you print a blank form using the Print Blank Form function and the Rating Ranges section is not assigned to the review form, a list of the rating descriptions, but not the numerical ranges, is automatically inserted on the blank review form.


Reviewer Comments Section

This section provides a place for the manager to sum up the events of the review discussion meeting. It is also a place for the manager to comment on remarks that the employee may have made in the Employee Comments section.


Signature Sections

These sections provide lines for people (other than the employee) to manually sign and date the review. There are five signature sections available:

•	The Reviewer Signature/Date section is for the person who actually wrote the review.

•	The four User-Defined Signature/Date sections can be used for additional signatures, such as the Next Level Reviewer or Human Resources.

You can customize the text under any signature line by assigning a substitute name, such as:

•	Next Level Reviewer/Date

•	HR Approval and Date

NOTE: See Employee Acknowledgment Section for information about the employee's signature line.


Summary Section

This section provides a place for the manager to summarize the overall performance and to copy the overall summary rating calculated by Performance Appraiser.

The overall summary rating is calculated using the overall ratings for the Performance Competencies section and the Current Goals section respectively (if both exist). If you do not select to weight the two sections, they will each automatically equal 50% of the overall summary rating.

Within Form Designer, you can weight the two sections differently and also give managers the authority to adjust the section weights for each individual review. For more information, see Weighting the Sections.


User-Defined Sections

The four User-Defined sections allow you to add sections to meet specific needs. Some possible uses include:

•	Accomplishments

•	Training courses attended

•	Future training plans

As with all sections, you can assign substitute headings and/or explanatory text for each section.


Performance Competency Considerations

There are over 35 competencies from which to choose. (See Explanations of Each Competency for detailed information on each competency.)

Each competency consists of from two to six factors which describe specific aspects of performance for that competency. As managers rate each of the factors within each competency, language (Intelli-Text) is created that becomes the foundation for the narrative description of performance for that competency.

If you do not see a competency that meets your organization's needs, or if you want to customize any of the standard competencies, factors, Intelli-Text, or Coaching Ideas, KnowledgePoint offers Intelli-Text Designer.

Consider the following when deciding which competencies to include on the form:

•	The duties of the job, the skills and qualifications required (the job description can help here).

•	The business necessities supporting the performance competencies you will be evaluating.

•	The job's scope of authority and responsibility.

•	Your organizational environment, values, and culture.

When designing a new review form, try to select competencies that apply to the positions that will be reviewed using that form.

Warning: You want to ensure that all incumbents in similar jobs are evaluated for the same competencies and factors. This ensures uniformity in the evaluation process. If you vary the competencies and factors for employees doing similar work, a protected class could claim discrimination due to adverse impact. (For more information, see Legal Considerations.) One method to ensure that all competencies are evaluated on a review form is to weight each competency and not allow managers the option to adjust the weights.

Additional Information:

Adding Explanatory Text to Competencies


Adding Explanatory Text to Competencies

In addition to giving competencies substitute names, you can also add additional text to appear directly following a performance competency name on the review form by using the explanatory text function in Form Designer.

Suggested uses:

•	A definition statement of the competency. For instance, you can add Problem Solving is defined as the ability to resolve issues in a timely, effective, and team-oriented manner.

•	An explanation of why the competency is important. For instance, you can add At XYZ Company, customer service is the most critical factor in fulfilling our mission statement and maintaining our competitive advantage.

•	The full competency name when it is longer than the 30 characters allowed. For instance, you can give the competency Quality a substitute name of TQM but then insert the full name, Meeting Our Total Quality Management Challenge, as explanatory text for the competency.


Explanations of Each Competency

The following information will help you select which competencies to include in your design.

Additional Information:

Adaptability Competency

Analytical Skills Competency

Attendance and Punctuality Competency

Business Ethics Competency

Communications Competency

Conflict Resolution Competency

Cooperation Competency

Cost Consciousness Competency

Customer Service Competency

Delegation Competency

Dependability Competency

Design Competency

Diversity Commitment Competency

Initiative Competency

Innovation Competency

Job Knowledge Competency

Judgment Competency

Leadership Competency

Managing People Competency

Oral Communications Competency

Organization Support Competency

Performance Coaching Competency

Personal Appearance Competency

Planning and Organization Competency

Problem Solving Competency

Project Management Competency

Quality Competency

Quality Management Competency

Quantity Competency

Recruitment and Staffing Competency

Safety and Security Competency

Sales Skills Competency

Team Leadership Competency

Teamwork Competency

Use of Technology Competency

Written Communications Competency


Adaptability Competency

Adaptability refers to the ability to accept change readily, both in job responsibilities and in the work environment.

Adapts to changes in the work environment

Manages competing demands

Accepts criticism and feedback

Changes approach or method to best fit the situation


Analytical Skills Competency

Include Analytical Skills as a competency when a significant portion of the duties require data analysis. Such jobs might include financial analyst, programmer, or reporter.

Synthesizes complex or diverse information

Collects and researches data

Uses intuition and experience to complement data

Identifies data relationships and dependencies

Designs work flows and procedures

NOTE: Some of the factors in this competency may overlap with factors under Problem Solving.


