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COMMISSIONERS' COURT AGENDA REQUEST
PLEASE FURNISH ONE ORIGINAL AND TEN (10) COPIES OF THIS
REOUEST AND DOCUMENTS TO BE REVIEWED BY THE COURT
MADE BY: Commissioner Baldwin OFFICE: County Commissioner
MEETING DATE: April 13, 2009
TIME PREFERRED:
SUBJECT: Consider, discuss and take appropriate action to set date to evaluate
employees of the Commissioners' Court.
EXECUTIVE SESSION REQUESTED: (PLEASE STATE REASON)
NAME OF PERSON ADDRESSING THE COURT: Comm. Baldwin
ESTIMATED LENGTH OF PRESENTATION:
IF PERSONNEL MATTER -NAME OF EMPLOYEE:
Time for submitting this request for Court to assure that the matter is posted in
accordance with Title 5, Chapter 551 and 552, Government Code, is as follows:
Meeting scheduled for Mondays: 5:00 PM previous Tuesday
THIS REQUEST RECEIVED BY:
THIS RQUEST RECEIVED ON:
@ .M.
All Agenda Requests will be screened by the County Judge's Office to determine if adequate
information has been prepared for the Court's formal consideration and action at time of Court
Meetings. Your cooperation will be appreciated and contribute towards your request being
addressed at the earliest opportunity. See Agenda Request Rules Adopted by Commissioners'
Court.
Performance
Appraisals
Presented by:
NAME
TTTLE
Manager of Loss Control Services
Texas Association of Counties
1-800-456-5974
PERFORMANCE APFRAISALS
I. DEFIh1ITION AND PURPOSE
A Perfom~ance appraisal is a system by which an employee's job performance
is measured against same expectation ar standard.
B. A primary goal of performance appraisal is to provide feedback to employees
on how well they are doing in their jobs and to provide direction to fidure
development and accomplishments.
C. Perfomlance appraisals also serve as a tool for managers in:
Determining who is eligible for raises and promotions;
2. Recognizing training needs for elmplcryees;
3. Documenting the reasons for disciplinary action and, in some cases,
assisting in the defense of actions which may be legally challenged;
4. Encouraging employees to advance their job skills and knowledge; and
5. Motivating employees in their jobs.
D. Every supervisor practices performance appraisal-whether formally or
infomlally.
1. In formal appraisal systems, the supervisor goes through a periodic
process of evaluating an employee's job performance and
communicating that evaluation to the employee.
2. In an informal system, the supervisor evaluates the perfomlance of
employees in his/her mind but seldom communicates those feelings to
employees.
IL WHY PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS FAIL
A Gw1t Marry supervisors feel uncomfortable in making judgments about the
performance of others.
1. Adverse appraisals could have a negative effect on the potential for
raises, pramotiorls, or jab security far an individual.
2. 'Ihe level of power that a performance appraisal gives a supervisor over
his/her employees makes manly supervisors feel uneasy arld, as a result,
they tend to give everyone high ratings.
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3. To avoid potential liabilities, supervisors must overcome these feelings
and give honest ratings.
B. Lack ofAccountability-Managers oftan go through the motions of
performance appraisal without giving any real thought to the process
because trey are not held accountable for the accuracy of the appraisals.
Often, the result is very high ratings for all employees.
2. It should be a part of the manager's job to conduct accurate appraisals,
set goals with the employees, coach the employees based on the
appraisals,--AND-each supervisor should be accountable to hisllrer
supervisor for preparing accurate performance appraisals.
C. Ineffective Application of Standards-Overrating often results when
supervisors do not have a good grasp of the standards being applied.
1. Supervisors often view ratings of "satisfactory" or "average" as being
negative ratings.
2. For an appraisal program to be effective, both the supervisor and the
employee must understand what each level of rating means, and the
supervisor must be willing to make the tough decisions necessary to give
honest and accurate ratings.
D. Fear of Hurt Feelings-Some supervisors would rather give everyone a high
rating rather than risk "hurting someone's feelings" by pointing out
perfom~rance deficiencies.
It must be remembered that performance appraisal systems are designed
to provide honest feedback on performance to employees and are not a
"feel good" program
2. Rating an employee high in all areas fails to recognize areas in which the
employer can assist the employee's growth and development-thus
possibly hindering the employee's chance for raises and promotions in
the future
III. THE LEGAL SIDE OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
A Since many personnel actions are based on employee performance,
performance appraisals may play an important role if a personnel action is
challenged through a Iawsuit:
1. Adverse personnel actions taken for legitimate reasons are normally
viewed as acceptable by the courts.
