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Contents

Performance Management: an Overview

The Performance Management Cycle

Legal Considerations

How to Set Up a Performance Management Program

Managing Performance

Ongoing Performance Management

Setting Goals

Creating Log Events

Coaching for Improved Performance

Evaluating Employees

Gathering Information

Rating Performance

Documenting Performance in the Review

Summarizing the Review

Review Information

Holding the Performance Review Discussion

The Most Important Part of the Process

Types of Review Discussions

Linking Performance to Salary Reviews

Planning the Review Discussion

Communication Tips for the Review Discussion

Coming to Agreement

Creating Development Plans


The Performance Management Cycle

Performance management encompasses everything managers and supervisors do to plan, monitor, evaluate, and improve the performance of those they supervise. While performance management programs vary according to organizational needs and culture, the most successful programs include the stages outlined below.

1.	Planning: Clarifying expectations and standards, setting goals, and creating development plans.

2.	Monitoring: Observing and documenting performance, tracking progress toward goals, and monitoring implementation of development plans.

3.	Providing feedback and coaching: Giving regular performance feedback, involving employees in solving performance problems, and helping employees develop new competencies or strengthen existing ones.

4.	Appraising performance: Reviewing performance-related documentation, obtaining feedback from the employee and others, evaluating the employee's performance over the review period, and creating a written appraisal of performance competencies and goals.

5.	Holding the review discussion: Meeting with the employee to discuss performance and the performance review document, and planning for the next review period by working together to create development plans and set goals.

Performance Now has been designed to enhance your efforts throughout the entire performance management cycle. Performance Manager helps you to perform the important functions of Stages 1-3 (planning, monitoring, and providing feedback and coaching). Performance Appraiser provides support for Stages 4 and 5 (evaluating performance and holding the review discussion).

Additional Information:

Purposes of Performance Reviews

Benefits of Performance Management

Obstacles to Effective Performance Management


Purposes of Performance Reviews

Performance management programs can serve one or more of the following purposes, depending upon an organization's needs.

 Provide basis for performance feedback.

 Set work goals.

 Determine merit increases.

 Identify training and development needs.

 Document employment actions.

 Document progression approvals.

 Identify special skills, abilities, interests.

 Provide individual recognition.


Benefits of Performance Management

A good performance management program provides numerous benefits to employees, managers, and the organization as a whole.

 Improved performance.

 Better manager/employee communication.

 Organizational goal clarification.

 Performance problem documentation.

 Obstacle identification.

 Compensation action support.

 Personnel action support.

 Training plan and program development.


Obstacles to Effective Performance Management

Certain obstacles can arise that may interfere with the effectiveness of your performance management program. It is better to consider them before you implement a review program than to be surprised later. Consider how you would manage these possible obstacles.

Time. The primary reason managers give for not doing performance reviews is that they take too much time. Managers experienced in doing performance reviews have found the secret is observing and regularly recording performance activities.

Inconsistent application. When multiple managers are doing performance reviews, it can be a challenge to ensure consistent evaluation criteria. If managers differ widely on how they rate the same level of performance, the risk of employee relations problems increases. Charges of discrimination are also more likely where evaluation inconsistency exists.

Several other methods for promoting consistency are:

•	Assign one person (a senior manager or human resources person) to review all completed performance reviews for consistency.

•	Encourage managers to compare philosophies and discuss their reviews with each other.

•	Set standards that can be applied across the organization.

Lack of motivation for improvement. Unless employees perceive the performance review process as fair and worthwhile, it can become just another one of those "burdens" they must endure from management. If your review program is not consistent with the normal way you do business, your employees probably perceive it as unreal or artificial.

Emotional tribulations. Very often the performance review process is perceived as one person "judging" another. Some managers are uncomfortable in this role and few people enjoy being judged.

If you expect a performance review discussion to be difficult, be sure you are prepared. Good preparation will let you be more comfortable and better able to work with the employee on creating development plans.

Legal risk. Some people hesitate to put anything in writing for fear that it makes them more legally vulnerable. With a well-written and supported performance review, it is just the opposite. The two most common legal risks related to performance reviews are:

•	Not doing them at all.

•	Taking an employment action not supported by the preceding reviews, making it more difficult to prove the action was justified and not discriminatory.

See Legal considerations for additional information.


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 (and some state 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 the employment-at-will policy, progressive discipline, defamation, and 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

Discrimination Suits

Wrongful Termination

Progressive Discipline

Employment-At-Will

Job Duty Relationship

Defamation


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 that you 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 employees more broadly than federal laws. Be familiar with state employment legislation for any state in which you have employees.


Discrimination Suits

Discrimination suits are lengthy, costly, and time consuming to an employer. The notoriety, even if the charge is later dropped, can be embarrassing and negatively impact a business.

When an employee or government body files a charge of discrimination, the charging party is responsible for proving that the employer discriminated against the employee because the employee was a member of a protected class and not because the employee failed to meet legitimate job expectations.

For the employer, this can require gathering and preparing tremendous amounts of historical data about the entire organization, not just the employee in question. While your written policies will be closely examined, the heart of the matter will be what really happened in your hiring, promotions, salaries, disciplinary actions, and terminations.

If the statistics reflect a disparity against a protected class, the burden of responsibility is yours for disproving the disparity resulted from intentional discrimination. Good documentation becomes a necessity.

Even when intentional discrimination cannot be proven, you may be found guilty of unintentional discrimination when the numbers go against you. To reduce the risk of becoming embroiled in a discrimination suit, set up internal monitoring procedures to watch for discriminatory patterns and make sure you can support your employment actions.


Wrongful Termination

Performance reviews are important if a wrongful termination lawsuit is brought by an employee who feels he or she was illegally terminated for other than discriminatory reasons.

Wrongful termination claims are increasing. Successful suits can result in extremely high awards to the employee of compensatory, and in some cases punitive, damages.

Wrongful termination suits have been filed and won by terminated employees for all the various circumstances below. Courts vary in their interpretations and decisions across the country and even with the same jurisdictions. Some cases seem to contradict others and, indeed, employers have also won similar cases.

Ask yourself how your personnel policies, performance review program, and the reviews themselves would stand up to scrutiny if your organization was charged with wrongful termination.

Implied contract claims occur when an employee charges that a termination broke an implied contract to only terminate in accordance with organizational procedures or for good cause. In such cases, the employee's performance reviews (or lack of) usually are critical factors. Examples:

•	Employee handbook states or implies employment will not be terminated except for unsatisfactory performance and employee claims he/she was never informed it was unsatisfactory or disputes that performance was actually unsatisfactory.

•	Employee handbook describes a progressive discipline procedure that was not followed.

•	Employee handbook says performance reviews will be done annually, but they are not done for several years.

•	Employee claims a manager made oral promises about continued employment.

•	Manager makes statements in performance reviews that employee is performing satisfactorily and yet employee is terminated for performance reasons.

•	Employee is let go after long years of service without warning or reason.

Public policy claims occur when an employee charges termination was done for a reason or in a way that goes beyond acceptable public policy. Examples:

•	Employee blew the whistle on illegal activities.

•	Employee refused to do something illegal.

•	Employee was taking care of a public obligation, such as jury duty.

•	Employee was exercising a statutory or constitutional right, such as the right to free speech.

Lack of good faith and fair dealing covers such actions as terminating an employee to get out of paying an earned commission or to prevent pension vesting.

Promissory estoppel includes such actions as backing down on a job offer after the employee has left a previous job and moved to take yours.


Progressive Discipline

If you have a progressive discipline policy in your organization, it is likely that one of the first written warnings of unsatisfactory performance will be made within a performance review.

However, since progressive discipline policies usually contain a number of steps that must be followed (including verbal and written warnings), it is unlikely that comments in performance reviews alone will be adequate to meet the requirements of a progressive discipline policy.

To make sure the performance review can be used as one of the steps in the progressive discipline process, the review should include:

•	A description of the performance that must be improved.

•	The time period within which the improvement needs to take place.

•	What will happen if there is no improvement.

•	The statement that the review is one of the steps in the progressive discipline policy.

See the advice for Creating development plans for additional information.


Employment-At-Will

Even if you have an employment-at-will policy in your employee handbook, you should not make statements in a performance review that might be construed as commitments or promises of continued employment. Such statements could negate your employment-at-will policy.

If you have an employment-at-will policy but no progressive discipline policy, consider using the following phrase when documenting requirements for improving unsatisfactory performance in the Development Plans section:

Failure to improve as required may result in further action up to and including termination of employment.


Job Duty Relationship

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) states that employers may not discriminate against a qualified person with a disability who can perform the essential duties of the job with or without reasonable accommodation.

While the Uniform Guidelines previously established job relatedness as a criterion, the ADA increased the importance of evaluating performance against the essential duties and not against factors unrelated to getting the job done. And, if an employee has difficulty performing the essential duties of the job because of a disability, the ADA requires the employer to make accommodations, when reasonably possible, to perform the essential duties.

During a review discussion with an employee performing unsatisfactorily, ask whether there are any obstacles to performing the job. By documenting in the review that you asked this question and by including the employee's response, you will be documenting whether the employee raised any disability-related issues. If the employee states a disability is impacting performance, you will want to address the issue within the ADA framework.


Defamation

There have been occasional suits charging defamation or libel because of the contents and/or sharing of performance reviews. Take the following precautions to reduce the risk of defamation charges.

•	Limit access to review forms to only those people with a legitimate business need. This normally would include the employee's immediate supervisor (usually the reviewer), the successive management above the supervisor, and for monitoring purposes, appropriate human resources staff.

•	If your performance review program includes group assessment by multiple managers and you have communicated this to employees, there should not be an issue of business necessity. However, questions about legitimate business need can arise when supervisors share reviews outside the normal reporting lines or when reviews can be accessed by others inappropriately.

•	Make sure your statements in the review are both:

1.	Supportable with facts since the truth is not normally considered defamatory.

2.	Clearly opinions, since opinions are also not usually considered defamatory. You may want to clarify with "in my opinion" or "it is my belief," particularly when making sensitive broad statements that could negatively impact the employee's position or future. Example:

	John is not ready for the promotion.
	In my opinion, based on his performance over the past year, John is not ready for the promotion.


How to Set Up a Performance Management Program

Once you have considered your performance management needs and determined what purposes your program will serve, you will need to finalize several other more administrative matters:

•	The frequency of reviews.

•	How you will communicate the program to employees.

•	Procedures for monitoring and record keeping.

Additional Information:

Frequency

Scheduling

Communicating the Program

Monitoring Performance Reviews

Record Keeping

Performance Review Policy


Frequency

The most common frequency for performance reviews is annually. However, many organizations are moving to more frequent reviews, either semi-annually or even quarterly. You may want to consider including quarterly mini-reviews in your program. By setting up more frequent formal feedback sessions:

•	You and the employee are more likely to be on track about performance issues and goals.

•	You integrate performance reviews into day-to-day operations.

•	You reduce the stress of the major, once-a-year review.

New employees. Organizations with introductory periods for newly hired employees or employees new to a position usually hold performance reviews as the introductory period is coming to an end. Some hold monthly reviews to ensure immediate feedback and coaching in the early stages of employment.


Scheduling

There are two primary methods for designing a schedule for performance reviews. The choice is often determined by the relationship of the review to salary increases.

Anniversary date. The anniversary date can represent either when the employee joined the organization or when the employee came into the current position. The anniversary date schedule uses the frequency to set the next review date, such as:

•	Every year on the employee's anniversary date.

•	Every six months following the date the employee assumed the current position.

The anniversary date method lets you:

•	Stagger employees' reviews across the year reducing pressure of focal reviews (see below).

•	Observe performance in the position over a reasonable length of time, such as six months or a year.

Focal reviews (or single date). This schedule has all employees reviewed at the same time. It is usually used when the results of the performance reviews are input to annual salary budgeting and increase plans. It may also be used for bonus or retention decisions. The focal review method lets you:

•	Set aside specific time to concentrate on performance reviews rather than squeezing them into daily work.