Attendance and Punctuality Competency

Rating employees on attendance and punctuality requires that managers have set and communicated standards. It also requires scrupulous monitoring and record keeping.

There is a factor for attendance and punctuality within the Dependability competency that overlaps with this competency. If both competencies are in the same form, managers should be instructed not to rate the attendance and punctuality factor in both competencies.

You can also customize one of the competencies to remove the attendance factor using the Intelli-Text Designer.

It is a long-standing temptation to use an employee's poor attendance as the "official" reason for unsatisfactory performance and even dismissal, because attendance is easier to document. Attendance problems seem more "objective" than other performance problems.

However, using attendance as an excuse can lead to disaster if you are challenged and there are other employees with similar records who were not disciplined.

Schedules time off in advance

Begins working on time

Keeps absences within guidelines

Ensures work responsibilities are covered when absent

Arrives at meetings and appointments on time


Business Ethics Competency

More and more organizations are including ethical behavior as a criterion for good performance. Ethics derives from the Greek ethos, which means "character." Business ethics are the commitment to demonstrating both personal and organizational character -- maintaining your own good name as well as the good name of the organization.

Including Business Ethics as a performance review competency is intended to support the organization's values and guiding principles of good business behavior and conduct.

In some organizations, this competency is applied solely to positions with high visibility (either inside or outside the organization) that exercise discretion and have accountability. However, the Business Ethics competency is also appropriate for measuring the commitment to organizational values and integrity for positions at any level in the organization.

Treats people with respect

Keeps commitments

Inspires the trust of others

Works ethically and with integrity

Upholds organizational values


Communications Competency

Most jobs require some type of communications -- either oral (with co-workers, customers, or management) and/or written (correspondence, reports, or memos).

Include Communications as a performance competency when it applies to either or both:

•	A key responsibility, such as giving instructions, taking orders, selling.

•	The overall performance of the job, such as understanding co-workers' requests, explaining a problem to a supervisor.

Expresses ideas and thoughts verbally

Expresses ideas and thoughts in written form

Exhibits good listening and comprehension

Keeps others adequately informed

Selects and uses appropriate communication methods


Conflict Resolution Competency

This competency includes factors related to confronting, investigating, and resolving difficult situations. Use this competency for reviewing managers, supervisors, team leaders, and other positions with the responsibility for resolving conflicts and problems.

Encourages open communications

Confronts difficult situations

Maintains objectivity

Keeps emotions under control

Uses negotiation skills to resolve conflicts


Cooperation Competency

Use this competency to define how the employee works with others, particularly co-workers, internal customers, and management. Most organizations include Cooperation in reviews because interpersonal relations have such a significant impact on the workplace.

Getting along with co-workers has always been important, but emerging practices such as Total Quality Management (TQM), quality circles, and work teams emphasize cooperation even more. You may wish to rename this competency Teamwork, or you can select the Teamwork competency specifically designed to evaluate team relationships.

Establishes and maintains effective relations

Exhibits tact and consideration

Displays positive outlook and pleasant manner

Offers assistance and support to co-workers

Works cooperatively in group situations

Works actively to resolve conflicts

NOTE: If the position also supervises or manages others, you may wish to use the Managing People or Team Leadership competency to describe relations with subordinates instead of Cooperation.

If the position involves significant contact with customers or clients, you may wish to add the Customer Service competency to evaluate external relationships and apply Cooperation to internal relationships only.

Further, if the position is a manager or team leader, you may want to consider using the Conflict Resolution or Team Leadership competency instead of Cooperation.


Cost Consciousness Competency

Select this competency for positions that truly have a level of financial discretion and accountability. If a position does not have much financial responsibility but cost awareness is important, consider not using this competency but instead applying the related factors under Quality, Job Knowledge, and Organization Support.

Works within approved budget

Conserves organizational resources

Develops and implements cost saving measures

Contributes to profits and revenue


Customer Service Competency

Include this competency when a major part of the job involves working with the public or with people who are not fellow employees -- customers, clients, vendors, patients, students, etc.

Many organizations want to reinforce good internal customer service for jobs that service fellow employees, such as a payroll clerk or building superintendent. You may use this competency to also apply to internal customers or use the Cooperation or Teamwork competencies.

You may wish to consider including the Sales Skills competency if the position also has responsibility for selling the organization's products or services.

Displays courtesy and sensitivity

Manages difficult or emotional customer situations

Meets commitments

Responds promptly to customer needs

Solicits customer feedback to improve service


Delegation Competency

The Delegation competency is appropriate for reviewing managers and supervisors who have the responsibility and authority to delegate work assignments. The factors in Delegation represent actions and behaviors critical to the delegation process.

Delegates work assignments

Matches the responsibility to the person

Gives authority to work independently

Sets expectations and monitors delegated activities

Provides recognition for results


Dependability Competency

This competency recognizes actions and behaviors that significantly contribute to both internal and external success. Employees who exhibit dependability help create a positive working environment.

Responds to requests for service and assistance

Follows instructions, responds to management direction

Takes responsibility for own actions

Commits to doing the best job possible

Keeps commitments

Meets attendance and punctuality guidelines

NOTE: The competency Attendance and Punctuality addresses this last factor. If both competencies are in the same form, managers should be instructed not to rate the attendance and punctuality factor in Dependability.

