If you want to see employee productivity drop like a rock,
rank an employee as a “3″ on a 5-point scale under some of
the typical performance appraisal terms such as:
*Reliability
*Flexibility
*Dependability.

Here is a typical scenario:
1. Employee works 12 full months with minimal feedback.
2. Employee is the first person to volunteer for overtime,
a special project, or to work late.
3. In the employee’s mind, he/she is one of the most
reliable employees in the company.
4. Over the 3 months before the performance evaluation,
the employee is late 9 times.
5. At the evaluation, the manager ranks the employee as
a “3″ on a 5-point scale under the characteristic of
Reliability because of the late events.
6. Employee response during the months following the
review amounts to “subtle sabotage” by doing only what is
asked and not volunteering for anything.

HR CONTRARIAN POINTER: Managers need to stop providing
rankings of employee performance using subjective 5-point
scales and abstract terms as noted above.

When it comes to performance, only 3 measurements count:
-Falls Below Standard
-Meets Standard
-Exceeds Standard.

Using a 5-point or a 10-point scale amounts to providing
opinions about performance.  Employees don’t want to hear
your opinions unless they are glowing.  Employees deserve
the Joe Friday treatment from the old “Dragnet” show which
is, “Just the facts ma’am.”

To view our 100% objective approach to appraisals,
download the white paper, “Terminate Performance
Evaluations & Implement Process Evaluations,” at the link
below:
http://www.hrcontrarian.com/white_papers/

Over the past few months, I have heard managers
complaining about the non-performers in their ranks. 
These are the employees who are often referred to as
C-Players.

One would think that in the worst economic times in 50
years that managers would make a concerted effort to only
retain the folks who are meeting performance expectations. 
But the facts don’t seem to support the supposition.

HR CONTRARIAN POINTER: It’s difficult to replace C-Players
when management fails to clearly communicate expectations.

The solution involves managers who have the courage and
the skill to pinpoint and communicate the performance and
the behaviors that are expected and then hold employees
accountable.  And believe it or not, the place to set
these expectations is in the job description.

The basic building block of the employment relationship is
the job description. 

I’m not talking about a traditional job description with
broad statements of responsibilities.  I’m talking about a
results-oriented, high-impact job description that clearly
identifies expected levels of performance.

The job description is a critical tool in:
- Hiring
- Evaluating
- Terminating.

To view our methodology for creating a results-oriented
job description, click on to the link below.
http://www.hrcontrarian.com/dfy_description_evaluation/