•	Evaluate all employees at the same time, which can foster equity in evaluations and rating.

•	Support types of rating programs that require comparisons of employees such as ranking and paired comparisons.

Combining anniversary and focal schedules. Some organizations combine both methods:

•	A focal review of all employees solely to obtain ratings for use in salary budgeting (usually not shared with the employee).

•	An anniversary review that uses both the rating and essay components and is discussed with the employee.

The major problems with combining the scheduling techniques are:

•	When a rating changes between the initial focal review and the anniversary review, but there is no ability to adjust the salary increase.

•	Managers may be more honest in the focal review, but may inflate the rating when holding the review discussion.

•	Employees may be distrustful of the focal review process since it seems to happen without their involvement.

This combined method can still work if you watch for these problems.


Communicating the Program

Communicate early and explain how the program will work. Be sure to point out the benefits to those involved.

Hints for announcing a performance review program

•	Don't have secret agendas. Be up front about why you have implemented a review program.

•	Make sure there is something in it for everyone.

For employees: Knowing where they stand and how to improve performance.

For the manager: Communicating expectations and getting improved performance.

•	Communicate responsibilities.

For employees: To take responsibility for their performance and personal growth, and to be realistic.

For the manager: To be honest, fair, observant, timely, and to make time for reviews.


Monitoring Performance Reviews

What should be monitored?

•	Reviews are done on time.

•	Language used is clear and non-discriminatory.

•	Ratings are well supported.

•	Performance issues are addressed promptly and appropriate next steps (development plans and/or consequences) documented.

•	Performance is being evaluated uniformly across the organization.

•	If challenged, the review will stand up to scrutiny.

•	No adverse impact exists in compensation, promotion, probation, termination, or other actions related to performance reviews.

Who should monitor? In larger organizations, the Personnel or Human Resources function may assume responsibility for monitoring reviews. In smaller organizations, a senior manager may be responsible for monitoring.

However, no matter the size, most organizations place primary responsibility for a good review with the person doing it (as well as that person's successive line of management). In some situations, the person doing the review may also be held individually responsible by the courts for ensuring reviews are in accordance with the organization's performance review program.


Record Keeping

Reviews are a key component of the employee's personnel record. No matter where they are placed, reviews are still considered part of the employee's official personnel file.

Additional Information:

Filing Completed Reviews

Personnel File Legislation


Filing Completed Reviews

You may elect to file reviews with other personnel forms (hiring, salary, and job assignment records) or in a separate confidential file. Base your choice on who has access to the personnel record file.

If the file is accessed by multiple departments (Payroll, Benefits, etc.), the file should probably exclude reviews because these departments may have no business need to see reviews. Instead, set up separate performance files either in the employee's department or centrally but with more limited access. Written warnings and other performance documentation could also be placed in this file.


Personnel File Legislation

Personnel files should be regarded as private so that the employee's privacy is not abridged. This means that only people with a legitimate need-to-know should have access to those files.

Because some states have laws regarding the confidentiality of personnel records, be familiar with your state's restrictions.

Employee access to own file. Most states have laws regulating the rights of employees to see their own personnel files. State laws vary.

•	Some states restrict the employee to reviewing the file only in the presence of the employer's representative.

•	Other states allow the employee to have copies.

•	Some exclude specific documents from access.

•	Legislation may differ between the personnel files of public employers and private employers.

•	Some also allow former employees access.

Third-party access. Some states have legislated the process for third parties (not the employer or employee) to see personnel files. Certain states require that you purge any disciplinary or evaluatory information (such as performance reviews) before a third party may review the file.

Retention periods.

•	For active employees, many experts and employment attorneys recommend retaining performance reviews indefinitely.

•	For terminated employees, since performance reviews are important to defending discrimination and wrongful termination charges, experts recommend retaining reviews seven years, the retention period suggested by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for most employment records.

•	Also, some states have legislated retention periods for personnel files, so you will want to familiarize yourself with your state's requirements.


Performance Review Policy

Most employers who have a performance review program mention it in their employee handbook. The policy should describe the benefits of the program and its purpose, rather than detail the type of program and form used. This allows flexibility to adjust the program in the future without making employee handbook changes.

WARNING: If your policy references either the frequency or schedule for performance reviews, make sure your reviews follow that timetable. Failure to follow an official policy has been used against employers in wrongful termination suits.

Also, avoid stating precisely the frequency or dates of performance reviews.

	Performance review discussions will be conducted on the employee's anniversary date every twelve months.
	Performance reviews will generally be given annually, around the time of the employee's anniversary.


Ongoing Performance Management

The most successful performance management occurs all year long, not just at review time. Performance Manager supports your efforts throughout the review period, from setting goals to documenting performance to providing feedback.

Keeping all performance-related information in one place makes it easier to plan, track, evaluate, and improve employee performance. Use Performance Manager year-round for conducting these important performance management functions:

•	Setting and tracking goals.

•	Recording examples of ongoing performance in the Log, including critical incidents, training, and achievements.

•	Accessing coaching ideas and documenting coaching sessions.

•	Storing job descriptions, past reviews, and other performance-related documents.

•	Scheduling reminders to help you make log entries regularly.

When it's time to actually write the review in Performance Appraiser, you can access Performance Manager to review the Log for entries made during the review period. The data you've recorded throughout the review period is now readily accessible and easily incorporated into the review.


Setting Goals

Performance Now uses the word goal but the term objective is also frequently used to mean the same thing. In addition to prompting you to describe the goal and set a due date, Performance Now gives you the opportunity to describe how success in achieving the goal will be measured, and assign a category to the goal.

Additional Information:

How to Write Goals

Examples of Well-Written Goals

Writing Goal Measurements

Categorizing Goals

Keeping Goals Updated

Setting Future Goals


How to Write Goals

No matter which word you prefer - goal or objective - most people consider that for something to be considered a goal, it should be:

•	Specific, rather than general.

•	Achievable within the review period.

•	Measurable - either in quantity, quality, or results.

•	Within the employee's ability and authority.

•	Related to the employee's job and to the business.

Try to write goals in a positive manner (such as Improve... or Increase...) rather than negative (Do not... or Stop...).

Now test the goal against the following - be sure that it does not describe:

•	Responsibilities which are beyond the employee's authority.

•	Outcomes which cannot be observed or measured until after the review period.

•	Tasks which are impossible for an employee to achieve because of a lack of skills, knowledge, resources, or tools.

There are exceptions to this rule. If you wish to rate employees on each job duty or competency rather than on performance competencies, you could use the Goals section for this purpose. By entering each task or competency as a goal and entering the standard of successful performance as a Goal Measurement, you can set them up for individual rating.

WARNING: To ensure consistency, if you use the Goals section to rate tasks or competencies in this way, be sure that all employees in the same position are rated on the same tasks and competencies. An easy way to do this is to use the Replicate Goal function to copy goals to other employees quickly. And once you have completed the review, just replicate the goals to the next review period for this employee.


Examples of Well-Written Goals

Not specific enough:

	Improve accuracy of work.
	Improve the accuracy of claims processed by reducing average number of errors from 10% to 7% by the end of this review period.
Not achievable within the review period:

	During this review period, complete at least half the programming needed for the new XYZ system that will be released next year. (NOTE: The phrase at least half is unmeasurable since you can't determine exactly what the total consists of until after the review period. It is important when setting goals that might extend beyond the review period to only set the portion of the goal that can be completed and measured within the review period.)
	Complete programming on modules A, B, and D of the new XYZ system by 8/31/96. (NOTE: Even better would be to separate each module into a separate goal - assuming that they can be separated - and give each a separate due date.)
Not measurable enough:

	Increase sales significantly.
	Increase sales revenues for the Western Region from $4.2 million to $4.5 million in this calendar year.
Not within the employee's ability or authority:

	Reduce accidents in the plant by 5%. (NOTE: This might be a satisfactory goal for a person with overall plant responsibilities; however, in this case the goal was assigned to each of the plant workers.)
	Complete year-end processing no later than 1/31 of the following year.
	By 1/15, distribute W2s to all employees and by 1/31 file W2 reports with all federal and state government agencies.
Not related to the employee's job or to the business:

	Learn how to do the same work Mary performs.
	As part of the department's cross-training efforts, each employee is being assigned as an official back-up to another employee. This requires learning enough of the employee's work that you can cover 75% of day-to-day responsibilities for a one week period, if needed. You are assigned as official back-up to Mary.
Not a goal but part of the employee's normal job duties:

	Write press releases.
	Write press releases for the five new programs being developed this year that are in editors' hands no later than two weeks before program release dates.


Writing Goal Measurements

A well-written goal usually specifies what and when, but you also consider how you will be evaluating the employee's success at achieving the goal. When the goal is being set, the employee and you should come to an understanding of the criteria that will be used in measuring whether the goal was met or not.

It can be very frustrating to discover in the review discussion meeting that you and the employee had totally different ideas of how "success" was defined. In the Goal Measurement field, you can clarify some of the following areas of potential disagreement.

•	More precise definition of terms. What does completed mean? What does accurately mean? Does annual sales include or exclude offsets for returned items?

•	How it was achieved. If the employee accomplishes the goal results but alienates everyone in the process, has the goal truly been achieved? If the task was completed on time but came in over budget, was the goal met?

•	Who will have input. Will the goal be evaluated solely by the manager or will others have input? How will information be gathered - from formal feedback mechanisms, such as reviews, or via more informal channels? Will feedback be confidential or will the employee know who gave it?

•	The levels of success. If the goal is partially achieved, what will the rating be - all or nothing?


Categorizing Goals

Many organizations tie individual performance goals to:

•	Overall time-specific organizational goals, such as Increase sales to $32 million this year or Reduce accidents by 10%.

•	General organization values, such as Commitment to Excellence.

•	Broad performance categories, such as Profit or Customer Service.

You can enter these categories in the Goal Category field when you are setting or rating goals. The goal category will then appear on the review form.

Using the goal categories helps employees understand how their specific goals relate to the overall mission of the organization, division, or even their individual department.


Keeping Goals Updated

Goals, or objectives, are usually set with the best of intentions. However, the reality of business is that priorities shift frequently. The best laid plans for the coming review period can be totally upset by a single occurrence.

The impact can be from within the organization - a change in management, a reorganization, a change in philosophy, a change in product line. Or the impact can be from outside the organization - competition, the economy, government regulations.

For these reasons, goal setting for performance reviews can only be successful if the goals are closely monitored and adjusted during the review period. This can be done in Performance Now in several ways.

•	Communicate goal adjustments. Anytime you amend goals, be sure to give the employee a revised employee-specific blank review form for the review period

•	Review goals regularly. On a routine basis, review each employee's goals in Performance Manager. You can record progress toward the goal as a Log event. If the description of the goal, the measurement, or the due date are no longer correct, make the appropriate changes.

•	Get regular status updates from employee. Since employees have the most vested interest in attaining their goals, asking them to give you regular updates will usually uncover any problems that might require amending a goal.

•	Hold more frequent performance reviews.


Setting Future Goals

When you are working on a review, future goals are any goals that have dates beyond the review period or have no due date. It is up to you to specify which future goals you want to copy to the review form.

The same guidance applies to writing future goals as it does to current goals. See How to Write Goals.

NOTE: If there is no Future Goals section on the review form you are using, any future goals you copy will be placed at the bottom of the review form. You may want to paste these future goals into the Development Plans section instead.


Creating Log Events

Reviews that contain specific examples of performance to back up ratings are more meaningful to employees and more likely to stand up in court. But it can be difficult to remember such specifics unless you record them at the time they occur.

The Performance Manager Log provides a convenient means for documenting performance. Create a new Log event to enter notes about day-to-day performance, progress toward current goals, or critical incidents. Rather than wait until review time to give your employees performance feedback, provide them with immediate feedback, then record notes about your discussion in the Discussion area.

An important feature of the Log is the Performance Reminders function. Use Performance Reminders to guarantee that you make regular notes in the Log on each of your employees.