The competencies Customer Service and Business Ethics both include factors about meeting commitments. If either of the competencies are in the same form, managers should be instructed not to rate the meeting commitments factor more than once.


Design Competency

Use the Design competency for positions that have essential duties requiring visual design work, such as graphic designers, animators, interface designers, architects, engineers, and illustrators.

Generates creative solutions

Translates concepts and information into images

Applies design principles

Uses feedback to modify designs

Demonstrates attention to detail

NOTE: The Innovation competency also includes a factor on displaying creativity. If Innovation is on the same form with Design, managers should be instructed not to rate the creativity factor more than once.


Diversity Commitment Competency

The Diversity Commitment competency is intended to recognize actions and behaviors that contribute to creating and maintaining a diverse workforce.

This competency is appropriate for positions that have authority for implementing affirmative action and promoting a harassment-free environment. It is also appropriate for reviewing managers and supervisors who, as part of fulfilling their essential duties, need to understand EEO policy and support cultural and physical differences. If your organization has undergone diversity training, this competency will help you measure its effectiveness.

Demonstrates knowledge of EEO policy

Shows respect and sensitivity for cultural differences

Educates others on the value of diversity

Promotes a harassment-free environment

Builds a diverse workforce

NOTE: Organization Support also includes a factor relating to supporting affirmative action and respecting diversity. If the competency Organization Support is also on the same form, managers should be instructed not to rate the affirmative action factor.


Initiative Competency

The area of initiative can be difficult to evaluate because its very definition implies working without direction or independently. Therefore, it can be hard to set performance standards for initiative.

When this competency is included on a review form, a manager is expected to have discussed with an employee before the review such issues as the scope of the employee's authority and the degree of allowable risk.

Volunteers readily

Undertakes self-development activities

Seeks increased responsibilities

Takes independent actions and calculated risks

Looks for and takes advantage of opportunities

Asks for help when needed


Innovation Competency

The competency Innovation is appropriate for positions that have essential duties requiring creativity in writing or designing, developing ideas or new concepts, or introducing change.

Displays original thinking and creativity

Meets challenges with resourcefulness

Generates suggestions for improving work

Develops innovative approaches and ideas

NOTE: The Planning and Organization, Problem Solving, and Project Management competencies also include factors about resolving unexpected challenges. Contributing to improving how work is done is also included under Quality.


Job Knowledge Competency

Most performance review programs include appraisal of employees' job knowledge. The competency Job Knowledge is intended to measure the skills and knowledge the employee possesses and to identify areas for improvement.

Job Knowledge is the total of all work-related knowledge, whether acquired on the job, through training and education, or from previous experience and other jobs. It encompasses the technical skills or knowledge required to perform the essential duties as described in the job description.

Increasingly, organizations are defining the precise skills and knowledge, or success criteria, required to successfully perform each job (in addition to defining the essential duties). Some use skill- or competency-based compensation programs to reward employees for skill attainment.

Competent in required job skills and knowledge

Exhibits ability to learn and apply new skills

Keeps abreast of current developments

Requires minimal supervision

Displays understanding of how job relates to others

Uses resources effectively


Judgment Competency

Judgment is the act of decision making. While judgment is closely tied to Problem Solving and Initiative, many people prefer to separate these competencies. It is one thing to be able to gather data, analyze it, and develop options but another to actually make decisions.

Displays willingness to make decisions

Exhibits sound and accurate judgment

Supports and explains reasoning for decisions

Includes appropriate people in decision-making process

Makes timely decisions


Leadership Competency

This competency is appropriate when reviewing managers and supervisors. However, it also can be applied to employees working in a team environment that needs these behaviors from all team members, or to any position with similar expectations.

Exhibits confidence in self and others

Inspires respect and trust

Reacts well under pressure

Shows courage to take action

Motivates others to perform well


Managing People Competency

This competency includes only skills related to working directly with people. Use it for managers, supervisors, and team leaders.

Provides direction and gains compliance

Includes subordinates in planning

Takes responsibility for subordinates' activities

Makes self available to subordinates

Provides regular performance feedback

Develops subordinates' skills and encourages growth


Oral Communications Competency

When oral communications are an important part of fulfilling the job duties, you may wish to use this competency rather than the more general Communications competency.

Speaks clearly and persuasively

Listens and gets clarification

Responds well to questions

Demonstrates group presentation skills

Participates in meetings


Organization Support Competency

This competency covers a number of broad organizational values and necessities. Managers should be instructed to rate only those that are appropriate to your organization.

The competency Diversity Commitment more completely addresses the area of affirmative action. If you include Organization Support and Diversity Commitment on the same review form, be sure managers do not rate the affirmative action factor under Organization Support. You may also remove this factor by customizing the competency with Intelli-Text Designer.

Follows policies and procedures

Completes administrative tasks correctly and on time

Supports organization's goals and values

Benefits organization through outside activities

Supports affirmative action and respects diversity


Performance Coaching Competency

Performance Coaching refers to the functions in a manager's or supervisor's position that are dedicated to helping subordinates not only to achieve their responsibilities but also to improve performance.

