Evaluating Central Office Employees

1. Evaluating Central Office Employees Evaluator Training for Clerical Evaluations July 2008

2. Evaluation Instruments ~ Central Office Employees • For starters, let’s clarify…what are the different evaluation instruments that are for Central Office employees and for whom are they to be used? • Assoc. Super./Chiefs/Asst. Super./Directors • Other Central Office Administrators • Job-Description/Annual Summary Form • Used for many other central office positions, as appropriate • May still be used for some positions paid on the top of the clerical salary schedule at the supervisor’s discretion – be sure the employee is aware early in the fiscal year ~ document his/her notification • New Classified Instruments for clerical and approximately 13 other positions – many of whom work out of the central office

3. Why is there a new classified evaluation instrument? • The former instrument – job description/summary form - is not very effective • It does not provide the opportunity to recognize and assess many important performance areas

4. The New Evaluation Process • Clerical employees will be evaluated in three Performance Categories, each containing performance descriptors which describe expected behaviors within the category • Job Competencies • Workplace Qualities • Human Relations

5. 1st Performance CategoryJob Competencies • The first of 8 performance descriptors in this category references the clerical employee’s job description • Although his/her job description will no longer be rated with 3s, 2s, and 1s which have previously determined the annual evaluation rating, the importance of performance on the essential duties of his/her job is not being minimized or eliminated • This first descriptor is your overall assessment of the employee’s performance of his/her essential duties as recorded on the job description • If the employee should receive a Needs Improvement (NI) rating on this single descriptor, he/she may not receive an overall Meets Expectations (ME) rating for this Performance Category

6. Two Other Performance Categories… • Workplace Qualities • These six performance descriptors address desirable behaviors in the workplace as related to your department/division and the employee’s specific position, such as “self-motivated” • Human Relations • These six performance descriptors address desirable traits related to professional interpersonal skills, such as “teamwork”

7. How are these performance descriptors rated? • Each descriptor is assigned one of three individual ratings based on the employee’s performance • Meets Expectations (ME)  • Needs Improvement (NI)  • Non-Applicable (NA) 

8. What do the performance descriptor ratings mean? Simply put…. • Meets Expectations (ME) means that the employee did what was expected of him/her and did it in a certain manner. • Needs Improvement (NI) means that the employee didn’t do some of the things that were expected or that the things were not done in the expected manner. • Non-applicable (NA) means the descriptor is not applicable to that employee. NA counts as an ME. Evaluator determines if a descriptor is NA.

9. So, how is the overall annual rating determined? Just add ‘em up! The Annual Overall Rating is assigned based on the overall ratings earned on the three Performance Categories • Meets Expectations • ME in all 3 Overall Ratings • Needs Improvement • NI in 1 Overall Rating • Unsatisfactory • NI in 2 or 3 Overall Ratings

10. Recognizing the Best! The issue for some employees will be the absence of an “Exceptional/Superior” rating opportunity. You are strongly encouraged to acknowledge exceptional performance with specific written commentary in Section VI of the evaluation document. FYI- the entire instrument is formatted for your completion on the computer – boxes and all - and comments may easily be recorded in this section; smaller fonts available, as desired. 

11.  No Surprises!  No employee should receive an Annual Overall Unsatisfactory Rating unless he/she has been informed in writing of specific performance concerns during the year.

12. In accordance with Administrative Rule GBC, any employee earning an overall UNSAT annual rating will have his/her salary/step frozen until he/she has earned a satisfactory annual rating in an upcoming year Unsatisfactory Annual Ratings

13. Completing the Annual Evaluation Process • Before June 30th per District Rule, the evaluator meets with the clerical employee, discussing the employee’s performance and reviewing the evaluation document ratings, etc. • Both the evaluator and the employee sign and date the document – using the current date – please do not pre-populate the date or type it in. • The evaluator provides the signed evaluation to his/her supervisor for his/her signature as Reviewer

14. Change in Annual Evaluation Destination • Effective FY09, originals of all performance evaluations will be sent to Human Resources for filing in the employees’ personnel files – currently classified employees’ evaluations (except parapros) are not sent to HR • HR will maintain UNSAT documentation and facilitate salary impact, etc.

15. Evaluation Appeals • To appeal an evaluation, the employee must complete the Evaluation Appeal Form (on EMWeb/PASS), providing evidence and/or documentation and submit it to the evaluator within 10 business days of the receipt of the report • The evaluator must respond to the appeal within 20 business days of receipt of the appeal • If the rating is upheld by the evaluator, the employee may submit an appeal to the evaluator’s supervisor within 10 days of receipt of the evaluator’s response • The evaluator’s supervisor must respond to the appeal within 20 days of receipt of the appeal • If the evaluator’s supervisor upholds the rating, the appeal process is exhausted

16. Everyone Gets Evaluated Annually • Every employee who has been your employee for at least 30 business days during the fiscal year must have an annual evaluation – even if he/she was absent frequently during that time • Employees “on leave” must have an evaluation for the performance demonstrated when not “on leave” • If an employee resigns or is terminated, do an evaluation at that time and send it to HR

17. Do you have a clerical employee with performance deficiencies? • As needed and at the Supervisor’s discretion, a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) may be developed to support professional growth at any time during the year • A PIP may also result following Needs Improvement or Unsatisfactory Performance Evaluation Ratings • Contact Mary Finlayson in HR Employee Relations if you have questions regarding the development/implementation of a PIP

18. What’s Next? • All clerical employees should be oriented to their new evaluation instrument as soon as possible • The Classified Employees Performance Evaluation Orientation (PowerPoint) is available on PASS – please use to ensure consistency of communication • Remember that recent revisions to Rule GBO, Job Descriptions, require the job description be provided at the beginning of each work year, as well – the orientation event is an ideal time to accomplish both • Be sure to get the most current job descriptions from the shared directory

19. New Evaluation Instrument on the Horizon • During FY09, we will be developing an evaluation instrument for those employees on the Professional/Supervisory salary schedule for whom the Central Office Administrator instrument is not appropriate. • Let me know if you’d like to be a part of its development – your input will be critical to ensure the quality of our final product

20. QUESTIONS?