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2. The absence of factual, documented evidence concerning the reason
adverse personnel action was taken makes it extremely difficult to prove
there was a justified business reason for such action.
B. An employee who has not been advised of specific performance problems
may feel that any adverse personnel action taken against him/her was for an
illegal reason, such as discrimination, thus creating a greater likelihood of a
lawsuit.
C. For a performance appraisal system to be an effective tool for an employer ui
court, it must be legally defensible.
A well designed, honest, and accurate appraisal program can be a
tremendous asset to an employer where a lawsuit is filed because
of adverse action taken on the basis of perfomlance problems.
2. On the other hand, a poorly designed performance appraisal system, or
appraisals that do not accurately reflect specific performance problems,
can be an employer's downfall in such lawsuits.
D. The Human Resources Manaf7ement Series published by Commerce Clearing
House says that a legally defensible performance appraisal system should
contain the following elements:
Be in writing;
2. Contain specific procedures;
3. Include specific instructions for supervisors;
4. Provide training for supervisors in how to evaluate employees;
5. Use standardized forms for related groups of employees;
6. Be thoroughly communicated to employees;
7. Be given formally at least on an annual basis; and
8. Evaluate specific work behavior and not personal traits.
TV. THE EFFECTIVE APPRAISAL PROGRAM
A Characteristics of a good appraisal program include:
A system of evaluating specific job fimctions;
2. An established perfom~ance standard for each function being rated;
Standards that they are specific, observable, and measurable;
4. Communication of expected standards to each employee ai the start of the
~P~~ l~ri~
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5. A system of documentation of perfommance to show wfiy standazds were
met, not met, or exceeded;
6. A program of training supervisors in defining the levels of perfommance,
documenting performance, preparing an evaluation, and conducting the
appraisal interview;
7. A process by which employees can respond to the appraisal;
8. Recognitionion by supervisors that the primary purpose of the
program is to motivate employees, to help with their personal
development, and to help resolve problems. (The issue of discipline
should be secondary.); and
9. A process that does not overburden the supervisors.
B. As stated previously, a part of each supervisor's job should be to conduct
effective appraisals and helshe should be evaluated on how well this is done.
V. PROBLEMS WITIi APPRAISALS
A Many problems creep into appraisal systems causing Them to lose their
effectiveness. Among the more common are:
1. Use of vague terms which really say nothing specific about the
supervisor's expectations far performance. Examples include, `y'ou
need to do better," `Four attendance problem needs to betaken caze of,"
or "Keep up the good work"
2. Use of subjective, emotional phrases which are based an conclusior>,s
made by the supervisor and which may or may not be valid. Examples
include, `y'ou don't have an interest in your job," `TIe is lazy," or "You
have a bad attitude." A supervisor needs to stay with specific, observed
behaviors that are causing problems rather than trying to second guess
the employee.
3. Failure to define expected standards of perfornmance whidm often creates
a difference in how an employee perc~ves the appraisal and what the
supervisor intended;
4. Evaluating elements that are not a part of, or which are not significant to,
the employee's job;
5. Distortions in the appraisal based on the "halo and horns" effect;
6. The NIGYYSOB (Now I've Got You, You SOB) game;
7. Quickly skimming over the appraisal with the employee and not giving
die employee the opportunity to respond or ask questions; or
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8. Evaluating the employee on things over which heJshe has no control.
B. The good supervisor takes care to recognize and control the things that can
distort the effectiveness performance appraisals.
VI. JOB DESCRIPTIONS AND PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS
A Before standards can be set for evaluating job performance, the job must be
defined
B. Well written, thorough job descriptions are the basis for any effective
performance appraisal program
C. The elements of most job descriptions include:
1. Identifying Information-This includes infomlation such as job title,
department, reporting relationships, normal work schedule, exempt or
non-exert status, payroll status, and other infomration whickl helps
identify the job.
2. Job Summazy This is a several sentence statement giving a brief
overview of the scope and duties of the job.
3. Essential Job Duties-These are the duties that the employee must be
able to perform, either with or without accommodation.
4. Marginal Job Dudes--These are the duties that are desirable for the
employee to perform but which are not essential to the job. Under the
Americans wth Disabilities Act (ADA), an eirtployer should not make a
job related decision on whether an crnployee can perform these
mazginal job duties. For this reason, many employers do not include this
section.
5. Working Conditions =Ibis is a ganeral description of the conditions
under which the employee would be working. Arty adverse working
conditions should definitely be noted in this section.
6. Education, Training and Experience This is a statement of the
minimum levy of education, training, and prior experience needed to
perform the essential joh duties. In some cases, a higher level might
be desired and, if so, it should be indicated as being preferned, not
required.
