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1. FEATURE STORY:
PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS: HOW TO KEEP
SUBJECTIVITY IN CHECK

Research by Personnel Decisions International, a Minneapolis-based consulting firm, is the latest data to confirm that subjectivity plays a part in a majority of performance assessments. More than six out of 10 times, employees who reported to two bosses were given an "outstanding" rating by one and a lower rating by the other.

Such discrepancies in performance analysis are often the result of performance areas not being adequately defined so they can be rated consistently.

Take the following example. The area being assessed is dependability. One manager thinks of it in terms of always being on time for work, which the employee always is, so he rates her as "outstanding" in that category. The other manager thinks of dependability in terms of completing assignments on time. Since the employee handed in a few assignments late, he rates her as "average." Both are reasonable definitions of dependability. But without a shared definition known by both managers and the employee, you get conflicting assessments.

That's why it's crucial that your organization's performance appraisal form requires managers to define both the job performance areas being assessed and the level of performance to achieve a specific rating. Such an undertaking might sound time consuming. Well, frankly, it is. But it's time well spent.

You're probably thinking, "That's all well and good, but how am I going to convince managers to actually do that, when, as it is, it's next to impossible to get them to actually complete the comment sections on the current review?" The answer is three-fold.

Start by appealing to their sense of the greater good. Explain that the more accurate performance assessments are, the greater the chance that the right people will be promoted throughout the organization. Having performance superstars in higher-level positions will benefit the organization as a whole. Plus, accurate reviews can help squash the perception of bias.

Then remind them that it's their job to conduct effective performance evaluations, and that they will be rated on how well they meet this performance objective.

Conclude by identifying a silver lining. Stress to them that once they create and define performance areas and ratings scales, they can use them year after year and for future employees in the same position with only minor tweaks here and there.

To ensure that managers don't conveniently "forget" to define performance terms, provide them with an appraisal form that requires the terms to be defined before it can be used. AHI's Model Performance Appraisal Form devotes one of four parts to performance definitions. Download a sample of the appraisal form by surfing to: www.ahipubs.com/trial/pakittrialG09439.html.

Let's look at an example of how to define performance terms. Instead of defining a job performance area simply as the essential job function of proofreading, you define it as: Thoroughly and accurately proofreading product pages for the organization's website.

Then you determine how many proofreading mistakes is acceptable for employees to make in a defined period of time. You come up with between four and 10 mistakes, which will serve as your "average" rating. Define up and down from there.

A. Outstanding is defined as no proofreading mistakes.

B. Above average is defined as three or fewer proofreading mistakes.

C. Average is defined as four to 10 proofreading mistakes.

D. Below average is defined as 11 to 17 proofreading mistakes.

E. Unacceptable is defined as 18 or more proofreading mistakes.

For an appraisal that requires managers to define their performance terms, download a sample of AHI's Model Performance Appraisal Form.

2. CATHIE'S CORNER:
WHAT HR DEPARTMENTS AND RED SOX
FANS HAVE IN COMMON

Being in HR is a little like being a Red Sox fan. (Being from the general Boston area, I naturally root for the Sox.) Just as Red Sox fans know what a good team we have, HR knows what value we add to the organization. But come playoff time, just as the Yankees or the Angels or even the Tigers can kick us out of the running, Sales and Marketing or Research and Development will end up with the lion's share of the budget, not to mention the glory for the highest contribution to the company's bottom line. And there we sit, knowing that we were in first place all season, unable to capitalize on it. We're only able to sigh, "Next year will be our year."

Like Sox fans, HR finds excitement in smaller things. A thank you from an employee can equate to a double from Mike Lowell to put a man in scoring position. An unexpected résumé with job skills that exactly fit that hard-to-fill position is not unlike the unexpected homer from Jason Varitek or Doug Mirabelli. Finally, getting the new employee handbook approved can feel like David Ortiz knocking one out of the park, when the score is tied in the bottom of the ninth.

And then, there are the times when you just get your momentum going. Whatever project you've been working on, be it succession planning, or finally bringing open enrollment to a successful close, or working out the new compensation ranges, or hiring 72 short-term temps to fill that need in the warehouse, it's something you've been putting all your time and energy into, taking it home with you, coming in on weekends, even finding yourself dreaming that you're still at work on it, it's finally over, and it's done, and it's good.

And it's October of 2004, and the curse is broken, and your team, your wonderful team, has come back from a three-nothing deficit to knock out the Yankees (the YANKEES!) and sweep the Cardinals to their first World Series win since 1918. And that's better than anything.

Many of us didn't choose HR, we fell into it. You don't choose the Red Sox, either; they choose you. But as frustrating as it may be as a career and as heartbreaking as they are as a team, when it works and when they win, we wouldn't want to do anything else or have any other team for our own, would we?

Catherine Bannon is the President of HR by Request, Inc., in Marshfield, MA (catherine.bannon@gmail.com). Bannon worked for 10 years in HR management before starting her consulting firm.

EEOC WORKS TO "E-RACE" DISCRIMINATION

Last year, the EEOC issued guidance on how Title VII prohibits discrimination in employment on the bases of race and color. Earlier this year, the agency went one step further and...View the full story on our website.

Kick back, relax, and take a few minutes to check out the new HR Soapbox, "What Are Job Applicants Thinking???," in which an editor explores some wacky, yet common, mistakes made by job seekers.