Additional Information:

Documenting Performance Problems

Documenting Successful Performance

Additional Ideas for Log Events

Using Performance Reminders

Attaching Documents

Viewing Job Descriptions and Performance Reviews


Documenting Performance Problems

It's extremely important to properly and promptly document performance problems in case your employment decisions should ever be challenged in court. Use the Log to document problems such as lateness, missed deadlines, failure to implement development plan activities, inferior work products, policy and procedure infractions, or excessive absences.

Log entries for performance problems might include:

•	A description of the problem and your initial analysis of it

•	Notes on your discussion with the employee

•	Coaching ideas

•	Improvement plans

•	Follow-up meetings

Use the Log event attachment feature to attach supporting documents.

For more information on handling performance problems, see Coaching Steps for Correcting Performance Problems, as well as Writing Development Plans When Performance Improvement is Required.


Documenting Successful Performance

While the reasons to document poor performance are easily apparent, successful performance may sometimes get less attention. Motivate poor performers and keep your strong performers committed by noting examples of superior performance. Log entries can include:

•	Significant achievements

•	Mastery of new skills

•	Notice of "extra effort"

•	Rewards given

•	Praise from peers or clients

•	Congratulatory memos

For more information, see Writing Development Plans to Build on Strengths.


Additional Ideas for Log Events

In addition to documenting examples of superior or poor performance, you can create Log events to capture a wide range of performance-related information about employees:

•	Projects and assignments, including objectives, due dates, and status updates.

•	Employee development, such as completion of development plan activities, planned training, and training completed.

•	Career plans, including long-term goals, short-term objectives, and next steps.

•	Background information, such as special skills or experiences, completed cross-training assignments, and key contacts (previous places of employment, colleges attended, personal acquaintances).


Using Performance Reminders

The most effective -- and legally defensible -- performance reviews are based on performance-related information collected over the course of the entire review period. Yet it can be difficult to remember to take notes on day-to-day performance.

Performance Manager includes the Performance Reminders function to help you remember to make regular entries in the Log. Performance Reminders alerts you when you fail to make a log entry for an employee within a specified amount of time. The number of days you select for the Reminder Period might depend on such factors as how many employees you supervise, frequency of reviews, and each employee's level of performance.

You can set the same period to apply to all employees, or you can set different periods for different employees. For example, if one of your employees is performing poorly, you might want to be reminded to make weekly, or even daily, entries.

You can make it even easier to remember to make log entries by setting Performance Reminders to open up automatically when you start up your computer, or when you open Performance Manager or Performance Appraiser.

For more information, see Introducing Performance Reminders in Online Help.


Attaching Documents

Employment decisions are much easier to defend if they have been thoroughly documented. The Attachment function enables you to support specific Log events by attaching documents created in another program that are on your computer or network. These could include production or attendance statistics, spreadsheets, project timelines, reports, or memos. Attachments might also include performance reviews or job descriptions not created in KnowledgePoint programs.


Viewing Job Descriptions and Performance Reviews

Viewing job descriptions in the Log. Job descriptions created in Descriptions Now can be viewed from an employee's Log folder. It can be useful to review the essential duties listed in the employee's job description when creating plans for development or preparing a performance review.

Past performance reviews. When preparing a performance review, you can use the Performance Manager Log to review past reviews. Also, if the last review included a development plan, you can open the review from the Log folder to monitor plan implementation.


Coaching for Improved Performance

Coaching -- the process of helping others achieve their performance goals -- is one of the most effective techniques that exists for improving employee performance. Performance Now supports the coaching process by providing a library of coaching ideas, each linked to a specific competency.

As a coach, your role is to provide your employees with direction, support, and feedback to help them correct performance deficiencies, develop existing and new skills, and expand their responsibilities. Keep in mind that coaching is a team effort. Your coaching will be most successful when you involve the employee in the process of defining the problem or goal, developing strategies and solutions, and agreeing on an action plan.

You can use the Performance Manager Log to document the coaching process, especially when you are working to correct performance problems. Simply create a new event and enter a brief summary of the performance problem to be corrected or the competency to be developed. Then copy relevant coaching ideas into the discussion section, editing as necessary and adding job-specific details. For more information, see Documenting Performance Problems.

Additional Information:

Opportunities for Coaching

Coaching Steps for Correcting Performance Problems

Providing Performance Feedback


Opportunities for Coaching

While coaching is especially effective for dealing with performance problems, it is also a powerful technique for further developing employee strengths. Access Coaching Ideas when you need suggestions for coaching employees in any of the following situations:

•	To address a performance problem.

•	To create a development plan.

•	To prepare employees for additional responsibilities.

•	To help employees develop new skills.

•	To help employees strengthen existing skills.

•	When an employee fails to apply knowledge or skills learned in training.

•	To help new employees gain required skills and knowledge.

•	Before delegating an assignment.

•	When an employee asks for help.

•	When an employee fails to complete an assignment properly.

•	To help prepare an employee for an upcoming challenge.


Coaching Steps for Correcting Performance Problems

Coaching means approaching performance issues from a problem solving rather than disciplinary perspective. By focusing on the problem rather than the person, you can reduce defensiveness and increase motivation to improve.

Coaching is based on the premise that employees can learn and change if they are given clear expectations, guidance to help them reach their goals, and frequent feedback.

While it may be necessary to implement disciplinary action immediately, many performance problems can be resolved if they are addressed through coaching. Consider applying the four steps below to make your coaching more successful.

Additional Information:

Prepare for a Coaching Session

Discuss the Problem With the Employee

Develop a Performance Improvement Plan

Follow Up and Monitor Results


Prepare for a Coaching Session

Before meeting to discuss a performance problem with an employee, it's important to prepare for the coaching session.

Define the problem. To determine the gap between desired and actual performance, write a brief description of your expectations as well as the performance you have observed.

Assess the impact. What is the "cost" of allowing the problem to continue unchanged? Consider such factors as production time, raw materials and other resources, staffing, customer satisfaction, employee morale, and management time.

Determine possible causes. When an employee is not meeting expectations, it is frequently due to one of the four reasons listed below:

 Unclear expectations

 Lack of skill or ability

 Presence of obstacles

 Lack of motivation

Identify possible solutions. Before meeting with the employee, identify potential solutions to the problem in advance. You can use the suggested activities provided in the Coaching Ideas feature.


Discuss the Problem With the Employee

At the initial discussion:

•	Briefly state your concerns about performance. Describe the difference between your expectations and what you have observed. Discuss the impact of the performance problem. Try to be clear, direct, and respectful. Try to focus on the situation, rather than on the person.

•	Provide a chance for the employee to respond, and listen to the employee's point of view.

•	Achieve agreement on the definition and impact of the problem.

•	Tell the employee that you would like to work together to figure out the best way to improve performance. Ask the employee to think about the situation and come up with ideas of what may be causing the problem and how to improve. If necessary, discuss methods to identify and evaluate causes. Share your own thoughts on the situation, but be sure to let the employee know that you do not have all the answers.

•	Schedule a meeting to identify the improvement strategy and develop the performance improvement plan.

•	Document the discussion as a Log event.


Develop a Performance Improvement Plan

•	Ask for the employee's ideas on the causes for the problem. Use active listening and probing questions to ensure understanding.

•	Discuss and agree on the cause or causes to address. Focus on the causes that have the largest impact on performance, are correctable, and lie within your control.

•	Review the employee's ideas for solutions to the problem and agree on the best course of action.

•	Develop an action plan that contains specific activities to be completed, measures of satisfactory completion, and due dates. Include dates for follow-up meetings to check on progress.

•	Discuss steps the employee can take if problems arise in implementing the action plan.

•	Identify ways that you can support the employee's improvement efforts.

•	Express encouragement, support, and confidence in the employee's ability to succeed.

•	Document the discussion as a Log event and print a copy for the employee.


Follow Up and Monitor Results

•	Conduct and document follow-up meetings with the employee as scheduled.

•	Set a Performance Reminder to follow up in a specific and regular time period.

•	If the plan is not succeeding along the way, hold a discussion with the employee and modify the plan as needed.

•	If performance has improved as expected, be sure to acknowledge the employee's efforts.

•	Recognize both the improved results as well as the effort taken to examine the performance problem and implement the plan.

•	Document all discussions with the employee as Log events.


Providing Performance Feedback

Most employees want to know where they stand -- and they perform better when they receive regular feedback on their performance. By getting in the habit of providing immediate feedback, rather than waiting until review time, you can support year-round performance improvement in your employees.

Employees can benefit from feedback when they are learning new tasks, developing new skills or strengthening existing ones, or simply performing the essential duties of their jobs.

To be most effective, feedback should be:

•	Descriptive - consisting of specific examples rather than generalities.

•	Accurate - containing information that is factual and valid.

•	Behavior-focused - focusing on the activity or problem, rather than the person.

•	Immediate - given while the activity is still fresh in the employee's mind.

For more information on providing feedback, see Communication Tips for the Review Discussion.

Additional Information:

Giving Negative Feedback

Giving Positive Feedback


Giving Negative Feedback

It helps, whenever possible, to include positive remarks when giving critical feedback. Most people find it easier to accept criticism if you've first taken the opportunity to reinforce their self-esteem with a positive comment (but only if it is sincere).

Examples:

	We're getting lots of complaints about you lately - you don't seem to care very much about customer satisfaction.
	Your strong point has always been generating new leads, and that continues to be important. However, there's an aspect of your performance that concerns me. Our department goal is to increase customer satisfaction, but I've received four customer complaints in the last month regarding your unreturned phone calls.
or

	The order entry work you're doing is filled with mistakes.
	I see you're able to enter the new orders very quickly. Now try focusing on entering the information as accurately as possible.


Giving Positive Feedback

Don't forget to give employees positive feedback -- it's a powerful motivator for weak and strong performers alike. While comments such as, "Good job!" are always welcome, you can make positive feedback more meaningful by describing the positive behaviors specifically. This reinforces good performance by letting the employee know exactly which things he or she is doing well and should continue in the future.

Example:

I was very pleased with the work you did recently on the McClelland account. You put together a comprehensive proposal, but you were flexible enough to modify it when the client asked for changes. Keep up the good work!


Gathering Information

Performance Now helps you consider the factors that make up an employee's performance and gives you narrative language to start writing the review. Before you start a review, you will want to gather and review performance information.

Use all the sources available to you. The more information you have, the more comfortable you will be in reviewing performance. And, the more information you have, the less likely you will fall into one of the evaluation traps.

Additional Information:

Review the Job Description

Review Performance Manager

Review the Last Review

Get Feedback From Others

Get a Self-Review From the Employee

Evaluation Traps


Review the Job Description

Review the job description to confirm the essential duties and qualifications. This is an excellent time to update the job description as well as integrate it into the review discussion meeting.

Review each duty and qualification to help decide which performance competencies and factors are relevant.

If you have KnowledgePoint's Descriptions Now, you can view the job description at the same time you are evaluating the employee. You can even copy job duties and qualifications directly from the job description into your review.


Review Performance Manager

Use Performance Manager to maintain an easily accessible record of the employee's performance throughout the year. Record observations, critical incidents, and other information about the employee in the Log.

When you are evaluating the employee, review the Log to jog your memory. Copy factual examples from the Log into your review to support your evaluation.


Review the Last Review

Review the most recent performance review to see what was discussed and documented. Pay particular attention to areas where improvements or changes were identified as needed.

Even if issues identified in the previous review no longer exist (either performance has improved or conditions have changed), acknowledge them and tie up loose ends in the current review. By acknowledging the past review, you are reinforcing continuity in the review process. You are also documenting the outcome of previously raised issues.

If the previous review was written by someone else, give it the same attention, addressing all outstanding issues for continuity and closure.

NOTE: If previous reviews were done in Performance Now Enterprise Edition, these will be listed and can be opened at any time. If previous reviews were done in a previous version of Performance Now or a word processor, the reviews can be opened only while another Performance Now Enterprise review is open.


Get Feedback From Others

Ask others for feedback on the employee. While you have final responsibility, the observations and opinions of other managers, co-workers, subordinates, and even clients can help validate your own evaluation. They may even give you new information and viewpoints.