7. Licenses and Certifications -Included in this section is a list of any
specific licenses or certifications an individual needs to be qualified to
perform the job. Examples aze a driver's license or CPA certification.
8. Physical Requirements-This should list all physical requirements that
are necessary to perform the essential job duties. These should be
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specific to help ensure compliance with ADA For example, instead of
stating that a job involves lifting, the description might say, "involves
lifting boxes weighing up to 35 pounds to a height of three feet."
9. Special Skills and Abilities-This is a statement of any specific skills or
abilities that are necessary to effectively perform the essential job duties.
Examples might include fluency in a specific language, knowledge of
welding techniques, or strong writing and verbal communication skills.
D. in developing performance appraisals, the most important area of the job
description is the essential job duties.
These should be stated in tem~ls of specific duties and should begin with
an action verb (plans, prepares, operates, examines, etc.} followed by
additional infornialion which completes the description of the dory.
2. Duties that are too broadly stated fail to give a clear definition of what
the employee is to do and, t}lus, are hard to appraise.
E. In an effective appraisal system, standards of performance need to be
developed for the key essential duties.
The best performance standards are based on criteria that are specific,
observable, and measurable.
2. If standards are well written, the employee should be able to continually
self evaluate and know whedler he/she is meeting those standards.
VII. TYPES OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS
A Ranking-This system involves comparing the performance of each
employee against the performance of all other employees in similar jobs.
1. Even in the absence of a formal appraisal system, supervisors tend to
rank employees in their minds.
2. The following describes two of the more common methods of appraisal
using the ranking method.
a. Two employees are compared and the performance of one is ranked
higher than the other. Another employee is compared to the first
two and is either ranked above, below, or between the first two.
Next, a fourth employee is compared to the three already ranked and
either comes out above, below, or somewhere in the middle of the
three. This goes on until all employees have been ranked
b. Each employee is compared to each other employee. The employee
who, in the mind of the supervisor, is the better worker gets a check
mark This process continues until all comparisons are complete.
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The employee with the most check marks is the best performer, the
one Frith the next highest number is second best, and so ~ until all
employees fall into a relative ranking.
3. The advantages of the ranking method include simplicity, cost
effectiveness, and time effiaency. Ho~~ever, it also has major
disadvantages.
a. Ranking is highly subjechive and of~m is no more than a popularity
contest based on a supervisor's personal feelings about employees.
b. Ranking does not address specific issues about an employee's
perfommance which makes it difficult to address problems or plan for
the employee's future development
c. The lack of specific issues also makes it practically worthless from a
legally defensible point of view.
d. In the appraisal interview, it is ~hremely difficult to justify the
ranking to employees without any specific measurements of
performance.
B. Trait Scales-This method involves rating a series of job related
characteristics against apre-established scale.
1. The simplest trait scale systems list a series of job related characteristics
(such as productivity, attendance, initiative etc.}and each is rated against
a numerical scale, of~elm 1 through 5.
2. More advanced trait scale systems define both the characteristics being
rated and the different levels on the scale.
3. Advantages of trait scale systems include:
a Ease of preparation;
b. Addressing specific job related characteristics; and
c. Providing a visual look at the rating.
4. Disadvantages of trait scales include:
a. Failure to give clear definitions to specific standards and levels of
performance;
b. Rating employees on dharacteristics not relevant to their jobs; and
c. The tendency of raters to start at "average" and work outward which
leads to inflated ratings.
C. Critical Incident-This system involves recording on-the-job behavior over a
period of time and the rating is prepared from those notes.
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Under this method, the supervisor keeps a diary of effective and
ineffective job performance on each employee. At the end of the
recording period, this information is used to produce an appraisal which
is frequently in the form of one of the others discussed.
2. Advantages of the critical incident method include:
a. Basing the appraisal on actual, recorded incidents which makes it
more legally defensible;
b. Covering the full appraisal period instead of concentrating on the
most recent few weeks; and
c. Ease in justifying the appraisal to employees since it is based on
factual infom~ation.
Disadvantages include:
a. The tendency to record extreme behavior rather than representative
perfom~ance;
b. Encouraging too close supervision of employees;
c. Creating an air of secrecy or "being watched";
d. The potential for recording a disproportionate number of positive
incidents on employees liked by the supervisor and negative
incidents on less favored employees;
e. The amourrt of time involved in recording incidents; and
f The potential for the 1`IIGYYSOB situation at the appraisal interview
since this system is not conducive to daily feedback.
D. Narrative-This system requires the supervisor to prepare a written narrative
report on each employee's performance at the end of the appraisal period.
1. This system gives the appraiser a great deal of flexibility in what to
include in the report since structure and guidelines are usually minimal.
