Conducting a Performance Appraisal

General Information:

You are responsible for making sure that your employees' performance appraisals are completed on time according to the following:

The State Personnel Act requires that every employee have a performance appraisal at least once a year. The completed workplan must be submitted to your Human Resource (HR) office by early June. (Check the exact due date by contacting your local HR office.)
For probationary employees, you should establish a workplan cycle to cover the employee's 9-month probationary period. This 9-month work cycle may end before or go beyond the typical June 30th ending date of your permanent employees' work cycles. At the end of the initial probationary work cycle, evaluate the employee's performance based on the workplan. Then if it's reasonable, you may shorten or lengthen the ending date of the next work cycle of the probationary employee to coincide with your other employees' work cycle ending dates of June 30th. (See the exceptions to the 12-month cycle section in "Writing the Original Workplan" for an expanded explanation and some examples.)
If you have employees who are not at work because of various types of extended leave, you should do a special review before they leave to document their performance level. When they return from extended sick leave, worker's compensation leave, or leave without pay, you will need to do a performance appraisal when they have completed a minimum 8-month work cycle. You can then shorten or lengthen the ending date of the next work cycle of the returning employee to coincide with your other employees' work cycle ending dates of June 30th.
• Employees who leave a position need a final performance evaluation before their last day. This evaluation is required and becomes important if the employee decides to reapply for a position on the future. A copy of this completed workplan is sent to your local HR office.
• If you leave your supervisory position, you'll need to complete appraisals on all of your employees before you leave.
• An employee who transfers into your work unit will have a final appraisal done by his or her last supervisor. You will set up a workplan for the employee and track the employee's performance until the regular appraisal time. When you complete this employee's performance appraisal, remember that the evaluation is for the entire work cycle, so be sure to consider the last supervisor's overall summary rating in determining the employee's current overall summary rating.
• If you become the supervisor of a group of employees after a previous supervisor leaves, consider the previous supervisor's ratings in determining the final rating at the regular end of the work cycle for the employees.

Employees in the following situations (including retirees who return to work) are not required to have a workplan or performance appraisal:

• Part-time employees who work less than 20 hours per week,
• Temporary employees,
• Contract Registered Nurses,
• Retirees who work part time, or
• Intermittent or seasonal employees.

Review performance information collected during the full work cycle against each performance expectation listed within each KRR or Dimension. Record the actual performance in the appropriate space for each performance expectation. Some supervisors prefer to do this in draft form until they have input from the employee's documentation.

1. Begin comparing the employee's actual results based on the available documentation to the expectations listed on the workplan.

   Important Note:
   If there are circumstances beyond the employee's control that affect the employee's results, the supervisor should not rate the employee based on these uncontrollable circumstances.

   Example:

   Janet is responsible for collecting information from offices across the state to complete an annual report. Janet has e-mailed, called, and written reminder notices and has kept her supervisor informed of her difficulty in collecting the data. In this case, Janet's Result Expectation related to this report has not been met. Since she has done everything within her control to collect the data, her supervisor should not rank her "Below Good" or "Unsatisfactory" for this expectation. Instead, the supervisor should document Janet's efforts at collecting the data in the "Actual Results" column and would probably rate her as "Good" in the Rating column. (If Janet had not made the extensive efforts she tried to follow up on the data collection problem, the supervisor would probably have been justified in rating her as "below good" or "unsatisfactory" on this expectation.)

2. Determine a rating for each KRR and Dimension based on the documentation. Refer to the NC Rating Scale for an explanation of the ratings:
   • O = Outstanding
   • VG = Very Good
   • G = Good
   • BG = Below Good
   • U = Unsatisfactory
3. Review the documentation and identify what rating will be given with the manager.

4. Schedule the evaluation meeting with the employee and define the purpose of the meeting. Encourage the employee to supply relevant documentation wherever possible.

• Review each expectation and the documentation with the employee.
• Provide positive reinforcement for the employee's achievements. Ask the employee to describe how he or she has achieved any significant positive results.
• Provide the employee with a rating for each KRR and Dimension.
• You may also choose to ask your employees how they would rate themselves, but this is optional.

• Combine the individual KRR ratings into a single Combined Rating and record in the space provided on the Workplan. If 50% or more of the ratings are at the same level, the combined rating is most likely to be that level. In obtaining this combined rating, however, be sure to consider the priority order of the KRRs. For example, if the top priority level KRRs are rated consistently lower than the less important KRRs, the lower rating may be more appropriate for the combined rating.

Example:

Cassandra has 3 KRRs on her workplan. Her supervisor has rated 2 KRR's as "Very Good." The 3rd KRR was rated "Good." In Cassandra's case, the KRRs that were rated "Very Good" make up 10% and 20% of her job (totaling only 30%). The KRR that was rated "Good" makes up 70% of her job. So, in this situation, Cassandra's overall rating will be "Good" rather than "Very Good."

• Combine the individual Dimension Ratings into a single rating by repeating the process and determining a combined Dimensions Rating and record in the space provided.

Record the letter of the combined KRR rating and the letter of the combined Dimensions rating. Consider these ratings to have equal weight. (An Office of State Personnel (OSP) policy allows us to consider these ratings to have equal weight.)

• Review the rating levels and select the one rating which best represents the employee's performance throughout the cycle.
• Record the letter that represents the Overall Summary Rating, and write a brief statement in the space that follows supporting the Overall Summary Rating.

• Obtain the three required signatures (employee, supervisor, and manager) in the spaces provided on the form.
• Point out the employee's dispute rights listed on the Overall Summary Evaluation page. Employees who want to dispute the final rating must file a dispute form with their HR office within 15 days of receiving their final written appraisal and notice of appeal rights.

All employee ratings must be submitted to your HR office usually 2 weeks prior to the end of the cycle (around June 15th) so that they can process the data into the computer system that generates the payroll. As you may know, in some years legislative pay increases are tied to employee ratings. Your HR office will provide more detailed information on any pay increase that may be granted.

The following are other facts to keep in mind when conducting the performance appraisals:

• HR offices are required to submit ratings for all employees except temporary employees and those who work less than 20 hours a week.
• Employees who resign or are terminated still need a rating.
• Transferred employees must have a final rating completed by their current supervisor. (See notes in "General Information" section above.)
• All employees must have a rating in the system to receive an increase.
• Employees on extended leave receive their Legislative Increase after they complete 8 months of a work cycle and have at least a "below good" rating.
• Probationary employees receive any Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) granted by the legislature but do not receive Career Growth or any Merit increase until they complete 8 months and become permanent employees.

The following are samples of Performance Appraisal content excerpts.

Example 1:

Sally is a new employee. She is a processing assistant who has been employed for nine months. Sally is still learning the database, the coding system, and the statewide and national contacts. Following is an excerpt of a workplan and summary that you might create for a new employee like Sally.

Example 2:

Don is a seasoned employee as a staff development coordinator. He has been in the position for three years. Following is an excerpt of a workplan and summary that you might create for an employee like Don who has been in his position for several years.