Here are some methods used by organizations to guarantee that performance feedback from others is incorporated into performance reviews.

•	All employees are discussed by peer managers within a division.

•	Reviewing managers get input from their managers.

•	The reviewing managers identify (sometimes with the employees) representative samplings of others from whom feedback will be gathered.

•	The employee interviews others to get direct feedback on performance and documents it to the reviewing manager.

•	Others are asked to complete review forms and submit to the reviewing manager by a certain date.

NOTE: In most cases, input from other sources is kept anonymous unless the sources are told that they will be quoted or unless the issues are already known to the employee. However, an employee may claim that unidentified feedback is unfair.

It is important when using feedback from others that managers evaluate the source, validate the data, and put it within the context of performance they have actually observed or can address. When input from other sources is an established part of the review process, it helps to ensure that the communication lines between the employee and the other people are active throughout the year.


Get a Self-Review From the Employee

Ask the employee to submit a report of his/her productivity and results for the review period.

Performance Now supports self-reviews in three ways:

•	You can let the employee use Performance Now to do a self-review first and either bring it to the review meeting or let you review it online.

•	You can print a blank review form from Performance Now for the employee to do a self-review. After the employee completes the form, it becomes the basis for the review discussion.

•	You can export the review (as an RTF or TXT file) to a network drive or attached to e-mail for the employee to look at and edit.

•	Once done, you can open your original review, and then open the employee's self-review for a side-by-side comparison. Using copy and paste, you can transfer the comments of others to the original review.


Evaluation Traps

Once you have gathered the information you need, you are ready to start the evaluation. While you are evaluating the employee and as you complete the review, watch out for these evaluation traps.

Additional Information:

Job Relationship

Supportability

Leniency Bias

Recency Bias

Halo Effect

Opportunity Bias

Familiarity Bias

Higher Value, Higher Rating

Attribution Bias, or Stereotyping

Writing Too Quickly


Job Relationship

Relate each competency and factor to the job description. If you cannot give an example of how a competency or factor relates to at least one essential duty in the job description, it may not be job-related.

Use Descriptions Now to display the job description simultaneously with the rating screen. Copy text from the job description into your review.


Supportability

Include statistically valid data (production counts, error rates, etc.) and supporting examples of observations and critical incidents. If you cannot support a competency, it is usually unwise to evaluate the employee for that performance competency. See Documenting Performance in the Review for more information on supporting performance ratings.


Leniency Bias

Leniency bias results in rating inflation -- employees rated higher than deserved. This is probably the most dangerous, yet seemingly harmless, trap of all. It may start out small -- allowing minor performance issues to go undocumented rather than deal with them. However, performance problems rarely go away by themselves. Later, when you (or someone else) has to address those problems, a history of "good" reviews becomes hard to explain and could expose you to greater legal challenge.

Managers are often overly lenient because they:

•	Are uncomfortable judging the employee.

•	Are unsure of their supporting documentation.

•	Want to avoid hurting the employee's feelings.

•	Want to maintain a good relationship.

•	Want to justify a higher salary increase.

•	Fear not being supported by their management.

•	Fear the employee will blame them.

If you find yourself being lenient, determine which of these reasons applies and face the issue squarely.


Recency Bias

It's easy to let the most recent incidents and behaviors color an evaluation. Memory has the recency bias automatically built-in. But, because you are reviewing performance across time, it's critical to consider the entire period.

To reduce recency bias, use Performance Manager regularly during the year to record supporting examples for the entire period. Also, be sure to contrast positive or negative changes in performance during the period.


Halo Effect

Halo effect is letting one incident or theory about a person affect your evaluation of related areas, either negatively or positively.

Example of negative halo effect: If an employee has poor writing skills, there is a negative halo effect if you assume the employee is a poor communicator overall. In fact, the employee may have learned to compensate for poor writing skills by developing excellent verbal communications and personal interaction skills.

To ward off the halo effect, carefully evaluate each factor of performance separately.


Opportunity Bias

Opportunity bias is a tendency to give an inappropriate rating because of an unrelated reason. This can arise when performance review ratings are used to calculate salary increases, bonuses, etc. The opportunity bias is operating when a manager decides the salary increase amount first and then backs into the rating that equals that amount.

Opportunity biases also result from:

•	Adjusting ratings to adhere to a required rating distribution allocation (10% of ratings should be outstanding, 60% good, etc.).

•	Rating employees high to make yourself look good.

•	Favoritism.

•	The shame of "average."

Over the last several decades, the concept of "average" has taken on a negative image. Employees may feel "average" is barely making it, a step above "less than satisfactory". Managers may feel that all their employees must be above average. Like leniency, the result is rating inflation.

To sidestep this trap, Performance Now suggests not using the word "average" as a rating description.


Familiarity Bias

Familiarity bias is a tendency to make greater allowances for employees you are closer to (either you understand their work more or feel close to them personally). The more you understand the job or the employee, the more likely you understand its challenges and possibly forgive performance issues.

The opposite also occurs -- a manager unfamiliar with a job may be overly lenient out of ignorance. On the other hand, managers can be particularly critical of the incumbent of a position they once held.


Higher Value, Higher Rating

Managers may confuse the value of a job with the performance of it. It is not unusual for employees in lower-valued, lesser-paid jobs to be more frequently rated lower than employees in higher-paid positions. This may be justified when the lower-level jobs are entry level and the incumbents are still proving themselves.

However, poor performance can occur at any level. Monitor your reviews to make sure you evaluate the performance of the job duties and not the value of the duties to the organization.


Attribution Bias, or Stereotyping

This occurs when your evaluation is influenced by personal characteristics of the employee, such as gender, race, age, or appearance.

A significant portion of employment discrimination can be traced back to stereotypes. However, subconsciously, and even consciously, individuals and organizations may have ideas of the ideal prototypical employee for a job.

When someone does not match the prototype, the bias can negatively impact the performance review. (When someone does meet the prototype, the result can be an opportunity bias!)

Examples of employment stereotypes are: men shouldn't be secretaries, older employees can't be trainees, taller people are more successful than shorter people, women are nurturing, etc.

To eliminate attribution bias, make sure you review job-related performance rather than personal characteristics. As you compare the employee's performance against the expectations of the job, monitor yourself against making assumptions or measuring the employee against the personal characteristics of a prototype.


Writing Too Quickly

After writing your review, let it sit for several days. Then pick it up again and look at it freshly. Review it again for some of the dangers outlined above. And never write a performance review in anger.


Rating Performance

Organizations have varying philosophies and requirements when it comes to performance ratings. Some require ratings to be reflected as a number and a description (e.g., 3.0 Meets Job Requirements). Numbers are often used by organizations that link the performance rating to their compensation program.

Other organizations opt to not use numbers, and some have dispensed with rating descriptions of any type. Some organizations also select to incorporate weighting into the rating calculation process.

Performance Now supports a variety of rating and weighting alternatives. Therefore, different review forms may be set up with different rating options. If ratings are included on the review forms you use, be sure to help employees understand what the rating levels represent in your organization.

Regardless of how a form is set up, Performance Now requires that you select the appropriate rating level for whatever items are being rated: competencies, goals, or both. Depending upon how the review form was designed, the actual ratings may or may not appear on the final review.

Additional Information:

Understanding and Using Weighting

Weighting Individual Goals

Rating the Current Goals

Rating the Performance Competencies


Understanding and Using Weighting

Performance Now provides several options for organizations to incorporate weighting into the rating calculation process. These include:

•	Weighting the individual competencies and goals within each section.

•	Weighting the competencies and goals sections for the overall summary.

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. However, there are also cautions to weighting.

 Clearly differentiate between weights.

 Confirm job relatedness.

 Make sure the employee knows.

 Beware the numbers game.

 Be consistent.

Additional Information:

Weighting the Competencies and Goals Sections

Weighting Individual Performance Competencies


Weighting the Competencies and Goals Sections

If the review form you are using has both a Current Goals section and a Performance Competencies section, each section normally accounts for 50% of the overall summary rating.

However, many organizations want to give greater importance to one section over another. For example, reviews of managers or project-type positions may assign a weight of 70% to the Current Goals section with the Performance Competencies totaling 30%.

Depending on how your organization set up the review form, you may be authorized to adjust the section weights. If so, the Adjust Weighting button will be usable on the Summary folder.


Weighting Individual Performance Competencies

If you do not see a column for weights on the list of competencies as you evaluate an employee, it means that your organization decided not to weight individual competencies. Instead, each competency will be rated equally for the Competencies section.

If the weight column does appear on the competencies list, it means that your organization has assigned weighting to the competencies. Your organization will have also selected whether weights should be reflected as either percentages or as relative numbers, such as 1, 2, and 3.

Depending on how the review form was designed by your organization, you may also be able to adjust the weights for each competency.

The review form may have been designed with many competencies that do not apply to the employee's job. If this is the case, you can adjust the weight for those competencies to zero. It is better to not rate a performance competency than to rate a competency for which you cannot support its job-relatedness.


Weighting Individual Goals

If you do not see a column for weights on the list of current goals, it may mean that Current Goals are not to be included in the rating calculation for the review form being used. Be sure to check the review form to see if there is a Current Goals section before you rate goals. If you rate the goals and there is no Current Goals section, you will be warned that the ratings will not be included in the overall Summary rating calculation.

If the weight column does appear on the Current Goals list (or on any dialog box where you can enter a goal), it means that your organization wants you to weight the goals you set. It also means that you will not be able to have an overall Summary rating calculated until you have rated at least one weighted Current Goal. Your organization will also have selected whether weights should be reflected as either percentages or as relative numbers, such as 1, 2, and 3.


Rating the Current Goals

The goals that you rate for each review have due dates that fall within the review period. As you review each goal, first consider the following:

•	Does the goal description still apply? One of the hardest parts of goal setting is that goals change frequently -- both for external and internal reasons (see Keeping Goals Updated). If you have not been monitoring and updating the goal descriptions ongoing, you may need to edit the description. Rather than change it totally, it is best to leave the goal as originally written and add to it a sentence describing the revision and also the reason why.

•	Does the goal need to be carried over? If you wish to use this goal as the basis for a future goal, use the replicate function to make a copy of the goal and assign a future due date.

•	Does the goal need to be canceled? You can ignore rating the goal or, if it is weighted, change the weight to zero. Try not to do this too often and only when the reason is clearly beyond the employee's responsibility. Goal setting gets a bad name when year after year goals are set and canceled or delayed.

Now you are ready to enter a description of the employee's results. Review Performance Manager for your notes about incidents and checkpoints you recorded.


Rating the Performance Competencies

A typical number of performance competencies is from 6 to 12 per form.

Depending on how the review form was set up by your organization, you may need to rate all competencies or pick and choose from the competencies which are appropriate to the employee. In the latter case, you will want to 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.

In Performance Now, each performance competency consists of four to six factors that contribute to performance within that competency. To read more about the performance competencies and the factors for each, click on the competencies listed below.

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 employee's ability to accept change readily, both in job responsibilities as well as in the work environment. If the job does not allow for much flexibility because of very routine duties, you may wish to rate only the factors on accepting criticism and feedback, and adapting to environmental change.

Adapts to changes in the work environment

When evaluating an employee's adaptability, try not to confuse questions or even disagreement with "resistance." Being adaptable does not necessarily require total agreement. However, you will want to consider the method and style the employee uses to voice disagreement.

While it might seem that "blind obedience" is most desirable, healthy discussion and even disagreement can contribute to better decisions and working conditions. Also, most courts respect the employee's right to question (to some extent) the employer's policies.

Manages competing demands

Many jobs require employees to move comfortably between various tasks, often at their own discretion, and adapt to different situations. The job may also require the employee to be responsive to the demands or directions of multiple people or interests.

If the employee is expected to be highly flexible in such ways, make sure that the job description reflects all essential duties. Also be sure that the requirement to balance competing demands or multiple duties is made clear in the hiring and performance discussion process.