Defines responsibilities and expectations

Sets goals and objectives

Gives performance feedback

Motivates for increased results

Recognizes contributions

Encourages training and development

NOTE: Several factors within Managing People duplicate factors in Performance Coaching. You will probably not want to use both competencies in the same review form.


Personal Appearance Competency

Few organizations include Personal Appearance as a performance review competency, although at one time it was commonly included in reviews. Formal dress code policies have declined in recent years as have restrictions related to grooming, such as hair length, makeup, facial hair, etc.

The two reasons for the reduction in dress/grooming codes are:

•	A growing informality and acceptance of diversity in the workplace.

•	Court decisions that some dress and grooming codes are discriminatory.

However, when personal appearance and/or grooming standards are clearly non-discriminatory and a case can be made for their business necessity, you may wish to include Personal Appearance as a review competency.

Dresses appropriately for position

Keeps self well groomed


Planning and Organization Competency

This competency is appropriate when the employee has some degree of control over how he or she manages time and can choose what to do first.

Prioritizes and plans work activities

Uses time efficiently

Plans for additional resources

Integrates changes smoothly

Sets goals and objectives

Works in an organized manner


Problem Solving Competency

Problem Solving is the ability to cope with problem situations of varying degrees of complexity or challenge. It includes evaluation, analysis, information gathering, timeliness, and interpretation.

Most jobs require some degree of problem solving as a component. Use this competency when there are identifiable responsibilities or situations that require problem solving skills.

NOTE: Problem Solving excludes decision making, the result of the problem solving process. Factors related to decision making are included in the Judgment performance competency.

Example: If the job requires resolving only day-to-day problems and the employee has been instructed to refer more complex problems to a higher level, it would be inappropriate to highly rate an employee who solved the complex problems herself, while rating lower the employee who followed the established rule of referring them.

Identifies problems in a timely manner

Gathers and analyzes information skillfully

Develops alternative solutions

Resolves problems in early stages

Works well in group problem solving situations


Project Management Competency

Use this competency when one of the employee's essential duties is managing projects.

Develops project plans

Coordinates projects

Communicates changes and progress

Completes projects on time and budget

Manages project team activities


Quality Competency

More than 90% of the competency-based performance appraisal programs include Quality. In today's work world, quality is a predominant performance issue, with the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) programs, quality circles and teams, and other programs.

NOTE: While you may select other performance competencies that contribute to the overall quality of the employee's work, such as Job Knowledge, Communications, and Problem Solving, it is good to identify Quality as a separate and critical competency.

The factors under Quality are intended to measure both:

•	The quality of the actual work produced by the employee.

•	The commitment to quality demonstrated by the employee.

Demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness

Displays commitment to excellence

Looks for ways to improve and promote quality

Applies feedback to improve performance

Monitors own work to ensure quality


Quality Management Competency

The Quality Management competency is intended for positions with responsibility for implementing a quality management program or initiative, or that oversee quality control for a particular product, service, or function. To evaluate the quality of an individual's work product and their commitment to quality, use the Quality competency.

Fosters quality focus in others

Sets clear quality requirements

Measures key outcomes

Solicits and applies customer feedback

Improves processes, products, and services


Quantity Competency

Almost all jobs have expectations of the amount of work or results to be produced. Quantity can apply to work that has a quantifiable product or service measured against a specific time frame, e.g. number of calls made in a week, number of bottles filled in an hour, number of customers served dinner.

When there are numerical standards and measurable products or services, Quantity can be clearly evaluated and communicated. The employee should be made aware of the expectations and how the performance will be measured.

Even jobs without quantifiable measures can be evaluated for Quantity. Other methods are:

•	Evaluating whether the results were accomplished within expected time frames, against deadlines, or met goals or objectives.

•	Comparing against others doing the same or similar work.

Meets productivity standards

Completes work in timely manner

Strives to increase productivity

Works quickly

Achieves established goals


Recruitment and Staffing Competency

Include this competency for managerial, supervisory, or staff positions that have hiring responsibilities within their scope of duties.

Utilizes recruitment sources

Exhibits sound interviewing skills

Presents positive, realistic view of the organization

Analyzes and forecasts staffing needs

Makes quality hiring decisions


Safety and Security Competency

Many jobs require attention to safety issues and others may require observing certain security procedures. If either is not appropriate, managers can be instructed to eliminate the reference to safety (or security) as they edit the review. You can also rename the competency to eliminate the non-appropriate area.

Observes safety and security procedures

Determines appropriate action beyond guidelines

Uses equipment and materials properly

Reports potentially unsafe conditions


Sales Skills Competency

Include this competency when a major part of the job involves selling the organization's products or services. You may wish to consider also including the Customer Service competency if the position has responsibility for delivering customer service as well as selling.

Achieves sales goals

Overcomes objections with persuasion and persistence

Initiates new contacts

Maintains customer satisfaction

Maintains records and promptly submits information


Team Leadership Competency

Use the Team Leadership competency to evaluate the ability to build and lead teams. While some of the factors in Team Leadership appear to overlap with those in Performance Coaching, keep in mind that Team Leadership refers to work with a group of people, while Performance Coaching focuses on a manager or supervisor's work with individual employees.

