Performance Reviews for Team Members
ajledoux
2 Posts
We are a very small manufacturing facility that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We have 36 non-exempt employees of which 28 of these employees work a 12 hour rotating shift. My question is if anyone has any ideas or suggestions for performance reviews on the employees who work the rotating shift? Our production employees are considered self-directed teams and prior performance reviews have not been constructive or effective. The managers spend about 20% of their time through out the year with the teams resulting in what is perceived as unfair evaluations. Yet, the self-directed teams are not able to review themselves or other team members in a fair manner. It is difficult to measure performance based on plant goals because we are not able to tie a goal to any one technician due to the continuous operation. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Comments
Although the time your managers spend time with the teams is probably not adequate, is it done during the actual 12-hour overnight shift? Although it’s impractical to have managers work the same schedule as the teams, every manager, (including the plant manager, the human resources manager, and the labor relations manager (if applicable)), should get a regular taste of what it is like to work 12s.
One reasonable approach is to have daytime managers work two 12-hour shifts per month, perhaps in exchange for one 8-hour day off. Usually, by working 10 am to 10 pm, managers can interact with employees from both the day and night teams.
In addition to opening lines of communication, this practice improves morale by showing that management is genuinely concerned with the realities of the overnight shift.
Another good idea is to establish an internal review panel with a member from each production team or job function that meets at least quarterly to identify problems and trends that may be affecting worker performance. The review team can pass on its findings to a senior-level manager.
The most important element in performance review of employees on alternate shifts is having individual meetings to talk with workers on a one-to-one basis in addition to the performance review so that there can be communication in a less formal situation. This personal communication should reduce complaints at performance review time.
Maybe some combination of peer review and manager evaluation would work. At the beginning of the review year, employees on the team can provide their team members with a list of development and work goals so that all team members can provide an evaluation at the end of the review year, then either all team members can evaluate or just randomly selected ones. Employees on self-directed teams can pick a coach or group leader plus a couple of team members to review the evaluations from team members and the manager and come up with a conclusion about the employee’s performance.