Questionable Performance Appraisal--Please Help!!
AM I Lost
7 Posts
An ee brought to my attention a recent performance appraisal that they have received. The ee demonstrated disagreements with their several needs improvements. I advised the ee to look at the positives as well as the negatives. This did not satisfy the ee. They expressed that since this was a new position to them and the fact that they had no manager or direct manager to guide them that they should not be held accountable for short commings that were not brought to their attention until the review. They ee does agree that there are in fact some needs improvement, but not an overall rating thus preventing the ee from transfer/promotion and a raise for 14 months as per policy. I did some investigating I pulled a written warning from 9 months earlier in regards to one of the needs improvement. The ee said that manager has admitted before a witness that has greatly improved since the warning, but felt that it would warrant a satisfactory rating. I further discovered that the ee up unitl this appraisal was always considered outstanding. The ee has met all goals and requests given to them by others. The ee's manager was soon transferred when the ee came to the department and has had no contact until now. Their concerns are:
Why continue to allow that ee to make mistakes without providing feedback?
How can we hold the ee accountable?
Why is the ee's position being eliminated and the position assigned is a promotion and likewise a new postion to the company?
How can absent manager make decisions about the performance?
The ee stated that if no investigation into the matter was to take place and no action taken within 60 days that they would file a complaint with EEOC and seek professional counsel.
Does the ee have a case even while continuing to work at the company?
Why continue to allow that ee to make mistakes without providing feedback?
How can we hold the ee accountable?
Why is the ee's position being eliminated and the position assigned is a promotion and likewise a new postion to the company?
How can absent manager make decisions about the performance?
The ee stated that if no investigation into the matter was to take place and no action taken within 60 days that they would file a complaint with EEOC and seek professional counsel.
Does the ee have a case even while continuing to work at the company?
Comments
Second, the employee has admitted several short comings. The employee has admitted that he or she needs improvement in several areas. So even though the employee probably should have been warned more frequently, the employee seems to be aware of the performance issue.
Third, there is nothing in your facts about a position elimination, which is a question that you have. I don't know what you are referring to.
Finally, focus on doing the right thing, not whether the employee will go to the EEOC. It seems like the right thing might be to bend the rules, and have the new supervisor of the employee give a new performance review in say 90 or 120 days, that will superceded the current review. That way, if there are issues, they can be addressed by the current supervisor, and corrected. If the review was just off the mark, it will be superceded shortly, and the employee will not be held back on career development for 14 months.
Good Luck!
The role of a performance review is to help the company help the employee become the best possible worker. It should not be looked upon as a form of punishment. The method your company is using has created a disgruntled ee and and should be changed.
Do I understand that this EE is in a new position, but in it long enough that a 'need improvement' from 9 months ago still applies? That hardly seems like a new position. As to the lack of feedback from above and being surprised by the negative ratings in the appraisal, most of us would agree that best practices were not followed in this case. The information in a review should not be a surprise the the EE and in fact, you indicated the EE was aware of some areas needing improvement. That said, if you ignored those areas and put in some sort of vanilla appraisal that did not address the issues, you would be compounding the problem. If the areas needing improvement are justified, then you are, at last, facing the performance issues. Based on the information provided so far, EEOC is not a concern.
There is an attorney for every case, even if it is not a good one, and the agressive threats would concern me, but not dissuade me from doing the right thing.
It is hard for me to beleive your police places a 14 month moratorium on raises and promotions. Why would you keep EEs around that long if the issues remain. I say shorter improvement plan periods are in order. Either the problems are fixed, and they are back in good graces with full rights and privileges, or the problems are not fixed and the EE is moved out the door. To continue to punish seems way over the top.
There are other ways to give feedback - Ongoing communication & feedback - which was obviously lacking in this case. I think you have been given good advise. I do caution that if this person has always received "outstandings" that their expectations may not be realistic. They may have been over-rated. So, that presents a tweo-sided problem (that isn't untypical).
If you want to learn more about a new way of working with employees, let me know.
Good luck!
How do you keep track of the ongoing communication and feedback?
Is that ongoing commnication and feedback used to determine continued employment, raises, promotions, etc?
Is that ongoing commnication and feedback consistent from person to person?
I learned when I developed a performance review system for a company that people backed into the appraisal according to what they wanted to give a person in a raise. So with that kind of behavior, what does that say about the value of the appraisal? The same held true if they wanted someone to get promoted.
Keeping track & monitoring people raises the issue of control. How much do we have to control our employees or do we trust them to do the best work. Jim Collins in "Good to Great" spoke of getting the right people on the bus; in the right seats and the wrong people off. As you can tell this is a process that doesn't happen over night.
I would be happy to speak to you further if you have greater interest. Contact me by my direct e-mail - [email]BresGroup@4u.net[/email] - with your contact information.
I am providing a service. Over the period of 3 years I have been developing a method that can be used to help improve the process of reviews. I do realize that reviews are tradition and are not going away any time soon. However, the process can be improved - & more for some than others.
Having said that, I will say that I continue to hear horror stories, people don't like them, etc. Add to that the fact that we continue to try and reinvent the system - why? 'Cause the last one didn't work very well. I am also taken by the fact that over 70% of people are not engaged in there work - why? It is the 28% that are actively disengaged that cause everyone grief and headaches. What have we done to create this environment? Also, business and decisions get more global every day. We need to make good, fast decisions to stay in business, be successful and competitive. We now need to manage for the Information Age not the the Industrial Age. So, what kind of people do we want and need? Self-starters, accountable, etc. We might hire but can't keep them - why? Those who will be successful will take on the challenge to make changes.
Just food for thought. Part of this would mean that the HR role will change (as it was suppose to years ago - becoming more strategic vs. administrative). That is a difficult thing to accept for some, yet some would welcome this. Not to step on anyone's toes. Also, I'd rather plant the seed for thought than sell something. What I am talking about is an OD effort. That means change. It's not for everyone.
"Part of this would mean that the HR role will change (as it was suppose to years ago - becoming more strategic vs. administrative)."
As others have pointed out - the appraisal serves many functions - strategic & administrative within a company, especially when a good HR person or HR department is involved in the process.
Also, just in case you didn't know, we (the forumites, not the forum police) share stuff for free here - policies, procedures, handouts, presentations, skills matrixes, compensation programs, etc. so if you would like to send me your materials for free - not merely your thoughts on the subject, or rather seeds - I would be interested in reviewing your program.
Thank you.
>forumites, not the forum police) share stuff for
>free here
Good point, mwild. The Forum is all about sharing free information with each other.
We generally don't allow anyone to promote their products or services on the Forum except for ourselves (meaning HR Hero products, the lawyers who write our newsletters, and Margaret Morford).
Here's our policy on promoting your business on the Forum:
[url]http://www.hrhero.com/employersforum/help4.shtml#selling[/url]
James Sokolowski
HRhero.com