Performance Appraisals Procedure

The Performance Appraisals Procedure provides the format, frequency and objectives of employee performance appraisals and any corresponding salary adjustment.

The Performance Appraisals Procedure applies to all managers. (14 pages, 3138 words)

Performance Appraisals Guidelines:

Frequency – The performance of an employee is reviewed three months, six months and twelve months after employment and annually thereafter. A manager may give an interim review at any time without waiting for the scheduled time.

Responsibility – The individual responsible for direct supervision of the employee should conduct the performance review. If an employee reports to more than one person, then both managers should be involved in the review process.

Performance Requirements (Expectations) – Performance requirements represent the level of performance that is expected of employees in fulfilling the duties and responsibilities of a position. The manager responsible for a position should establish the performance requirements in the Job Description and ensures that they are effectively communicated to employees.

Performance Appraisal Responsibilities:

The CEO (Chief Executive Officer) should be responsible for the final approval of all salary adjustments, changes in job titles, or job responsibilities.

The Human Resources Manager should be responsible for coordinating performance review schedules, salary adjustments, changes in job titles, or job responsibilities with each employee, department and manager involved.

Department Managers should be responsible for preparing recommendations for salary adjustments, changes in job titles, or job responsibilities with each employee.

Performance Appraisals Procedure Activities

• Performance Appraisals Guidelines
• Appraisal Preparation
• Appraisal Discussion
• Salary Adjustment
• Appraisal Conclusion

Performance Appraisals Procedure References

• Pregnancy Discrimination Act
• Title VII
• Age Discrimination Act
• Equal Pay Act
• Americans with Disabilities Act
• The Civil Rights Act of 1991
• Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938

Performance Appraisals Procedure Forms

• Self Appraisal Form
• Performance Appraisal Form

Managers often have a lot to do with their employees’ performance, or so conventional wisdom goes. They’re responsible for motivating their employees to turn out quality and perform at their best, as well as for organizing, training, and so forth. However, motivation is a “soft” skill that many managers just don’t come equipped with. Some have never been instructed at length on the topic of motivation, and it’s not a skill one easily picks up on their own. Therefore, many employees need to motivate better performance from within. If not, they lose interest and momentum.

So how do you, as the employee, take the initiative when your manager is unable to provide it?

7 Keys To Motivate Better Performance From Within:

1. FIND A CLEAR SENSE OF PURPOSE OR DIRECTION

If your manager does not provide you the “what, when, and why”…ask! Valuable project time is lost. Ask your manager for an example of what the finished product should look like. What are the project objectives? Are they SMART objectives? What are the milestones? Do you understand what’s expected of you?

2. CONTINUALLY ASK FOR YOUR MANAGER’S FEEDBACK

Don’t allow your manager to isolate him or herself. The manager may say, “You handle it”, but do they really mean it? Project review should be a required part of every process — in fact, the quality standard, ISO 9001 mandates reviews! Always ask (of yourself and your manager) what can be improved.

3. BE HONEST ABOUT YOUR SKILLS AND TRAINING

Do you have enough for the job in question? If not, can you get more — or more specific — training? Can anyone mentor you in this area? And does the company have a training plan in mind for you?

4. ASSESS YOUR RESOURCES

Specify what you will need to complete the project. Ask your manager how resources will be allocated and be sure you will be adequately supplied.

5. IF A PROBLEM (SETBACK) OCCURS, TELL YOUR MANAGER ASAP

As soon as you have the facts to rationally discuss the case bring it up to your manager. Present the facts clearly and logically. Present opinions, too, but be sure not to pass them off as facts. Try to offer one or more potential solutions, as well.

6. BE AN INFLUENTIAL TEAM MEMBER

Be part of the team. Don’t hold back on any of your ideas. Each team member must contribute something to the success of any project…otherwise, it’s not really a “team project”, is it?

7. AT THE END OF THE PROJECT, ASK YOUR MANAGER FOR FEEDBACK

There is always room for improvement, so learn from the praise and the criticism and incorporate it in subsequent projects. You can’t always rely on others to provide you the guidance and incentive you need to be an outstanding performer. Sometimes you have to take the initiative.

How Is Performance Reviewed?

You might go into the performance review feeling you did a “more-than-adequate” job, even if you can’t quantify it exactly. Then again, you might approach the review with a sense of foreboding. You’re not well prepared. Maybe you feel like you’re going to get slammed. Maybe you wish the shoe were on the other foot. Maybe you wish everybody would just forget about it.

Too often, employee performance reviews are an exercise with no apparent purpose, except to satisfy a regulatory requirement or follow a decades-old policy. We go through the motions but don’t accomplish anything. By conducting employee performance reviews the way we do, we miss so many opportunities for improvement.