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Should review categories be weighted differently?
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Should review categories be weighted differently?
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Our performance appraisal system currently consists of 8 categories (attitude, job knowledge, etc.) and thus all count the same. I've proposed a change, where the employee, myself and their manager ag
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Forums » Topic Forums » General Forum » Should review categories be weighted differently?
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Should review categories be weighted differently?
posted at 5/18/2011 9:33 AM EDT
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Posts: 8
First: 5/18/2011 Last: 8/12/2011 |
Our performance appraisal system currently consists of 8 categories (attitude, job knowledge, etc.) and thus all count the same. I've proposed a change, where the employee, myself and their manager agree upon a weight for each category based on that position (let's say accuracy has 40% weight for an accountant but teamwork only has 10%).
1 employee is challenging the change, as the more complex a review becomes the more chance for error and misunderstandings. Other than the fact that a weighted average reflective on tasks and their importance of their job (as well as being more accurate), what are the benefits of assigning a weight to each category? Would it be best to leave it as is? Thanks in adance |
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Should review categories be weighted differently?
posted at 5/18/2011 11:03 AM EDT
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Posts: 1103
First: 3/16/2007 Last: 8/19/2011 |
I'll disagree with Howard but with a caveat. If you have the means to support the change, and my recommendation would be technology, then by all means. I have done it in the past and it makes PA's more relevant |
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Should review categories be weighted differently?
posted at 5/18/2011 11:15 AM EDT
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Posts: 2442
First: 2/12/2000 Last: 9/14/2011 |
HRPRO- My concern is that two accountants in the same department but with different supervisors wind up with different weights.
If the weights are part of the standard PDs and there is no variance for the individual then that is a much cleaner way to do it. |
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Should review categories be weighted differently?
posted at 5/18/2011 11:41 AM EDT
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Posts: 8
First: 5/18/2011 Last: 8/12/2011 |
Thanks for the input. It might help to clarify the same positions have the same supervisor- so the accountants would have the same weights, the case managers the same weights, etc. |
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Should review categories be weighted differently?
posted at 5/19/2011 3:46 AM EDT
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Posts: 1103
First: 3/16/2007 Last: 8/19/2011 |
I'll still disagree with Howard but again, with the same caveat. When I did this it was in a company of 9000. We had roughly around 300 people in our A&F function (I had an HR team of 42). It can be done and obsessing over everybody being the same isn't really a valid argument. |
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Should review categories be weighted differently?
posted at 5/19/2011 7:58 AM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
To me, job perf reviews should match back to the job description. Obviously different positions will have different weightings on some of them. Managers vs non-managers will have different ratings on some of them. But everyone with the same job position should have the same performance review weights in the same categories.
However, even with a consistent weighting within either a single job position or the same weighting for all job positions, you will ALWAYS have manager bias. Actually there are quite a few biases that are very normal in job perf reviews. I used to know them by heart, but it's been a while since that certification under CEBS. If someone wants me to look them up, I can, but don't have them handy. I wouldn't allow the managers to set the weights, but rather they should be set at the job description level at the time the job description is created, if used. Or if adding on, all job descriptions should be weighted at the same time for a consistency of thought. But then again, I am not a big fan of one standard job performance appraisal form for all jobs, just as I am not a fan of one standard job description for all jobs. The questions then become: will the weighting be worthwhile? And do you have a system in place so that it is not unwieldy? And third, will your managers/supervisors buy into it, be trained and use it correctly. If it is used correctly, it can help focus the employee on what is most important for their specific job. (I kind of view it like a bonus or commission for specific areas of a job....you give more reward for the actions you want to see and less/none for actions that are not as important). |
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Should review categories be weighted differently?
posted at 5/24/2011 9:16 AM EDT
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Posts: 237
First: 7/10/2007 Last: 8/31/2011 |
hrtz: I can see your system working if 1) it was an electronic system; and 2 it was programed with defult values (ie: three primary areas and 7 secondary) but allowed a manager to customize it to an employee's needs if desired. I've used something similar before. |
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Should review categories be weighted differently?
posted at 5/24/2011 9:33 AM EDT
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Posts: 544
First: 9/27/2004 Last: 9/13/2011 |
"1 employee is challenging the change, as the more complex a review becomes the more chance for error and misunderstandings."
I disagree with this statement because the more carefully defined the criteria, the less chance for misunderstandings. As far as the chance for error, the math isn't that difficult or hard to understand. Argument for: we aren't all the same, if we truely honor the strengths of what each position brings to the table, then why not reflect that in our methods? Argument against: you would be openly admitting that you have different standards and expectations for different groups and guess what, unless the weights can be determined by some kind of scientific method, they will appear to be arbitrary - that can't be a good thing. |
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