Yesterday’s Advisor featured the first 6 of our 10 sins of performance appraisers; today, we present the rest of the sins.
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[Go here for sins 1 to 6.]
Sin #7. Gaming the system
“John’s work is just OK, to be sure, but I need to give him a big raise to keep him, so he gets an ‘excellent.’”
“I can’t stand Sandy, but I can’t transfer him unless he has a high rating; let his next manager deal with him.”
This is gaming the system, giving inaccurate ratings for some reason outside the performance appraisal realm. As we have mentioned, this is always going to lead to trouble, and probably very expensive trouble.
Sin #8. Failure to take performance appraisal seriously
“I’ve got real work to do, and here’s this stack of appraisals I have to get through.”
Got to get these performance appraisals in. Good … good … good …good. Done.”
One would hope that managers would look at the appraisal process as an important opportunity to improve the performance of the department, to help employees to develop, and to give credit where it is due. But some view appraisals as an onerous chore. That’s unfortunate. Not only will that manager lose the opportunity to improve performance and recognize hard work, but he or she is likely setting up a situation that an eager lawyer will jump on.
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Sin #9. Failure to be consistent across department and organization or playing favorites
“Jim’s performance isn’t that great, but he’s my kind of guy.”
“Judy is a great worker, but her husband has a good job; I think the higher rating goes to Steve even though his work isn’t as good as hers.”
“Jamie is clearly the better producer, but if Tracy doesn’t get the high rating, Tracy will whine and complain; Jamie will just take it, so Tracy gets the high rating.”
Within the department or across the organization, if ratings are inconsistent, there are going to be complaints, morale problems, and eventually lawsuits. If the inconsistency is blatant, for example, if members of a protected class are consistently rated lower, that’s setting up for a lawsuit, especially if the above-mentioned sins of vague goals and “dishonest” evaluations are present.
Sin #10. Failure to document carefully
“They want me to write this stuff down, but I’m busy, and I’ll remember it.”
If there is ever a court case or charge, remember that it will likely be 2 to 5 years after the event that proceedings occur. Without clear contemporaneous documentation, even if all the players are still employed at your organization, it will be difficult to remember what exactly was said, and it will be very difficult to convince a jury.
Ok, that’s our 10 sins of performance appraisal. Avoid them, and you’ll likely avoid a lot of heartache, hassle—and expensive lawsuits.
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