Hello, 

I am working on a project for a client and would like to gather the following information. Please respond if you have time. Thanks in advance. 

1. When using a rating scale for performance reviews do you use a number rating (1-5) or a letter rating (NI for needs improvement, for example). 

2. If you use a numerical or letter rating, what are the pros and cons to it? 

3. Do you allow increments or only whole numbers? 

4. Are you using a 3 point scale or a 5 point scale? If so, why? 

5. Are your reviews held on the employee’s anniversary date or annually company wide (same time each year)? Pros and Cons? 

6. If reviews are held annually the same time each year, how do managers find time to complete all reviews? How does it affect business operations?

For those who reply, the only way to answer the questions is by copying and pasting before responding.

1. When using a rating scale for performance reviews do you use a number rating (1-5) or a letter rating (NI for needs improvement, for example). Letter

2. If you use a numerical or letter rating, what are the pros and cons to it? Letter. We decided not to use numbers because they employees focus too much on the number and stop listening the to the review and don’t get the point of the feedback.

3. Do you allow increments or only whole numbers? If using numbers, no increments.

4. Are you using a 3 point scale or a 5 point scale? If so, why? 3 point scale

5. Are your reviews held on the employee’s anniversary date or annually company wide (same time each year)? Pros and Cons? Annually. Anniversary dates are entirely too difficult to keep track of and stay on time.

6. If reviews are held annually the same time each year, how do managers find time to complete all reviews? How does it affect business operations? They find time. As a manager there is nothing more important than your employees

I don’t have time to answer in your format completelye, but–

We use numbers with a clearly defined meaning and do not allow for increments.

5 points (switched from 3) to avoid grade inflation. Too many people were getting 3’s but not really perfect. Whereas with a 5 point scale you can give someone a 4 because they are clearly above expectations but still room for growth/ not walking on water YET.

Same time for everyone. OUr company has a lot of travel, carzy times which meant some managers were on the road or gearing up when someone was due and, despite reminders, the reveiw was missed. this way we plan for it and everyone knows that they have to budget their time accordingly. We give each manager a month to complete and 2 weeks to meet with all their people.

Our GM has decided that this year, “exceeding requirements” on a performance review should be much more demanding than the way we have been grading in recent years. We have a five tier grading system….OUTSTANDING, EXCEED REQUIREMENTS, MEETS REQUIREMENTS, NEEDS IMPROVEMENT AND UNACCEPTABLE. Based on previous perfomance evaluations, his interpretation of “exceeding requirements” will force probably 90% of all employees into the “meets requirements”, which i feel will have a huge negative impact on those employees that do go above and beyond but might not quite meet his expectations. How do i get him to see this? Are you doing someting different that could help this situation?

Support your GM, don’t fight him. Help him come up with defenitions of what the ratings mean and then communicate the change to all ees and managers before the next evaluations are completed.

Would advise that you look for a bell shaped curve distribution. 

While there should be no shame with a rating that says you have met expectations, 90 % is a little too high.

Where possible, set up metrics tie to the rating system.

Would also say going above and beyond is fine, so long as it produces results. It’s not about effort, it’s about results.

I feel that a bell shaped curve distribution “forces” employees into that normal distribution merit increase. Also, over time we will be paying more than what the market bears for labor.

Wise words Bob. 

If 90% of your workforce exceeds expectations, you must be the only organization that is not struggling during this economic period. 

There are times when a team is just doing a fantastic job. Even then though, a bell curve should be the norm. Think of a high performing team as an NBA caliber basketball team. Each team has 10 players. You need to be an exceptional basketball player even to make the club. But if you are the 6th through 10th best player, you sit the bench most of the time. So, while they are all really good, are they all “exceeding expectations”? Must not be, as they don’t all get the same value of contracts.

Wow – sounds like where I work! What we’re doing: defining the 5 levels in very specific terms for the items evaluated – and our managers are developing this. We are looking to actually create a standard that defines what a top employee looks like. So, for something like attendance a 3 is usually at work, no discipline, occasionally late to work or meetings. We’re doing this with all of the criteria we evaluate on. Next step is communicating to staff members.

Additionally, we may totally remove the language meets, exceeds, etc and just go by levels 1-5. Seems to be a block in some minds to think they “only” meet expectations

Some other ways to approach or fine tune:

* do some calibrating in group settings. This helps ensure that there is mutual understanding among supervision around performance levels

* after going through your ratings….do a life boat drill to make sure your ratings align with the order in which you might throw the life preservers

Kudos to your GM for raising the bar. We went through the same process, and handled as HR in OH described. It’s easier for the employees to swallow when the form describes WHY they’re a 4 and not a 5. There’s a good sample review form on this site that you can use (I believe it’s somewhere under templates and tools, above).

Your comment:
“his interpretation of ‘exceeding requirements’ will force probably 90% of all employees into ‘meets requirements’, which I feel will have a huge negative impact”

stuck out to me. The goal of performance reviews is not to make employees feel good. It’s supposed to be an accurate assessment of what the employee is doing vs what the supervisor expects. The GM shouldn’t keep telling people they ‘exceed requirements’ if the truth is that they ‘don’t quite meet his expectations’. (Your words).

Instead of trying to talk him out of this, I’d support him. Help him implement this in ways that are positive, and that define specific goals for each employee to reach for.

Good luck.

(chuckling) Just read the quote at the end of Bob’s first post.

“Don’t confuse efforts with results” is one of my boss’s favorite quips.

What a curious conversation.

Anon are you really struggling to figure out a different way to do something that is of no value in the first place? These “measures” can use words or numbers but they still don’t serve the organization. 

In every organization, 50% of the people are above average and 50% are below. So the averages discussion doesn’t help. 

Doesn’t every organization want employees meeting and exceeding expectations? Why then do we try to come up with tools that make arbitrary placements within a hierarchy? Heck, 90% would be wonderful!

The entire reason we fret so much over this is because we use it for compensation and promotion decisions. We pretend to be talking about improving performance but all we are really doing is looking for a system to satisfy a completely different issue.