Fosters cooperation

Defines team roles and responsibilities

Supports group problem solving

Ensures progress toward goals

Acknowledges team accomplishments


Teamwork Competency

The factors in Teamwork represent specific behaviors critical to the success of a team. The increased emphasis on cross-functional teams, quality circles, and team decision making is challenging employees in new ways. However, you can use Teamwork regardless of whether the employee is part of a formalized work team or just works closely with others as part of the job.

Balances team and individual responsibilities

Exhibits objectivity and openness to others' views

Gives and welcomes feedback

Contributes to building a positive team spirit

Puts success of team above own interests

NOTE:  The competency Cooperation also includes factors that relate to building and maintaining smooth and effective interpersonal relations.


Use of Technology Competency

Include the Use of Technology competency if the position requires the use of technology or equipment to perform essential duties. Use of Technology can include, but is not limited to, computer skills.

Demonstrates required skills

Adapts to new technologies

Troubleshoots technological problems

Uses technology to increase productivity

Keeps technical skills up to date


Written Communications Competency

Select this competency when the employee's job duties include a significant amount of writing. However, when the job's essential product is writing, such as a technical documentation writer or a copy writer, competencies such as Quality, Job Knowledge, and Quantity may be more appropriate in measuring how well the employee meets job requirements.

Writes clearly and informatively

Edits work for spelling and grammar

Varies writing style to meet needs

Presents numerical data effectively


Overview of Rating Considerations

To facilitate evaluating employees, Performance Appraiser provides a default five-level rating scale. In designing your review forms, you have many options with regard to how ratings are used and displayed in Performance Appraiser.

Before choosing from the various options, consider how your organization uses ratings. For example, if ratings are used as input to salary and promotion decisions, you will usually want employees to be aware of the ratings so they know where they stand. However, if your organization perceives the performance review solely as a vehicle for manager-employee feedback and planning, you may not want to have ratings appear on reviews at all.


Why Use Five Levels?

The most commonly used rating scale for performance reviews is the five-tiered scale. A five-tiered scale allows flexibility in rating, yet is narrow enough to reasonably define the difference in each performance level.

In Performance Now, the default configuration is set to five rating levels. However, using Form Designer, you can designate anywhere from two to six levels for your organization's review forms.

After five, the next most frequently used scale is four levels. Some organizations use four levels because it helps eliminate the "middle level" or "average" rating (for more information, see What Does the Middle Mean). However, with four levels, some managers find it difficult to "bite the bullet," and they start introducing an additional level, such as 3 +, to bridge the gap between levels 3 and 4. Because of these pluses and minuses, four-tiered scales (and the three-tiered scale) may end up having several more levels "informally" introduced.


What Does the Middle Mean?

One of the most difficult issues to understand in performance review ratings is that the mid-level (rating 3 in a five-tiered scale) is not intended to describe performance precisely midway between the lowest and highest levels. Some tend to equate the five performance levels to school grades A through F and to perceive the middle level as C (not a grade many people want).

In performance evaluation, the mid-level is meant to represent performing to expectations. It is good performance, performing the duties of the job as set forth in the job description. Since you expect employees to perform their job duties well, this becomes the standard for the middle level. The Intelli-Text in Performance Appraiser is written to support that the mid-level describes doing the job in an acceptable fashion.

If you change from five levels to three, four, or six levels, it is important to understand which of those levels will be using the "mid-level" language:

Rating Scale	Mid-Level
6	4
5	3
4	3
3	2
3	None (only higher or lower)
If you include ratings on your performance review forms, be sure to help employees and managers understand what the rating levels represent in your organization. Employees may perceive the middle level as just a step above less than satisfactory. It is not. Managers should resist the tendency to inflate ratings of good employees as reassurance that they are not on the verge of falling short of expectations.

To help reinforce this rating philosophy, some organizations set up rating allocations to ensure that a specific number or percentage of employees end up in each rating level.


Which Rating Descriptions Should You Use?

If you wish to include rating descriptions on the final performance review, select a rating description for each level that best fits your organization's culture.

Choosing rating descriptions can be one of the most emotion-packed issues in designing a performance review program. Many experts suggest selecting rating descriptions that convey job-relatedness, such as meets job requirements, rather than terms that imply a more personal approval or disapproval, such as good. In particular, the term average has fallen into disfavor as it now implies mediocrity to many people and is not well-received.

It is suggested that you develop a complete definition of what each rating description means to your organization to assist managers in the process. You can include the definitions of the review ratings on each review form by including a User-Defined Section, giving it the substitute name Rating Definitions, and, using the Add Explanatory Text function, enter the definitions for each rating level.


When to Exclude or Include Ratings on the Review Form

Performance Appraiser provides several options for printing ratings on the review. Consider the following as you decide whether or not to show ratings:

You may want to exclude all ratings if:

•	You don't want employees to focus too much on the ratings and ignore the narrative and discussion components of the review.

•	You are not concerned about explaining the relationship of performance review ratings to salary actions.

You may want to include only an overall rating if:

•	You want to give a clear message to employees about where they stand performance-wise and don't feel that the narrative portion communicates the message strongly enough.