Accepts criticism and feedback

Changes approach or method to best fit the situation


Analytical Skills Competency

Analytical Skills is an appropriate competency when a significant portion of the duties require data analysis. Such jobs might include financial analyst, programmer, or reporter. Some of the factors in this competency may overlap with factors under Problem Solving.

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


Attendance and Punctuality Competency

Rating employees on attendance and punctuality requires you to have set and communicated standards. It also requires you to monitor and keep records scrupulously.

There is a factor for attendance and punctuality within the Dependability competency that overlaps with this competency.

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

Ethics derives from the Greek ethos, which means "character." Business ethics are the commitment to demonstrating both personal and organizational character -- maintaining both your own good name as well as the good name of the organization.

This 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

A similar factor is under the Leadership competency. If you are also evaluating the employee on Leadership, you may not want to rate this factor in both competencies.

Works ethically and with integrity

Upholds organizational values

A similar factor is under the Organization Support competency. If you are also evaluating the employee on Organization Support, you may not want to rate this factor in both competencies.


Communications Competency

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

To help you decide which Communications factors apply to the employee's job, review the essential job duties and the language qualifications in the job description. Example: If writing is not part of the essential duties, don't rate the written communications factor.

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 negotiations 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.

There are several other competencies that cover similar ground: Teamwork, Managing People (describing relations with subordinates), and Customer Service (for employees with heavy customer interactions). If you are reviewing the employee on any of these competencies also, try not to rate similar factors more than once.

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.

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


Cost Consciousness Competency

This competency applies to positions which truly have a level of financial discretion and accountability.

Works within approved budget

Conserves organizational resources

Develops and implements cost saving measures

Contributes to profits and revenue


Customer Service Competency

This competency is appropriate when a major part of the employee's job involves working with the public or with people who are not fellow employees -- customers, clients, vendors, patients, students, etc.

However, many organizations also want to reinforce good internal customer service for jobs that service fellow employees, such as a payroll clerk or building superintendent. In that case, you may want to also consider applying this competency to internal customers or use the Cooperation or Teamwork competencies.

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.

Dependability includes a factor relating to attendance and punctuality. If you also rate the performance competency Attendance and Punctuality, do not rate the attendance and punctuality factor under Dependability.

Responds to requests for service and assistance

If you are also rating Customer Service, there is a similar factor. To prevent redundancy, don't rate both unless you want this to refer to requests from co-workers.

Follows instructions, responds to management direction

Takes responsibility for own actions

Commits to doing the best job possible

Keeps commitments

If you are also rating Customer Service, there is a similar factor. To prevent redundancy, don't rate both unless you want this to be about work commitments, not customer commitments.

Meets attendance and punctuality guidelines

See the advice under Attendance and Punctuality regarding rating employees in this area. To prevent redundancy, do not rate this factor if you are rating the Attendance and Punctuality competency in the review.


Design Competency

The Design competency is intended for employees who perform visual design work in conjunction with their essential duties, such as graphic designers, animators, interface designers, architects, engineers, and illustrators.

WARNING: The Innovation competency also includes a factor on displaying creativity. If Innovation is on the same form with Design, you should not rate the creativity factor more than once.

Generates creative solutions

Translates concepts and information into images

Applies design principles

Uses feedback to modify designs

Demonstrates attention to detail


Diversity Commitment Competency

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

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, do not rate the affirmative action and diversity factor.

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


Initiative Competency

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

When you expect an employee to use initiative on a regular basis, you need to discuss both the scope of the employee's authority and the degree of allowable risk. When you can stand the risk, the best discussions of initiative come after the employee has taken initiative.

Rate an employee low in this competency when you have communicated that you expect initiative but not enough was shown. However, do not give a low rating when the employee showed initiative but with bad results. Poor results, or bad decisions, are better evaluated as part of the Judgment competency.

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

Innovation should be evaluated when the essential duties of the job require creativity in writing or designing, developing ideas, or introducing change. If the job does not have such requirements, but you want to recognize other forms of innovation, such as suggestions for improving work or meeting unexpected challenges, you will find these factors under other competencies such as Planning and Organization, Problem Solving, Project Management, and Quality.

Displays original thinking and creativity

Meets challenges with resourcefulness

Generates suggestions for improving work

Develops innovative approaches and ideas


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 even use skill- or competency-based compensation programs to reward employees for skill attainment.

If unsatisfactory performance results from poor or missing knowledge, you will want to establish development plans with the employee. Unless an attempt is made to help the employee improve or attain skills, you may be challenged when using unsatisfactory job knowledge as a cause for discipline. (An exception may be if you can prove you specified exact skills at hiring and the employee claimed that he or she was qualified.)

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, which needs these behaviors from all team members, or to any position with similar expectations.

The term empowerment is increasingly used in organizations. An empowered employee will usually demonstrate good performance in the Leadership factors and the factors under Initiative.

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.

Several factors within Managing People duplicate factors in Performance Coaching. You will probably not want to evaluate an employee on both competencies, or at least not on the same factors in both competencies.

Provides direction and gains compliance

A good manager does not just give orders. Evaluate here the extent to which the manager explains purposes, clarifies expectations, ensures employees have skills, and verifies understanding.

Includes subordinates in planning

Takes responsibility for subordinates' activities

Good managers are knowledgeable about their employees' activities and actions. They have established regular processes for monitoring and reporting. They do not blame employees, but assume responsibility and take steps to address problems.

Makes self available to subordinates

A major complaint from subordinates is that their managers are too busy doing their own work or in meetings. This can be a particular problem for working supervisors and managers in professional positions. You may need to clarify expectations for the amount of time managers should spend communicating and working directly with their staffs.

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 generic Communications competency.

Speaks clearly and persuasively

Listens and gets clarification

Responds well to questions

Demonstrates group presentation skills

Participates in meetings


Organization Support Competency

Not all of the factors within this competency may be appropriate for the employee being evaluated. Just rate those that are suitable. If the Diversity Commitment competency is also on your review form, you will probably not want to rate the employee on the affirmative action factor in this competency.

Follows policies and procedures

There is a natural expectation that all employees follow policies and procedures in the fulfillment of their jobs. However, some organizations make a point of specifically evaluating this area. Failure to follow procedures can result in a cost to the organization. Helping the employee to understand the costs and impact of not following the "rules" can deter poor performance in this area.

Completes administrative tasks correctly and on time

Supports organization's goals and values

Benefits organization through outside activities

Be cautious in evaluating an employee on this factor. Some jobs such as police officers, fund raisers, and some sales positions include community relations and activities as important parts of the job. Only rate this factor if involvement in outside activities are clearly communicated expectations. Instead, consider mentioning them in the text portion of the review instead.

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 to improve performance.

Several factors within Managing People duplicate factors in Performance Coaching. You will probably not want to evaluate an employee on both competencies.

Defines responsibilities and expectations

Sets goals and objectives

Gives performance feedback

Motivates for increased results

Recognizes contributions

Encourages training and development


Personal Appearance Competency

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 rate Personal Appearance.

Dresses appropriately for position

When an employee is not meeting personal appearance standards, be precise in stating the standard and what the employee needs to do to comply.

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 chooses what to do first.

Prioritizes and plans work activities

Uses time efficiently

Plans for additional resources

Additional resources could be needing help from others, needing more time, material, supplies, or equipment.

Integrates changes smoothly

Sets goals and objectives

Works in an organized manner

Sometimes managers take issue with the neatness (or lack of neatness) of an employee's desk or work station. If you rate the employee low in this factor because of lack of neatness, be sure to explain how work is impacted.


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.

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.

While you may rate 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 also evaluate Quality as a separate and critical competency.

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 employees who implement a quality management program or initiative, or whose responsibilities include overseeing 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.

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.

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.

•	Comparison 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

This competency is intended for people in managerial, supervisory, or staff positions who 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. Others may require observing certain security procedures. Performance Now combines safety and security into one competency, but you can edit the narrative text produced from your ratings to emphasize those issues most important to the employee's job.

Observes safety and security procedures

Be sure that you have communicated the guidelines to employees, or you will have difficulty supporting an evaluation on this factor.

Determines appropriate action beyond guidelines

It is almost impossible to have rules or procedures for every situation. Employees are often expected to apply the training they have received and think independently when a situation arises that is outside the normal guidelines.

Uses equipment and materials properly

Reports potentially unsafe conditions

To maintain a safe, secure working environment, it is not enough that employees only monitor their own practices. If you have a policy that employees are responsible for observing and reporting, evaluating their performance in doing so can reinforce this important process.


Sales Skills Competency

Evaluate employees on this competency when a major part of the job involves selling the organization's products or services.

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 when you want to evaluate an employee's 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.

Some of the factors in Teamwork are similar to factors in Cooperation. If both competencies are on the review, be careful not to rate the employee twice for the same performance criteria.

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


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

Evaluate 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, you will probably want to use competencies such as Quality, Job Knowledge, and Quantity to evaluate 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


Documenting Performance in the Review

When a review form includes standardized performance competencies, Performance Appraiser produces narrative text that provides a solid base for the essay portion of the performance review. The language is purposely general so you can add examples and details specific to the employee, the job, the performance, and your organization.

The narrative text created by Performance Appraiser gives you the groundwork for writing sound, meaningful reviews. Once you have copied the text to the review form, edit it to add supporting examples and details. (Don't forget to copy entries from Performance Manager to support your evaluation.)

Once you have completed documenting the employee's performance, use the Language Checker function to review for possibly inappropriate language.

Remember, if you cannot back up a rating with supporting examples, and the review is challenged, it could be perceived as subjective and without merit.

NOTE: When a review form includes employee-specific goals, it is up to you to describe the actual results obtained with regard to each goal.

Additional Information:

Documenting High Performance

Documenting Good Performance

Documenting Slightly Lower Performance

Documenting Unsatisfactory Performance

Documenting Inconsistent or Varying Performance


Documenting High Performance

It is a joy to have employees in your organization who consistently exceed the expectations for the job. These performers produce high results and often surprise you with unexpected innovations and achievements.

However, because so much attention is given to unsatisfactory performers, some managers fail to adequately document high performance other than with superlatives and praise. But, it is just as important to document the results and behaviors that produced the high rating. Supporting documentation for high performance is important for two reasons.

•	It quantifies the results and behaviors you and the organization consider as exceeding normal performance.

•	It reinforces to the employee precisely what is valued and should continue.

Example:

	As usual, John's reports were outstanding.
	John's reports were always clearly written and timely, enabling management to make better decisions. He learned how to use the new graphical plotter before anyone else. By charting sales volumes in several new graphical styles, he uncovered patterns that contributed to revising our Western region sales strategy.
And, if there are any areas where performance was not quite as high, mention them proportionately. High performers usually want constant challenge. If the challenges do not exist, they may move on. They can have strong ideas about the parts of their jobs they find most interesting and what other responsibilities are attractive. To get the most from the high performer's involvement, you may want to:

•	Invite the employee to do a self-review before the discussion. You can then compare observations. This process can quickly reveal the employee's most significant interests and concerns.

•	Get this person heavily involved in actively setting their own goals and plans for the future. High performers usually are more interested in looking toward the future rather than examining the past.


Documenting Good Performance

Sometimes the most difficult challenge is writing about performance that meets the expectations and standards for the position. It can seem easier to describe the extremes of low and high performance.

Don't underestimate the importance of writing objective supporting documentation for all employees' results and behaviors. The documentation reinforces precisely what is expected and should be continued. Everyone appreciates individualized feedback rather than a general pat on the back and hearing, "You are doing fine."

Example:

	The quantity of John's work meets expectations.
	John averaged 100 sales calls a week during the last six months, which is within the 90-100 minimum. This is slightly higher than the previous review period when he averaged 91 sales calls and just short of exceeding the standard.
WARNING: Good performers may ask what they must do to get a higher rating. A good way to respond is to describe your observations of the employee's current performance. Then give examples of actions, behaviors, or results that would have resulted in a higher rating. However, be careful not to make promises for future ratings or imply that current performance is inadequate.


Documenting Slightly Lower Performance

Employees evaluated as performing at this level may:

•	Have problems in one or two areas that bring down the overall rating.

