Your
new recruit has lasted the course, and you're thinking about the
annual appraisal and what matters need to be discussed – and what
questions may be asked of you. This will need some serious advance
preparation, especially if there are any negative issues to deal
with, or you are planning a change of role for the employee.
We must also keep in mind that your new member
has worked hard just to be able to last out the year. They have got to know, and become co-workers with, people who were strangers, found their way around the workplace,
learnt not only what their job is but also the company
way of doing things, and may also have undergone
training.
So
here, in no particular order, are some thoughts that, we hope, are
helpful in creating the right parameters for the first annual review.
And, as you will see, many of these are relevant throughout any
period of employment, simply because they represent good, sensible,
commercial practice:
Firstly,
have a look at our blog
Love your Staff, dated 18.8.2010. The
suggestions made in that are basic common sense, but they work and
demonstrate that the company actually cares about its workers and
wants them to stay.
Secondly,
about two weeks before the review you should arrange for the
'reviewee' to have a copy of the assessment agenda, both to prepare
them for what is to come and also for them to flag any points that may be particularly important to them. You can ask to see a copy of their notes,
say, a week before the meeting, and it can be a salutary lesson, for
both sides, to each to see the employee through the other's eyes.
This is an opportunity for both sides to negotiate an agreement about
the qualities and shortcomings of the employee, and how the
shortcomings (if any!) can be overcome. You also get the chance not
only to be proactive, but to be seen
to be proactive in dealing with these issues.
It is
important that, from the start of the review, the employee is told
that he or she is free to raise any issues, whether good or bad, and
that any concerns will be treated seriously. (Serious issues or
complaints should, of course, be dealt with in a separate meeting).
In particular, there should be no fear of any reprisal as a result of
what is said. The idea is to create an environment, for an hour or
so, during which candour and honesty are encouraged. Only then are
you likely to find out what the employee really thinks and
feels, and the employee will leave the interview feeling that they,
and their views, are actually wanted and respected. Never forget
that the new recruit that you hire can, in some circumstances, rise
to senior management, and how you treat the employee may well shape
how that future employer treats their staff.
You are
the one to open, and control the conduct of, the review meeting. By
doing this, you will retain control of the agenda you have in mind
and so can ensure that you say everything that you need to say, be
it good or bad. The reviewee should never
be allowed to assume control of any part of the discussion, because
to do so will encourage them to feel that they have more power than,
in reality, they do, and you will find it difficult to turn the
conversation back to your agenda.
Despite the above, you should at all times, even (especially?) if the
discussion turns awkward, treat your reviewee with respect and with
sensitivity. The fact that you employed them in the first place is
enough in itself for them to be treated with respect, never mind any
other qualities or achievements they may have displayed. And, for
all you know, during the last year they may have been bullied, or
suffered a bereavement, or be having any number of other personal
issues. You will never know unless you give them the opportunity to
open up to you, and you will then never have a chance to help them
return to being a 100% member of the team.
When it comes to pay and conditions, you must be scrupulously fair
not only with the person you are reviewing but also with the whole of
the group or section of people with whom they are working. Nothing
is likely to sow the seeds of discontent more than to know that you
are being paid less than someone else directly comparable with you
for exactly the same work. So it makes sense to tailor the pay
award, assuming the reviewee is satisfactory, to what you can justify
bearing in mind that the employee will have a fair picture as to how
successful their work has been, and that of his or her section of the
operation. That award must also, of course, reflect commercial
reality, especially if there is a shortage of a particular skillset,
but the actual pay that is paid can be adjusted through performance
adjustments which have the advantage that, unlike pay, they can (and
should) go up and down at short notice if they are assessed at
frequent intervals.
In times of shortages of skilled workers, the workers themselves will
have a very clear idea of their scarcity, and value to their
employer. This can lead to inflated claims about headhunting
approaches, to encourage you to pay more than, perhaps, you want to.
Before the review takes place, it can make good sense to have a word
with your recruitment company regarding current pay levels. The
recruiters will have much more experience than you of pay levels
around the country and can help protect you from being exploited.
Communication. There are two aspects to consider here:
Your communications with the employee should be clear, concise and
as unambiguous as possible. By cutting out the 'waffle', you will
help to shorten the review (time is money!), and you will give the
employee fewer opportunities to misunderstand or misconstrue what
you are are saying. You will also create fewer opportunities for
unwanted side-tracking and, by keeping a tighter rein on the words
that you use, you will reduce the chance of saying, or revealing,
something that you didn't intend.
The review is a good opportunity for you to stress to the employee
that it is very important to keep the lines of communication open,
both ways. It is only by doing this that any criticisms or other
issues can be dealt with, before they start to fester, and new ideas
or approaches can only be considered if there is a friendly and
non-critical way in which these can be communicated up the line.
You may
be considering a promotion for your reviewee, or a move to a
different position. This will introduce a new element to the
discussion, as you may need to 'sell' the benefits of the change to
the employee. It may help to look at what really motivates your
employee: things such as pay, the benefits package, regular trips
home (if appropriate) and so on are nice but they are not necessarily
good motivators, as so many workers assume that they will have these
benefits anyway, almost as if they were an integral part of the pay
package. However, personal satisfaction is, generally, a really good
motivator and has the considerable advantage that it can be offered
at little if any financial cost to the company.
Well,
we touched upon this in February's blog “What do your staff want,
exactly?”. If you can find a way to give someone 'ownership' of an
aspect of their work – in other words, full freedom and control
(within reason) as to how they do a task, or in what order they do
their tasks, or are able to come up with creative solutions to
problems, etc – they will most likely rise to the challenge because
they have been trusted and respected enough to be able to work in the
way that they want to, and
with the support of their senior staff. In a sense, you will be
appealing to the basic qualities of selfishness and
self-aggrandisement that are present in all of us, but in a way that
benefits both the company and the individual.
Another
aid to assessing the employee is the 'reverse role-play'
technique. Sometimes used in the promotion board setting, it can
also be used, one to one, in the appraisal setting just to help you
get a better idea of how the employee thinks on their feet, how
creative they can be and how well they cope with reacting
spontaneously.
Most importantly, by the end of
the meeting both you and the employee should feel better, and
better-informed, and there should be an acceptance of the main points
that have been discussed, and how outstanding matters are to be dealt
with.
As always, it is vital to record
all salient matters in writing for your records (you never know if
these are going to be looked at by a court at some point in the
future), and for preference a copy should be handed to the reviewee,
and a further copy to be signed and dated by him/her and retained as part of the staff records. No one can then argue with what was discussed or
agreed on the day.
Of course, we cannot pretend that
this is a comprehensive list of the do's and don't's in a review
setting, but we hope you have found this interesting. As always, we
at Skye Recruitment are always happy to help with any queries or
problems you may have.