•	You want to link performance review ratings to salary actions and want employees to understand the relationship.

You may want to include ratings for each competency and goal if:

•	You want employees to understand how the overall rating was determined.

•	You want to give a clear message about their performance in specific areas, and don't feel the narrative portion communicates the message strongly enough.

The Weighting Calculation Details page is available for printing with the completed review once all weighted competencies and/or goals are rated. The Weighting Calculation Details page is intended as a backup to the review itself and lays out precisely how the weighted ratings were mathematically calculated.


Overview of Weighting Considerations

Performance Appraiser offers several options related to weighting the competencies and goals sections of the review form and weighting the individual competencies and goals within each section.

Some organizations establish strict guidelines about what weight should be given to performance goals vs. performance competencies. For instance, for a management position, goals might account for 75% of the overall review whereas performance competencies might account for only 25%.

However, some positions are not good candidates for goal evaluation (see The Difference Between Competencies and Goals). For these positions, you can set up forms with no goals or give the goals section a lower weight.

If you decide to implement weighting, you will want to consider these weighting cautions:

 Clearly differentiate between weights.

 Confirm job relatedness.

 Make sure employees know.

 Beware the numbers game.

 Ensure consistency.

Additional Information:

How Weights Appear on the Review Form


How Weights Appear on the Review Form

When you incorporate weighting in your performance review program, the rating calculation process is of course impacted. All competency and goal weights will appear on the review form but section weights do not.

To prevent the performance review document from becoming overly crowded with numbers, Performance Appraiser provides a separate page, the Weighting Calculation Details. This is available to be printed by the manager, with the review or separately, once the review is completed. The Weighting Calculation Details itemizes precisely how all ratings were calculated. It can also be used as an "executive summary" and quick way to compare multiple reviews.

The Weighting Calculation Details lists each section, each goal, and each competency in each section, and its numerical rating. Further, for weighted competencies and/or goals, it shows the numerical weighting and how the overall rating is derived.


Weighting the Sections

If you include both the Current Goals section and the Performance Competencies section in a review form, each section is automatically given equal weight (50%) of the overall rating calculation unless you assign different weights. The total weight must always be 100%. (Also see Weighting Individual Competencies and Goals).

For each form you design, you can also select the option to allow managers to adjust the section weights on each employee's review, or you can opt to not allow them to change the section weights. One danger in giving managers the authorization to adjust section weights is possible inconsistencies within the organization. If different employees are doing the same work but managers vary the importance they assign to the two sections, you will need to be comfortable that the reasoning can be supported. (For more information, see Legal Considerations.)


Weighting Individual Performance Competencies and Goals

Weighting is a good way to communicate the priorities and performance criteria of the job to an employee. Without weighting, each performance competency and goal is equal. In reality, most jobs have certain performance expectations that are clearly more important than others.

In designing the review form, you can determine if individual goals and/or individual performance competencies should be weighted. Goals and competencies can be weighted either as a percentage or as a relative number. For competencies only, you can also select the option to allow managers to adjust the competency weights on each employee's review, or you can prevent them from adjusting the competency weights required by the form. (Managers can always adjust individual goal weights since goals are set by the manager.)

If you decide not to require the items in one of the sections to be weighted, the rating for that section only will be a simple average.

Some organizations set up a review form that lists a large number of performance competencies, so that managers can select only those competencies they need. To set up a form in this way, you can either choose not to weight competencies at all (all rated competencies will have equal weight), or you can select competency weighting, but also select to allow the reviewer to change competency weights.

NOTE: The only way to enforce that managers rate all the competencies on a review is to weight the competencies and not allow them to adjust the weighting. Performance Appraiser will not calculate an overall summary rating until all weighted competencies and goals have been rated.

Additional Information:

Percentage Weighting

Numerical Weighting


Percentage Weighting

If there is a Performance Competency section on the review form and you select percentage weighting, in Form Designer you must assign weights to each competency on the form. The total of the competency weights must equal 100%.

For the form, you may also select to authorize each individual manager to adjust the competency weights you have assigned.

If there is a Current Goals section on the review form and you choose percentage weighting, Performance Appraiser will require that managers assign weights to the goals for each review period that total 100% and rate them all before an overall summary rating can be calculated.

NOTE: Regardless of whether or not you authorize managers to be able to adjust performance competency weights, managers can always adjust weights of goals, since goals are set by the manager.


Numerical Weighting

If there is a Performance Competency section on the review form and you select numerical weighting, in Form Designer you can assign numerical weights to each competency on the form. Numerical weights can be any numbers from 1 to 100.

For the form, you may also authorize each individual manager to adjust the competency weights you assigned. Regardless of whether or not you authorize managers to be able to adjust performance competency weights, managers can always adjust weights of goals since goals are set by the manager.

NOTE: If you select numerical weighting, you will need to communicate to the managers in your organization what numerical weights you want them to use since the program will accept any numbers between 1 and 100.

One way to communicate this is to add a User-Defined section, give it the substitute name Weighting Instructions, and use the Add Explanatory Text function to explain your weighting procedures.


Overview of Review Heading Field Considerations

When selecting fields to include on a performance review form, experts recommend the following as a minimum:

•	Employee name and job title.