•	Have been previously performing satisfactorily and slipped slightly.

•	Have not been previously told that performance was not satisfactory either formally or informally.

•	Perform inconsistently.

•	Be new in their position or learning new skills and yet to achieve satisfactory performance.

You need to decide how long you will accept performance that does not meet the needs of the job. If an employee is rated less than adequate for more than one review period, you should probably consider disciplinary action as well as rating the employee unsatisfactorily for failing to improve.

You will also want to state in either the Summary or the Development Plans section, what is not up to standards and what needs to be done to achieve the standards.

See Documenting Unsatisfactory Performance for more advice.


Documenting Unsatisfactory Performance

Your documentation should clearly include a description of:

•	The unsatisfactory performance in objective language, supported by as much detail as possible.

•	What the satisfactory performance would be in order to clearly show the variance.

•	The relationship of the performance to the job duties.

•	The impact on the organization, such as cost, productivity, lost business.

Employees who are evaluated as performing at this level may:

•	Have performance problems in at least one of the most essential duties of the job.

•	Have been previously told that their performance was less than satisfactory but failed to improve as required.

•	Perform inconsistently, alternating between good performance and poor performance enough that the poor performance outweighs the good.

As you document unsatisfactory performance, ask yourself the following questions:

 	Has the performance problem been raised before?

 	Is the poor performance in essential duties rather than non-essential?

 	Does the employee have the knowledge and skills?

 	Does the employee understand what is expected?

Reviews of less than satisfactory performance are more likely to be challenged than others. Because of this, carefully review your documentation, particularly when it is describing unsatisfactory performance.

You will also want to state in either the Summary or the Development Plans section, what is not up to standards and what needs to be done to achieve the standards.


Documenting Inconsistent or Varying Performance

Few employees perform consistently at precisely one level. When you evaluate performance, you usually consider the performance that occurs most often and may average it out.

Example:

Employee is rated 5 in most skills but 3 in a few other skills. You may compromise with a rating of 4 and explain the reasoning in your supporting text.

However, when performance varies between good and poor, you may wish to weight the poorer performance more heavily rather than average it out. You can justify this if the definition for your rating 3 truly means performing well.

WARNING: Watch for consistency. Be sure that, if challenged, you can objectively support different ratings for performance that varied across several levels.


Summarizing the Review

Use the Summary section to give an overall perspective on performance. Add special circumstances or situations that occurred during the review period relative to the overall review or rating.

If you also include a Development Plans section, you may want to keep your Summary section brief, perhaps just the overall rating and one or two summarizing sentences.

Several cautions in writing the Summary section:

•	Be careful not to contradict comments you wrote in the performance Competencies section by including too much detail, minimizing problems, or over praising.

•	Be careful not to make promises regarding continued future employment, transfers, promotions, salary increases, etc.

Additional Information:

Hints for Writing the Summary Section


Hints for Writing the Summary Section

By selecting the Examples button on the Summary screen, you can see a variety of sample summary statements. Review them to get ideas about how to write your summary. You can also copy the examples to your review form by checking the appropriate boxes.

In particular, it is good practice to mention the following situations in the Summary section, even if previously mentioned in the narrative for a performance competency.

•	No change or inadequate change since the last review.

•	A change (up or down) in performance and/or rating since the last review.

•	Conditions or obstacles outside the employee's control that impacted performance or the rating such as a transfer, reorganization, changed priorities, new management.

•	Temporary conditions related to the employee that may have impacted performance such as a period of leave, an accident, personal tragedy.

•	Employee is new to the position or job duties.

If you also use the Development Plans section, you may want to reference that section in the Summary.

If goal setting and documenting goal results are important parts of your review, you can either use the Summary section to document goals or use one of the User-Defined sections as a Goals Section.


Review Information

Because reviews can be such important documents in the event of a legal challenge, they need to 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 demographic information in the Review Information folder originally came from the Employee Information file. However, you can change it and once you save a review, the data will be associated from then on with that review. Every time you reopen that review, this same data will be retrieved, even though the same fields in the Employee Information file may have more recent information.

If your organization is extracting review data from Performance Now to a human resources information system, or to another database for analysis, the accuracy of the data in the review information folder is extremely important. Even if that data doesn't appear on the review form itself, it may be used for analytical or salary setting purposes. (The fields with bolded names are the ones that will actually print on the review form.)

If you observe data inaccuracies or you have questions about any of the information, be sure to contact the person in your organization with responsibility for personnel data.

NOTE: If you change data on the Review Information folder, you may be asked if you want to also transfer those changes to the Employee Information file. If you are unsure about whether or not to do so, again contact the person in your organization with responsibility for personnel data.


The Most Important Part of the Process

There are actually managers who go to all the trouble of writing a performance review, but never communicate the results to the employee. While there may be occasions to evaluate performance for salary or retention purposes, you and the employee only get the review's full value when you share observations and information in the performance review discussion.

WARNING: The courts have looked dimly on disciplinary actions presumably supported by performance review information that was never shared with the employee. The best method to document that the contents of the review were shared with the employee is to ask the employee to sign and date the Employee Acknowledgment section on the review form.


Types of Review Discussions

There are several ways to hold the performance review discussion. Choose the one that best suits your needs, the environment, and the performance issues to be discussed.

 Self-Review. Before the discussion, give the employee a copy of a blank performance review form to do a personal evaluation.

 Pre-Review. Before the discussion, give the employee a copy of the performance review you completed.

 No Pre-Review. At the discussion, discuss each area of performance, but don't give the employee a copy of the review

 Write It Together. Performance Now supports this method by letting you and the employee sit at the computer to actually complete the review together


Linking Performance to Salary Reviews

Many organizations use performance review ratings to determine merit increases and other compensation. Managers struggle about whether or not to inform the employee of the specific salary increase amount as part of the review discussion.

When the review and increase are given at the same time, it is almost impossible to discuss them separately. And indeed, there are strong reasons for emphasizing the relationship between performance and compensation.

However, many experts recommend not discussing the precise dollar amount and performance at the same meeting.

Reasons to not discuss salary issues with the review:

•	It implies the increase amount has been finalized. Therefore, the employee may feel there is no reason to participate much in the discussion -- what's done is done.

•	Employees can become fixated on the dollar amount -- "just tell me how much I am getting" -- rather than on the performance feedback and development of future plans and goals.

•	A low increase amount can create a negative climate and inhibit positive communications.

•	In times of low merit budgets, a minimal difference between rating levels may not be much incentive to improve.

Suggestions for redirecting focus from the increase amount to performance:

Hold two separate discussions:

•	First, review past performance and discuss how the merit increase relates to it.

•	Second, develop coaching ideas and set future goals.

•	Relate base salaries to job duties but not to performance. Replace merit salary increases with one time increases or bonuses tied to profits and/or performance.


Planning the Review Discussion

These suggestions for planning the discussion will contribute to a more productive meeting.

•	Set an agenda and time frame in advance.

•	Give the employee adequate notice.

•	Give the employee a blank form or copy of your review, depending on the type of discussion.

•	Make it private.

•	Keep it friendly.

•	Allow a reasonable amount of time.

•	Be prepared for resistance or emotion.

•	Close on a positive note.

•	End on time; don't let it drag out. If more time is necessary, reschedule.


Communication Tips for the Review Discussion

Discussing the performance review with the employee should truly be a discussion. Expect to listen, to probe for more information, and on occasion, to meet with resistance.

Additional Information:

Listening Skills

Probing

Dealing With Emotions

Dealing With Resistance


Listening Skills

 React. One of the best ways to show you are listening is to react. But use as few words as possible so you don't interrupt the employee's train of thought.

 Restate. Like the reaction, make the restatement brief. By restating or summarizing what the employee has just said, you are encouraging the employee to continue, either by concurring or disagreeing with your restatement.

 Give positive reinforcement. When the opportunity presents itself, give positive reinforcement while listening. If the employee tells you about something he or she did that you think was good, immediately say so.

 Accentuate the positive by starting off with positive feedback when possible.

 Acknowledge the employee's feelings. Review discussions can be highly charged with emotion. The employee may be uptight because of the review process or respond emotionally to negative feedback. If you do not acknowledge feelings immediately, emotions can get in the way of focusing on problems and listening.


Probing

 Keep conversational. You'll find your discussions more fruitful if you use a conversational rather than interrogating style.

 Ask open-ended questions when you want other people to express themselves freely using their own words. If you find you get a lot of single-word responses to your questions, you are not asking open-ended questions.

 Ask closed-ended questions when you are attempting to narrow a response that has not been precise enough.

 Ask confirming questions that are restatements in a question form of what the employee has just said.

 Offer multiple choices. Sometimes people get stuck, particularly when trying to explain why they did something. By offering several choices, you stimulate thinking and at the same time, direct the employee to choose an answer or offer more information.

 Use contrasts and comparisons to also help clarify a person's thinking.


Dealing With Emotions

The acts of judging and being judged can be emotional situations. The emotional level is heightened when there are differences in opinion, performance problems, or already strained relations between the manager and employee. When emotions get in the way of honest communications or hamper problem solving, they need to be acknowledged and addressed.

Additional Information:

Dealing With the Employee's Emotions

Dealing With Your Emotions


Dealing With the Employee's Emotions

Two key goals of the performance review discussion are information giving and problem solving. When people cannot successfully problem solve, they often feel helpless and turn to emotion as their only remaining choice.

If you sense the employee is becoming emotional:

•	Acknowledge the employee's feelings (see the section on acknowledging the employee's feeling under Listening Skills).

•	Try to get into the problem solving mode.

•	If you can't, acknowledge that emotions are blocking problem solving.

•	Try to solve what is causing the employee to feel emotions are the only option.

•	If you can't resolve it, suggest taking a break.

•	Suggest some problem solving tasks for the employee to do to prepare for resuming the discussion.

•	Set a time to continue later.


Dealing With Your Emotions

You set the tone for the discussion by not displaying inappropriate emotions such as anger or a negative attitude.

•	Prepare for the discussion by thinking through the issues to be discussed and how the employee may respond. The more prepared you are, the less likely you will be surprised.

•	If you expect difficult issues or conflict, discuss your concerns with your manager. If you have a human resources staff, they can also support you in preparing for the review.

•	Try role playing. Ask your manager or human resources staff to play the employee and go through the review together. This practice in saying aloud the more difficult issues you want to cover can be much more successful than going over it in your head. And, practice helps reduce the nerves that can heighten emotions.

•	Watch for your own defensiveness. It can indicate you lack confidence in the review you are giving. Examine what contributes to your lack of confidence and work on yourself, rather than against the employee.

•	If you do find yourself becoming emotional:

- Explain you find yourself reacting emotionally.

- Acknowledge that emotions are blocking problem solving.

- Suggest a break.

- Set a time to continue later.


Dealing With Resistance

Resistance, or defensiveness, appears many ways, often disguised so well you may not recognize it.

First, don't let resistance surprise you. It is one of humanity's most important qualities and its presence can be positive -- it represents the strength to resist adversity and survive!

Second, recognize the form of resistance and be ready to deal with it.

Additional Information:

Types of Resistance

Hints for Dealing With Resistance


Types of Resistance

Common forms of resistance you may encounter during a performance review discussion include:

Over agreeability. This is the employee who verbally agrees with everything you say, but you sense disagreement beneath the surface. You need to uncover the subject of resistance, rather than take the easier path of accepting the agreeability. An overly agreeable employee is not really participating actively in problem solving or planning.

Non-participation. Rather than agreeing, sometimes an employee will just shut down. Again, it might seem great that you don't have to face arguments, but silence is just as deadly. The best tips for dealing with a non-participant:

•	Try guessing at what the employee is feeling. The more off-track your guess, the more likely the employee will speak up to correct you.

•	If that doesn't work, be direct: "I am stuck. This isn't going to be successful without your participation. What can I do to make that happen?"

Disagreement. The disagreer takes issue with almost everything. You should prepare for this person by having solid supporting documentation and a high degree of confidence in your review. At some point, you may need to take control of the discussion to move onto other issues or you will go around and around.

