Job Articles - It's Performance Review Time Again - A Manager's Perspective

By Joe Hodowanes
Career Strategy Advisor
J.M. Wanes & Associates

Most managers are keenly aware that employee performance evaluations affect an employee's disposable income, social status and self-esteem. Correcting unsatisfactory work habits is one thing; exerting a major influence on someone's life is another. Many managers, therefore, tend to favor one of two courses of action:

The "good guy" approach. Everyone gets a raise and is doing just fine. However, inflated performance reviews give employees a false sense of security and deprive them of the opportunity to improve. And they can give disgruntled employees a powerful legal weapon if they decide to sue.

"Telling it like it is." These managers know that some people do better than others and rewards are based on performance, not good intentions or a great personality. So, they grit their teeth, make an assessment and try to have the employee out of their office in 59 minutes or less.

The following guidelines will help you become more effective at performance review time:

Perhaps the most important consensus among hiring managers and human resource professionals is this:

Workplace ethics require people to be judged solely on job performance. Managers must eliminate such things as favoritism, friendship, and gender, race or age bias.

This raises the question: Is ethics a "bottom line" issue? It becomes so when companies, acting in an ethical manner, hire, reward and retain the best people. This, in turn, helps assure that the company has the best possible work force to achieve its business goals.

Certainly, there are other ethical issues that do not impact the bottom line in the way favoritism vs. employee performance does. By adopting a definition of workplace ethics that centers solely on job performance, senior management can persuade other managers to base reviews on merit alone for the surest way to provide long-lasting, beneficial results.

Strive for internal consistency. In most companies, managers start each performance review from scratch, rather than evaluating and comparing the current appraisal against the employee's prior performance review. As a result, subsequent managers often fail to address previously noted deficiencies, even though the faults still exist. Such omissions may be interpreted by the employee -- and construed by a court -- as a sign that the employee corrected the earlier poor performance deficiencies, even when it may not be true. If an employee later files legal action, any attempts by the employer to rely on the omitted references will appear pre-textual, at best. Protect against such inadvertent errors by reviewing one or more recent performance appraisals prior to preparing yours.
Schedule semi-annual or quarterly reviews, rather than have the typical annual meeting where pay and performance are discussed.

For instance, managers may want to conduct six-month performance appraisals and year-end salary reviews. At semi-annual meetings, employee problems and solutions can be approached openly without fear of monetary repercussions, so managers can be coaches rather than judges.
Act in a professional, sensitive manner to avoid the "big four" complaints, which were identified in a survey of almost 200 companies, conducted by ODT Associates, a Massachusetts consulting firm.

Complaints

Managers hold no real discussions with employees and give them little opportunity to participate.

71% of people interviewed.

Managers avoid being specific.

68% of people interviewed.

Employees are not given information on how to improve.

56% of people interviewed.

Ratings are sometimes inconsistent with actual performance.

55% of people interviewed.

Basically, the root of these problems is lack of communication. When managers make assessments and employees nurse their resentments, a silent barrier impedes any meaningful discussions.

A joint action plan will breach the barrier so employees can talk about performance difficulties. Be sure to refer to them as "difficulties," not "weaknesses."
Adopt a shorter review period as outlined above.
Make it clear that openly airing problems, adopting resolutions and quickly rectifying difficulties can significantly affect year-end pay reviews.
When employees bring up problems, ask how they would solve them. Listen, agree, and then say, "Those are all great suggestions, but here are a couple others you may want to consider. "Never patronize employees during a performance appraisal meeting.
The more an employee's performance appraisal deteriorates, the more likely they are to challenge it. An example of a dramatic decline would be an employee's performance going from above average to below average in the course of one year.

There are cases where an employee's performance weakens dramatically over the course of one year. In these circumstances, they should receive an interim notice prior to their annual evaluation stating that poor ratings will be reflected on subsequent evaluations unless there is substantial and sustained improvement.

Any suggestions for improvement should be molded into concise, easily understood, short-term plans of action. Try to stay away from hazy directives such as: "Show more initiative" or "Get more done in less time."
Agree on what specifically needs to be done
Write it down
Set a time period for implementation
Have the employee sign it

Conversely, if comments are too specific, the employer may appear to be "nickel and diming" the employee in hopes of driving them from the organization. Like many other relevant issues in performance appraisals, training is necessary if managers are to find the right balance between generalizations and specifics.

Focus on employee behavior, not the individual. There is a big difference between needing improvement and being a poor employee. The more global the assault, the more compelled the employee is to fight back. If a manager focuses on problems rather than the person, the employee can detach himself/herself sufficiently to take remedial action. Although the employee owns and is responsible for the problem, he or she is not the problem.

Remember, hope is the greatest motivator of all. Maybe they didn't do well this time, but the words, "Let's plan to make sure this doesn't happen again" imply that the employee can work toward a brighter future.

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Revised: 2008-05-29T01:31:03-0700