•	Reviewer name and job title.

•	The period of time that is being reviewed.

Because reviews can be such important documents in the event of a legal challenge, they should contain all relevant data needed to place them in the appropriate time and organizational context. Not including this data may make it difficult to recall those details several years later.

The forms you create will automatically position your organization's name and the review form title at the top, followed by the review heading information you select. The other sections then follow the review heading fields in the order you selected them.

In Performance Manager or Performance Appraiser, when a manager selects an employee, the review heading fields assigned to that form will appear in bold type in both the Employee Information dialog box and the Review Heading dialog box. That lets the manager know which fields definitely should be completed in order for them to appear on the printed review.


Assigning Substitute Names

You may assign substitute names to any of the review heading fields. The substitute name will then appear in both the Employee Information dialog box and the Review Heading dialog box instead of the original names.

Four User-Defined review heading fields are also available. Some possible uses for the User-Defined fields include:

•	Type of review (Introductory, Quarterly, Annual, Promotional, etc.).

•	Additional organizational level identifiers.

•	EEO code.

•	Last promotion date.

•	Date employee assumed the position.

If you use User-Defined fields, be sure to give them substitute names so managers will know what to enter in them.

WARNING: Although Performance Now allows you to vary the names of review heading fields between the forms you design, if you plan on extracting data to another database, using the same field for multiple types of information may result in problems. For this reason, you may want to not re-use the same field for different purposes across review forms and instead, assign different fields if possible.


The right to terminate an employment relationship at the will of either the employee or the employer at any time, with or without cause or notice.


A procedure for administering employee discipline imposing increasingly severe measures for repeat offenses. Typically, these steps lead from initial counseling or verbal warning, to written warning, suspension with or without pay, and, ultimately, termination of employment.


Even if you can prove business necessity (a practice that is essential and indispensable to the job or your organization), plaintiffs can still prove the practice is unlawful if a "less discriminatory but equally effective alternative" exists. Consult your attorney about any questionable business necessities.


Adverse Impact: A substantially different rate of selection in hiring, promotion, or other employment decision that works to the disadvantage of members of a race, sex, or ethnic group. (The rule of thumb for a substantially different rate is a selection rate for one group that is less than 80% of the highest group selection rate.)


Protected Class: A specific class of people afforded protection against discrimination by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.


Adverse Impact: A substantially different rate of selection in hiring, promotion, or other employment decision that works to the disadvantage of members of a race, sex, or ethnic group. (The rule of thumb for a substantially different rate is a selection rate for one group that is less than 80% of the highest group selection rate.)


Protected Class: A specific class of people afforded protection against discrimination by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.


Descriptions Now is the software program that writes ADA-ready job descriptions customized to your specific needs. For more information about Descriptions Now, contact KnowledgePoint at (800) 727-1133.


The primary or fundamental job duties intrinsic to the position -- that is, the duties are essential to achieving the objectives of the job.


One of the easiest ways is to give each manager Performance Now.


The term hiring practices is understood to include most employment actions. Since performance reviews usually provide input for compensation actions, promotion actions, and termination actions, you should make sure your performance reviews do not include any of these prohibited practices.


Protected Class: A specific class of people afforded protection against discrimination by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.


The Intelli-Text Designer module, used in conjunction with Performance Now Enterprise Edition, helps you create custom performance competencies, factors, Intelli-Text, and Coaching Ideas that meet your organization's specific needs. These competencies are added to custom review forms using Form Designer. For more information about Intelli-Text Designer, call KnowledgePoint at (800)-727-1133.


You will need to make this change for every review form you design.


The Intelli-Text Designer module, used in conjunction with Performance Now Enterprise Edition, helps you create custom performance competencies, factors, Intelli-Text, and Coaching Ideas that meet your organization's specific needs. These competencies are added to custom review forms using Form Designer. For more information about Intelli-Text Designer, call KnowledgePoint at (800)-727-1133.


A written description of a job usually containing a summary of the job's general purpose, the essential duties and responsibilities, supervisory responsibilities (if any), qualification requirements, physical demands, and work environment. Use KnowledgePoint's Descriptions Now to write job descriptions. Contact KnowledgePoint at (800) 727-1133 for more information on Descriptions Now.


Try not to select competencies or rate factors that overlap. You do not want to evaluate an employee on the same performance area more than once. Additional warnings are given in the description of each competency when there are possible overlaps.


 A specific class of people afforded protection against discrimination by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.


A substantially different rate of selection in hiring, promotion, or other employment decision that works to the disadvantage of members of a race, sex, or ethnic group. (The rule of thumb for a substantially different rate is a selection rate for one group that is less than 80% of the highest group selection rate.)


If you insert a definition, you may want to not select the Show Factors on Review Form option.


The Intelli-Text Designer module, used in conjunction with Performance Now Enterprise Edition, helps you create custom performance competencies, factors, Intelli-Text, and Coaching Ideas that meet your organization's specific needs. These competencies are added to custom review forms using Form Designer. For more information about Intelli-Text Designer, call KnowledgePoint at (800)-727-1133.