"We've spent quite a bit of time discussing this area. Unless there is additional information you think I need to know, I believe I have your full input." Then state your final opinion or commit to considering it further outside the discussion.

Blaming can be a symptom of the fear of failure. If an employee starts to blame other people or circumstances inappropriately, ask the employee to describe his/her contribution to the problem. Again the goal is to get the employee into a problem solving mode. On an ongoing basis, you can help such employees understand that being able to rise above the failure, learn from it, and improve is more important than blaming.

"I understand you believe John goofed in getting those parts delivered on time. Can you offer any suggestions as to how you could have helped prevent that delay?"

Side tracking is the habit of derailing a discussion by bringing in extraneous information. If you find yourself continually being led away from the primary issues, identify the resistance aloud.

"I feel we are continually getting away from the most important issues. I need your help in making sure we concentrate our attention on those."

NOTE: Emotional reactions such as anger or crying can be a form of resistance.


Hints for Dealing With Resistance

Practice the following steps for dealing with resistance so they become natural and a normal part of your communication skills. Taking these steps should help move the discussion back into a sharing and problem solving mode:

•	Allow it. Accept the resistance initially. This is better than denying it or fighting it.

•	Be silent for a moment to acknowledge you are listening. Then quickly...

•	Restate the employee's position. To make sure you understand correctly, and ensure the employee knows you understand, restate the resistance, using your own words as much as possible.

"So you disagree with my opinion that you should be processing between 20 and 30 claims a day..."

•	Acknowledge the employee's feelings. Let the employee know you recognize the feelings being felt.

"... and you are upset I have evaluated your Quantity as not meeting the requirements of your job."

•	Pause briefly to let your acknowledgment sink in. Only then can you begin directing the review discussion back to its true purposes: sharing of information and problem solving.

•	Ask the employee to give more information from a personal point of view.

"Can you tell me what you think the daily standard for claims should be?"


Coming to Agreement

It would be nice to think that at each performance review discussion, the employee and manager totally agreed and walked off into the sunset. In the real world, this occurs sometimes but not always.

The most agreeable reviews usually occur when there has been ongoing performance feedback throughout the review period and honest two-way communication. That way the performance review discussion holds few surprises for employee or manager.

Additional Information:

Changing the Performance Review

When You Can't Agree

Employee Acknowledgment


Changing the Performance Review

A key purpose of the performance review discussion is to convey your evaluation of the employee's performance, not necessarily to negotiate or reach consensus. But the discussion also provides a setting for the employee to give you information. This means you must be prepared to listen to the employee.

An employee may bring up the following:

•	Valid or invalid excuses.

•	Blaming others.

•	Arguments.

•	Lack of training, skills, or knowledge.

•	Examples of performance that widely vary from yours.

•	Gaps in agreement over standards or expectations.

Be open to listening to these as input.

If you feel strongly enough that the employee is providing information you did not consider, you may want to change the review. There is no shame in making changes when given new information as long as you do not make changes solely to placate the employee.

Many managers ask employees for self-reviews as input. The self-review can give you valuable information and alert you to possible differences of opinion.


When You Can't Agree

If the employee continues to disagree with the performance review contents or rating, you need to move on at some point and complete the review discussion.

•	Suggest the employee document the area of disagreement in the Employee Comments section on the review form.

•	Indicate your response to the employee's concerns in the Reviewer Comments section of the review form. Your response can be just an acknowledgment that there is a disagreement, but it could also include additional actions you plan to take regarding the difference in opinion.

Since the difference may stem from the employee not having received enough immediate feedback in the past, you may need to meet more often in the future to resolve issues on a more timely basis.

Depending on the seriousness of the issues and disagreement, you may also want to:

•	Alert your manager and/or human resources office that the employee has issues with the review. That will prepare them if the employee appears at their door.

•	If you have a formal problem resolution process, remind the employee of that procedure. Note on the review or in your files that you mentioned the next steps for resolving the problem.


Employee Acknowledgment

Whether or not the employee agrees with the review, it is important that the Employee Acknowledgment section be signed. It proves the employee saw the review. Employees have successfully used the fact of not seeing a review as ammunition in wrongful termination litigation.

When Development Plans are included in the review, an employee may feel that, by refusing to sign the acknowledgment, there is no obligation to comply.

What to do. If the employee refuses to complete the Acknowledgment section, ask a third party to witness that fact and document the situation on the review form.

Experts recommend you do not have a policy of disciplinary action if an employee refuses to sign a performance review. Such a policy can be difficult to enforce and highly adversarial. Remember you want employees to hear and understand, even if they refuse to agree.


Creating Development Plans

Unlike writing the performance review itself, using coaching ideas to create development plans should be a joint effort between the employee and manager. The plans can be written during the performance review discussion or at a separate meeting devoted specifically to the future.

Development plans may address:

•	Improvements that must be made due to performance weaknesses.

•	Improvements that could be made to raise performance.

•	Skills needed for new responsibilities.

The best Development Plans are written together by you and the employee. By participating fully, the employee will contribute more and be more committed to improve or strengthen performance.

If an employee refuses to participate in creating development plans, and the review includes references to less than satisfactory performance, you may need to write this section yourself and indicate the employee's explanation for not participating.

Once you and the employee have discussed performance, identified issues or obstacles, and outlined the improvements needed or desired, you can complete the Development Plans section online. Give the employee an updated copy for comments.

Additional Information:

Writing Development Plans When Performance Improvement is Required

Writing Development Plans to Build on Strengths


Writing Development Plans When Performance Improvement is Required

When performance has been less than satisfactory, good documentation is critical. You need to write plans that can support future disciplinary actions and meet legal challenges, if necessary.

When documenting required performance changes, be sure to include the following six elements:

Additional Information:

Description of the Improvement Needed

A Timetable for Achieving Improvement

The Actions to Be Taken to Achieve Improvement

How Improvement Will Be Measured

The Consequences of Not Improving

The Employee's Commitment to Improvement


Description of the Improvement Needed

	John needs to improve his job knowledge.
	This position requires a complete understanding of the return merchandise procedures. Returns must be properly coded and sent to the warehouse within two days. The warehouse is receiving John's returns late and the warehouse shows approximately 20% have coding mistakes.


A Timetable for Achieving Improvement

	This needs to improve quickly.
	I will expect improvement by the end of March.


The Actions to Be Taken to Achieve Improvement

This part benefits heavily from the employee's input and is the most crucial to the success of the improvement plan. While discussing how improvement will happen, you will often uncover the real reasons for poor performance.

	John will try harder to improve his accuracy.
	John will review the returns procedures in his manual and talk with Mary at the warehouse about the coding problems. He will prepare a checklist to double check returns before he sends them out. I will review the checklist to make sure it is complete before he starts using it. John said the procedures manual at his desk may not be up to date. He'll get all updated pages in this week. He also stated that the warehouse is unfairly criticizing his handwriting. I advised him that he is responsible for writing neatly enough so that the warehouse and other staff can read it.


How Improvement Will Be Measured

This component is often left undocumented, causing controversy later about how much improvement was enough. If you don't describe how you will determine improvement, you may find yourself challenged if you need to take further disciplinary action.

	I'll review his progress at the end of the month.
	In early April, I'll review the March error reports from the warehouse and check with them for feedback on timeliness and coding. The error reports should be within limits (no more than 3% errors) and the warehouse feedback should indicate improvement. I will also randomly spot check John's coding sheets to make sure I can read his handwriting.


The Consequences of Not Improving

Most experts agree that while you should definitely include the consequence of not improving, be cautious about being excessively restrictive and reducing your future options. However, if you do not include a consequence, the employee can argue a consequence was not clearly stated.

•	Progressive discipline policies. If you have a progressive discipline policy in your employee handbook, the consequence statement should be consistent with that policy.

Example: I have brought these problems to John's attention in previous reviews and in regular on-the-job feedback. This review is to be considered a second written warning. Failure to improve as detailed above will result in further action in accordance with our progressive discipline policy.

•	Employment-at-will. If you have an employment-at-will policy in your employee handbook and no progressive discipline policy, be careful that your consequence statement does not restrict you from taking an at-will action.

Example: I have brought these problems to John's attention in previous reviews and in regular on-the-job feedback. Failure to improve as detailed may result in a further action, up to and including termination of employment.


The Employee's Commitment to Improvement

The most successful development plans include the full commitment of the employee. If the employee does not voluntarily offer commitment, ask for it. (See When You Can't Agree if the employee refuses to commit to the plans.)

Example: John stated he will work closely with me during March to improve this area of his work.


Writing Development Plans to Build on Strengths

It is just as important to support employees in developing their existing strengths as it is to coach them to improve in weaker areas. By acknowledging the behaviors and skills that are already strong, you provide a critical balance to your feedback.

Writing plans to further develop strengths can increase the employee's motivation, improve confidence, and set the stage for additional responsibilities. When you demonstrate that you care about building on existing skills too, you can inspire increased efforts to improve in other areas.


Having a formal performance review program sets the stage for giving regular feedback.


The performance review discussion provides a place and time to discuss and agree on work responsibilities and goals.


Many organizations closely link the performance review process to salary actions such as merit or promotional increases. See Linking Performance to Salary Reviews for additional information.


As performance issues are raised and discussed in the performance review discussion, training and developmental needs are often identified and plans made to address them.
When the entire organization is using a performance review process, management can use the results to identify organizational training needs in addition to individual employee needs.


While there is no law requiring performance reviews, they are the ideal documents to support employment actions such as promotions, work assignments, discipline, and terminations. See Legal Considerations for more information about performance reviews and the law.
Because you review each employee by the same method, you have a standardized basis to support employment actions. And, particularly in organizations with progressive discipline policies, performance reviews are usually the initial documentation source for unsatisfactory performance.


Some organizations use the performance review form as the official recommendation for progression to the next level within a job family. They include a place on the form to indicate if the employee is ready to move to the next level, step, or grade within a job. This practice is most common for non-exempt and union positions.


The formalized framework of the performance discussion often results in the identification of emerging skills and interests. Or, the employee may reveal a strong interest in certain types of work that you can use as input for future assignments.


People want to know they are being recognized and appreciated. Performance reviews prove to an employee that the manager is knowledgeable and observant, and that there is a record of events.
Even if there are discrepancies between the employee's and manager's views of performance, the manager's willingness to listen to and consider the employee's opinions shows recognition and respect. Performance Now contains valuable advice on communications skills and resolving differences of opinion with the employee.


A primary benefit of the performance review is improved performance. There are very few people performing at their peak and most people want to improve. While praise and positive feedback are important, it is not unusual to spend a little more time discussing areas for improvement.
By keeping the discussion two-way, managers also learn from the employee. And, if performance is already high, the review provides reinforcement for continued good performance.


The review discussion meeting allows time for honest, direct communication between the employee and the manager. In the daily rush of work details, it can be difficult to make time for discussing the larger picture and planning for the future.


The more clearly employees understand the relationship of their job duties to the overall goals of the organization, the better they can understand the impact of their performance on the organization's success. Employees and management alike benefit when they see performance is clearly linked to organizational goals.


Increasing employment litigation has shown reviews to be critical evidence for documenting performance problems. Properly written reviews prove that management raised the issues and that the employee was alerted to the consequences of not improving.
To serve as documentation for unsatisfactory performance, a review requires supporting details and a thoroughly documented Development Plans section.


A good question to ask during the review discussion is, "What do you see as obstacles to getting your work done or improving your performance in a specific area?" Employees are often the best persons to identify obstacles. By involving employees in the identification process, you can also involve them in developing solutions.


Even if you do not directly link performance ratings to a salary increase program, how well employees perform in their positions is usually a major factor in setting salaries. Documenting performance helps you support your compensation actions.


In addition to supporting compensation actions, reviews help support the reasoning for other personnel actions, such as transfers, promotions, and layoffs, in the event of possible legal challenges.


Review time is ideal for considering and identifying training and additional skills needed. Training may end up being formal or informal. It may address a performance need, enhance a current skill, or prepare the employee for additional responsibilities.