2. The advantages of the narrative system include;
a. The freedom of the appraiser to include a wide range of performance
aspects allowing the appraiser to pick up unique or unusual features
of the job; and
b. The fact that the appraiser must. give more serious thought to actual
performance rather than just checking ratings on a scale.
Disadvantages include:
a. The fact that it is highly subjective and can be influenced by
personal feelings about an employee;
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b. The difficulty that some raters have in expressing themselves; and
c. The amount of time needed to prepare narrative ratings.
4. Narrative appraisals are o$en included as part of other systems to give
them more flexibility.
E. Criteria Based-In this system, performance ratings are tied directly to
standards set for key essential job duties.
I. To be effective, job duties must be clearly defined and the standards
established for each duty must be specific, observable, and measurable.
2. Advantages to this system include:
a. The use of clearly stated performance standards that the employee
can understand and use to self evaluate his/her performance;
b. The fact that it is highly Iega(ly defensible since subjectivity is
virtually removed from the rating; and
c. The ability of the supervisor to objectively poirrt out why the
employee met, failed to meet, or exceeded time established standards.
3. Disadvantages include:
a~ A problem in establishing standards for some duties that meet the
requirements of being specific, observable, and measurable;
b. The fact that it is normally quite time consuming to develop soh a
system (Once established, however, it is not difficult to maintain.);
and
c. The difficulty in measuring some performance standards.
VIII. APPRAISAL INTERVIEWS
A. Preparation for the perfommance appraisal intert~~iew is extremely important
and should include:
I. Notifying the employees several days in advance as to when and where
the appraisals will be oanducted;
2. Taking steps to ensure that there will be no interruptions during the
interviews; and
3. Reviewing in advance what will be covered in eadm interview.
B. It is important that the supervisor remember that the interview be viewed as a
positive process.
1. An employee's admievements and strengths should be recognized.
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2. Areas in need of improvement should be openly discussed and the goal
should be to detemmine how performance can be brought up to an
acceptable standard.
3. The appraisal interview also provides the opportunity to discuss firiure
career development with certain employees.
4. The interview should close with a discussion of the supervisor's
expectations of the employee during the next appraisal period.
C. Many interviewers like to start on a positive note by recognizing an
employee's strengths before discussing areas that need improvement They
then close with additional recognition of some strength the employee has.
D. Some of the problems that occur with appraisal interviews include:
1. Ignoring problem areas and only discussing the employee's strong
poumts;
2. Playing the NIGYYSOB game;
3. Failing to let the employee ask questions or respond to the interview;
4. Allowing the employee to take control of the interview;
5. Discussing perfornmatmce in broad or vague terms instead of being
specific; and
6. Letlilmg emotions get involved.
lx. DAY TO DAY APPRAISALS
A While periodic formal appraisals are important, day to day feedback is just
as - if not more -important than the format appraisal process.
B. The "One Minute Manager" concept of giving praise when it is earned and
correcting problems as they occur is a good principle to follow.
C. Remember that employees should be praised in public and corrected in
private.
D. As wi#h formal appraisals, day tt> day feedback should be based on specific
instances rather than broad statements.
X. PROBLEM EMPLOYEES
A Sometimes a problem arises that needs to be addressed with an employee
before the next format appraisal.
B. If it is a minor problem with an employee who has a good work record, it can
usually be corrected by counseling or a reprimand
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C. if the problem persists, or is severe enough, it may be necessary to go to
higher level of discipline.
D. Usually, serious discipline issues are addressed through a formal document
that contains the following sections:
1. A statement of the problem;
2. A statement of why it is a problem;
3. Previous actions takers to resolve the problem;
4. What standard must be reached to be acceptable to the supervisor,
5. By when must the standard be achieved;
6. What the supervisor will do to help the employee achieve that standard;
and
7. What will be the consequences if the employee fails to achieve the
standard in the established time frame.
a. If the employee meets the standard, all is well and the employee
should be recognized for doing so.
b. If the employee fails to meet the standard, the consequences stated
should be immediately carried out. (Never make a threat or promise
that you can't or don't intend to catty out.}
E. The same rules apply to preparation of disciplinary documents as apply to
perfom~anance appraisal documents.
1. The statement of the problem should based on specific observed
incidents which have been thoroughly documented.
2. The standards whic~l are set must be clearly defined and developed in
such a way to leave no question as to whether they have beers met
3. Vague words or emotional statements should never be used in a disciplinary
document.
NOTE: ThisFCijJeT is provided fOr informational purposes 0711}? Nothing in this paper is intended to
be, nor should it be construed as, legal advice orguidance. Where legal assistance is needed, the services
of a qualified attorney should be sought.
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