Newsletter

Employee Evaluations - Don't Wait

The job of being a supervisor is not always an easy one due to the variety of competencies expected. An area which many supervisors find difficult is the dreaded employee evaluation process. Whether your organization has established a focal point review timeline in which a particular month or 60 day window is designated for all evaluations or if your organization evaluates employees on their anniversary hire date, supervisors are challenged to provide timely and meaningful evaluations for each of their employees.

Regular and frank discussions with each employee can really assist the supervisor in being prepared for the annual evaluation. There are multiple methodologies a supervisor can adopt in order to ease the complications of composing or completing the annual evaluations.

Step one in any evaluation process is to ensure that the expectations have been communicated to the employee and that the employee thoroughly understands the expectations. A written document which outlines the specific duties, the standard of expectation and how the performance will be measured are key factors to the process.

Step two includes becoming disciplined about regularly reviewing the expectations with the employee. This does not have to involve a huge commitment of time. As the supervisor you should remain fully informed about the performance level for each of your employees. On a monthly or bi-monthly basis, briefly meet with the employee and communicate areas in which you are pleased, or areas needing improvement. If specific instances occur in which the employee exceeds in an area or is not meeting expectations, note these instances as well. Briefly document your observations and discussion with the employee. Certainly if you find that you are not pleased with the level of performance, immediately implement a “plan for improvement” with a timeline. If performance does not improve or if the employee displays other forms of behavior which are cause for concern, coach, counsel and document. Taking actions early will assist you if it is necessary to take adverse employment action.

Step three is the actual annual evaluation. If you have been disciplined in conducting brief meetings with your employees and documenting their successes and areas in need of improvement, you will find that the documentation allows you to easily review the year and also provides you with specific examples of performance to support your observations.

New Legislation that Could Affect Your Business:

Choosing a Union: Private Ballot vs. Public Card-Check

Today, when American workers form a union, they usually hold a vote by secret ballot. That commonly- accepted practice could come to an end in workplaces across the country if a bill passed by the House Education and Labor Committee becomes law.

HR Professionals led by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) supports and encourages secret ballot elections as the most effective process for validating majority representation for forming a work place union. Such elections minimize inappropriate outside influences and are consistent with the underlying and fundamental principles of democracy. As such, SHRM opposes this legislation based on concerns that a public vote for or against a union could lead to a hostile work environment and employee intimidation.

Furthermore, one of the great practices of secret ballot elections are that they are in fact “secret”. An employee who doesn’t want to tell an employer that they want to be represented by a union or an employee who doesn’t want to tell a co-worker that they do not want to be represented by a union both have the right to go into a secret election process without fearing retribution for their jobs or their co- worker friendships.

Under the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800), if a majority of employees in a bargaining unit were to sign “authorization cards” in favor of a labor organization, the National Labor Relations Board must certify the union as the sole representative for those workers. As a result, there would not be a federally-supervised private vote.

In anticipation of the full House of Representatives voting on the proposal as early as next week, the White House announced that President Bush would veto the legislation if it reaches his desk.

SHRM is a founding member of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace; a partnership of employee and employer organizations advocating for workers’ right to a federally-supervised private ballot election when deciding whether or not to join a union.

For more information about these and other public policy issues, please visit www.shrm.org or write your legislative representatives to voice your concerns. ©2007 Society for Human Resource Management