Performance Now includes Performance Manager to generally manage your reviews and to track critical incidents and observations. Performance Manager quickly refreshes your memory about performance during the entire period, not just the recent past. It also gives you real-life examples to include in your performance evaluations


By managing your performance review program online with Performance Now, you are ensured far greater consistency. All managers are evaluating employees at similar levels or jobs across the same criteria. The Intelli-Text in Performance Now helps managers across an organization apply identical performance criteria and standards of performance as they do their reviews.
You can also create custom Intelli-Text for your organization 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..


Do a reality check on your program from time to time:
-Are you communicating different messages in your daily feedback than in your performance reviews?
-Are you delaying addressing performance problems?
-Are employees confused between the relationship of performance review results and the reward systems?
-Do plans and goals set in performance reviews quickly fall by the wayside under the press of daily business?


To counteract the "judging" perception:
-Make giving honest feedback a regular part of your job, not just during the review discussion.
-Invite employees' feedback on your performance.
-Hold performance reviews more frequently to reduce the anxiety of the annual schedule.
-Clearly communicate the purpose of your review program


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.


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.)


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.).


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.


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


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 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.


To create a legally appropriate and well-written employee handbook, use KnowledgePoint's Policies Now software program. Policies Now gives you the knowledge you need about such personnel policy issues as employment-at-will, progressive discipline, and performance reviews.


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.


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.


To create a legally appropriate and well-written employee handbook, use KnowledgePoint's Policies Now software program. Policies Now gives you the knowledge you need about such personnel policy issues as employment-at-will, progressive discipline, and performance reviews.


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.


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


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.


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.)


WARNING: In the event of a legal action, all relevant personnel records should be maintained until the matter is settled regardless of retention requirements.
If you don't refer to older reviews often, consider removing them from commonly accessed files and archiving them under lock and key. This prevents a possible interpretation that long-past performance issues are being held against an employee who has performed well in recent years.


To create a legally appropriate and well-written employee handbook, use KnowledgePoint's Policies Now software program. Policies Now gives you the knowledge you need about such personnel policy issues as employment-at-will, progressive discipline, and performance reviews.


WARNING: Be sure to communicate any goal changes you make to the employee immediately. Better yet, discuss the changes first before entering them into Performance Now. As an audit trail, you may wish to leave the goal "as is" and enter a description of the amendments with a date notation.
Example: Improve the accuracy of claims processed by reducing average number of errors from 10% to 7% by the end of this review period. Goal amended on 5/17/96: Due to changes in the claims processing workflow, Mary and I agreed that this goal is being changed to reduce errors to 8% instead of 7%.


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.


Is this a new assignment? Have the expectations been clearly explained to the employee? Have there been changes in procedures or policies?


Does the task require new skills or abilities? Has the employee received training in required work processes and technical, interpersonal, and business skills? Have there been changes in the work, methods, or environment that would impact the employee's ability to perform the task? Is there adequate feedback during performance?


Does the employee have access to required tools and resources? Have there been changes in equipment, suppliers, physical plant, staff, or organizational structure that would impact the employee's ability to complete the task? Have there been changes in the employee's personal life that might impact work performance?


Is poor performance being rewarded in some way? Has good performance not been recognized in the past? Has there been a change in the work environment that may have impacted job satisfaction or employee morale?


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. Job descriptions result from performing a thorough job analysis. Use KnowledgePoint's Descriptions Now to write job descriptions. For more information about Descriptions Now, call 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.


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.


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.


If weights vary too minutely from each other, it will be hard to explain the differences between them. And mathematically, the impact of one or two percentage points will be moot overall.
Example: Try not to assign weights such as 10% for five competencies, two more at 12%, and the last two at 13%. Far better is to assign more gapped weights such as 10% for less important items, 20% for more important, and 30% for most critical. The message comes across far stronger.


Check the job description to confirm that you are weighting performance areas that are in synch with the job duties.
A job description is 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. Job descriptions result from performing a thorough job analysis. Use KnowledgePoint's Descriptions Now to write job descriptions. For more information about Descriptions Now, call KnowledgePoint at (800) 727-1133.


As with all performance management programs, the employee should have a clear idea of the performance criteria and expectations at the beginning of the review period. This includes weighting. In the performance planning discussion or previous review, the employee should be clear as to how each of the competencies and goals will be weighted for the next review cycle.


Try not to use weighting as a way to come up with the desired overall rating.
Example: If I just weight this one competency a little higher, the overall rating will fall into the next higher level.


If you have employees doing the same job, they should be evaluated on similarly weighted performance criteria. If they are not, you need to be comfortable with why the variations in 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, see Legal Considerations.)


More than 12 competencies can complicate the review process, making it difficult to target and communicate the most important issues.


WARNING: Evaluate all incumbents in similar jobs with 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 (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).


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. Job descriptions result from performing a thorough job analysis. Use KnowledgePoint's Descriptions Now to write job descriptions. For more information about Descriptions Now, call 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.


WARNING: Exercise caution when evaluating communications skills for employees whose first language is not English, who speak with dialects or accents, or who have disabilities that may impact communications, such as deafness or stuttering. You will want to be sure that you can prove the business necessity. 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 and job-relatedness of the skill.


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.


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. Job descriptions result from performing a thorough job analysis. Use KnowledgePoint's Descriptions Now to write job descriptions. For more information about Descriptions Now, call KnowledgePoint at (800) 727-1133.


Empowerment can be defined as enabling employees to take greater responsibility and have more accountability in their jobs. An empowered environment values openness and high self-esteem.


WARNING: Exercise caution when evaluating communications skills for employees whose first language is not English, who speak with dialects or accents, or who have disabilities that may impact communications, such as deafness or stuttering. You will want to be sure that you can prove the business necessity. 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 and job-relatedness of the skill.


Examples: 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.


Example: A programmer is responsible for producing computer program code. The programmer writes programs in response to clients' requests; there is no standard to write a specific number of lines of code or programs. However, the manager can evaluate whether or not the programmer met the pre-established deadlines for each project (results within time frames). The manager 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.


While you could use Performance Appraiser to only produce ratings and ignore the narrative portion, your review discussions will not be as effective. Ratings without supporting narrative are far more difficult to explain and defend.


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


No? Then you may wish to make this a warning and not rate as unsatisfactory but as lower than adequate. However, include in the review the consequences of failure to improve.


Yes? If the employee is performing essential duties satisfactorily but performing non-essential functions poorly, you may wish to consider job redesign rather than an unsatisfactory rating.


No? If the employee has been given the opportunity to learn or was hired with the understanding that he or she already had the skills, an unsatisfactory rating is probably appropriate. However, if additional training is needed, you will want to make a reasonable effort to see that the employee receives it.


No? Then you need to clarify your expectations. Example: The expectation is that you process 40 claims with no more than a 2% error rate per day. If the expectation is more behavioral, describe what the expected performance would look like. Example: The expectation is that you will keep me informed of the status of all projects so that I will no longer be surprised when I find out from others that we are late.


-Look over the review objectively. How would it stand up to scrutiny under the microscope of a jury trial?
-Discuss the issues and have the documentation reviewed by at least one other party: your manager, personnel or human resources, your legal counsel.
-Can you prove that you have given the employee the opportunity to improve performance by clearly stating the expectations and coaching for improvement?


Self-review stimulates the employee to think about performance results and issues in advance of the actual meeting. The employee will arrive at the discussion more ready to participate by having thought through the same issues as you. Self-review can also help alleviate some of the discussion's "judging" aspects.
Sometimes employees are even harder on themselves than you might be. When the employee raises the difficult issues rather than you, it can make it easier for you to assume a "coaching" role rather than a "judging" role.
Many experts recommend making self-reviews a regular part of the performance review program because it increases employee involvement and commitment to the process.


When you meet, the employee will have a good sense of your evaluation. Again, this can help alleviate some of the "mystery" about the content of the discussion.
However, the downside to this method is that if there are wide variances in opinion, the employee may come into the meeting already on the defensive or even upset.
While it is important to air and resolve differences, watch the time so it is not disproportionate to the total review.


This focuses the employee's attention on the discussion aspects of the meeting, rather than on the written review form.
This method also lets you incorporate the discussion as a source of input for your review. You can then make adjustments to the review after the meeting. Then you can give it to the employee to read, acknowledge, and add comments if needed.


As each competency appears on the screen, you can discuss the events of the review period, looking at Performance Manager and other sources.


Even if the employee has stopped speaking, just a small reaction on your part followed by your silence is usually enough to invite the employee to continue talking. Reactions can be:
-Physical - a nod, leaning forward, smiling, a quizzical look.
-Verbal - "Really?" "Oh?" "Hmmm."
-Silence - however, if the employee doesn't continue after a decent interval, be ready to pick up the ball.


Restatement has a positive impact on the listener because it says, "I heard you and I understood what you said." It confirms to both sides that communications are on track. However, be clear in your restatement that you are not necessarily agreeing.
"So I understand you want to have more opportunity to work on special projects, right?


Be careful not to give mixed messages. If one part of a task is done well but another is not, clearly differentiate the satisfactory from the unsatisfactory.
Verbalize positive feedback -- don't use silence to show agreement. Performance reviews are so often oriented toward discussing the areas of unsatisfactory performance that managers can wrongly assume their silence will be interpreted as positive feedback.
"You handled service requests calls well - it's exactly the kind of customer service we want to give. It is the follow-up calls that fall short of my expectations. We need to improve that part of your performance because it is equally important."


Just like Performance Now creates review language starting off with the most positive aspects of the employee's performance in each area, so the discussion should accentuate the positive.
Again, be sure to use time proportionately. Since the areas of disagreement usually take longer and less than satisfactory performance requires developing coaching ideas into development plans, leave enough time to thoroughly discuss them.


By acknowledging feelings, you communicate to the employee you are listening both to the words and the feelings. It can put you on the same emotional plane and help get communications back on track.
Try not to deny or denigrate the employee's feelings by implying "you are wrong to feel that way," or "you should not feel that way." If you do, the emotions do not go away but increase. Feelings can be:
-Spoken -"I am really upset."
-Unspoken - but expressed through the tone of voice or physical movement.


 The purpose of the performance review discussion is for both the employee and manager to share information, resolve differences (when possible), and plan for the future.
Keep the discussion conversational by not probing too much with a barrage of questions. Intersperse comments along the way, just as you would in a normal conversation


Open-ended questions start off with words and phrases like "describe," "explain," "tell me," "how do you feel about...?"
"Tell me why you didn't help John with the Wilson project."


Often, closed-ended questions start with words like "did you," "will you," "can you," and usually are about specific situations.
"Did you think it was your responsibility to help John with the Wilson project?"


This encourages the other person to continue since you obviously understand.
"So you did not believe helping John with the Wilson project was part of your job?"


"I can imagine you thought either one of two things: that helping John wasn't part of your job, or that you didn't have time to help him. Which one of those fits best?"


"Can you compare the differences that led you to help Kay with the Jones project but not to assist John with the Wilson project?"


WARNING: If the employee is highly emotional or in any form threatening, stop the review discussion immediately.


A formal procedure to enable employees to voice their complaints and raise legitimate work-related issues with management. Problem resolution policies and procedures can include numerous methods for handling employee complaints and are also commonly known by such titles as grievance procedures, dispute resolution, and complaint procedures.


WARNING: If there are required improvements, be sure to describe them completely in case further action is necessary.


If appropriate, have the plans reviewed by your immediate manager to ensure full support. When future termination or other serious employment actions are possible, ask your human resources staff or legal counsel to review your documentation.


The employee may alert you to training needs or obstacles. Since improvement is a joint responsibility, it's where you define your contribution. Further, it gives you the opportunity to coach the employee as you jointly meet the challenge.


Progressive Discipline: 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.
Employee Handbook: To create a legally appropriate and well-written employee handbook, use KnowledgePoint's Policies Now software program. Policies Now gives you the knowledge you need about such personnel policy issues as employment-at-will, progressive discipline, and performance reviews.