The Leadership competency also includes a factor relating to inspiring trust. If both competencies are in the same form, managers should be instructed not to rate the inspiring trust factor in both competencies. You can also customize one of the competencies to remove the inspiring trust factor using Intelli-Text Designer.
The Intelli-Text Designer module, used in conjunction with Performance Now Enterprise Edition, helps you create custom performance competencies, factors, Intelli-Text, and Coaching Ideas that meet your organization's specific needs. These competencies are added to custom review forms using Form Designer. For more information about Intelli-Text Designer, call KnowledgePoint at (800)-727-1133.


There are also separate performance competencies for Oral Communications and Written Communications. You may wish to use either or both of these competencies instead of Communications, which is more general.


The primary or fundamental job duties intrinsic to the position -- that is, the duties are essential to achieving the objectives of the job.


The primary or fundamental job duties intrinsic to the position -- that is, the duties are essential to achieving the objectives of the job.


The primary or fundamental job duties intrinsic to the position -- that is, the duties are essential to achieving the objectives of the job.


The primary or fundamental job duties intrinsic to the position -- that is, the duties are essential to achieving the objectives of the job.


The Intelli-Text Designer module, used in conjunction with Performance Now Enterprise Edition, helps you create custom performance competencies, factors, Intelli-Text, and Coaching Ideas that meet your organization's specific needs. These competencies are added to custom review forms using Form Designer. For more information about Intelli-Text Designer, call KnowledgePoint at (800)-727-1133.


A company's no-beard policy was found to discriminate against African-American delivery men. However, because of a business necessity requiring face respirators, a no-beard policy was upheld for firemen. Another case found that requiring female cocktail servers to wear extremely revealing uniforms was discriminatory.


Even if you can prove business necessity (a practice that is essential and indispensable to the job or your organization), plaintiffs can still prove the practice is unlawful if a "less discriminatory but equally effective alternative" exists. Consult your attorney about any questionable business necessities.


The primary or fundamental job duties intrinsic to the position -- that is, the duties are essential to achieving the objectives of the job


Quantity also can be used to compare the volume of work and/or results against the expectations for the job, e.g. project completed, updated program installed, procedure revised.


Example A programmer is responsible for producing computer program code. The programmer writes programs in response to client's requests; there is no standard to write a specific number of lines of code or programs.
However, you can evaluate whether or not the programmer met the pre-established deadlines for each project (results within time frames). You can also compare both the elapsed time and number of hours it took to the time it takes other programmers to do similar work (comparison).


The primary or fundamental job duties intrinsic to the position -- that is, the duties are essential to achieving the objectives of the job.


You can use Intelli-Text Designer to prepare Intelli-Text for a sixth level in your performance review forms. Intelli-Text Designer is a module designed to create custom performance competencies, factors, Intelli-Text, and coaching ideas that meet your organization's specific needs. For more information about Intelli-Text Designer, call KnowledgePoint at (800) 727-1133.


A typical rating allocation guideline might be that 55% of the employees are to be rated at the middle level, 20% at the next highest, 10% at the highest, and 15% at the lower two levels.
Rating allocations may not work as well in small units or businesses as in larger organizations.


Regardless of what rating information you select to print on the completed review itself, if you elect to weight the sections or competencies and goals on that form, all numerical and descriptive ratings will appear on the separate Weighting Calculation Details page.


It's hard to differentiate the importance of performance criteria if the weights are very close. And mathematically, the impact of one or two percentage points difference in weights has minimal impact on the ratings.
If you assign weights of 10% to five competencies, 12% to two more, and 13% to the last two, do the different weights really mean anything? Far better would be to assign more staggered weights such as 10% for less important items, 20% for more important, and 30% for most critical. The message comes across far stronger and, in the rating calculation, a high rating in a heavier weighted competency shows up.


Check job descriptions to confirm that weighting is in synch with the job duties. A written description of a job usually contains a summary of the job's general purpose, the essential duties and responsibilities, supervisory responsibilities (if any), qualification requirements, physical demands, and work environment.
Use KnowledgePoint's Descriptions Now to write job descriptions. For more information about Descriptions Now, call KnowledgePoint at (800) 727-1133.


Managers should set up a process for going over weighting, goals, and performance competencies with the employee in advance of the performance review period.
As with all performance management programs, the manager and the employee should discuss the performance criteria and expectations in advance. A good way to do this is to have managers provide employees with a printout of an employee-specific blank review form.


Managers should be advised not to use weighting as a way to come up with the desired overall rating. For instance, one competency should not be weighted a little higher in order to make the overall rating fall into the next higher level.


All employees doing the same job should be evaluated on similarly weighted performance criteria. If they are not, you need to be comfortable with the variations, such as why one performance competency or one section of the review is more important for one person than another. This helps avoid any appearance of possible discrimination.
(For more information on consistency issues, see Legal Considerations.)


WARNING: Be sure to consider the mathematical impact of the weighting numbers you select. Example: If you have very close numerical weights, such as 1 (Low priority), 2 (Medium priority), and 3 (High priority), the resulting mathematical scores may not differentiate substantially enough to impact the overall rating.


WARNING: If you plan to extract review data from Performance Now to another database, either to transfer performance ratings or to do review analysis, be sure to design forms that include all the fields that might be needed for that extract.