If any colleagues dissatisfied with their performance appraisal what steps would you take as Performance Appraisal Officer?

Dear Friends,

Hope you are all fine. Would you please answer my question? If any colleagues are dissatisfied with their performance appraisal, what steps would you take as a Performance Appraisal Officer to solve their issue? I would highly appreciate your quick reply in this matter.

Dear Jawad Kamgar,

Dissatisfaction about the performance rating is common across all industries. To prevent the dissatisfaction of the subordinate, the Manager or the performance reviewing authority is expected to take the following measures:

a) First and foremost, the goals or the KRA designed should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound, i.e., SMART.

b) The goals or KRAs designed should be communicated to the junior employee at the beginning of the performance cycle. The performance cycle could be quarterly, half-yearly, or yearly.

c) Each goal or the KRA should be to measure either cost or ratio or the turnaround time. What needs to be increased or decreased and that too what time span must be mentioned clearly.

d) While designing goals or the KRAs, take into consideration the subordinate's educational qualification, level of experience, designation, etc.

e) To attain the goal or KRA, the subordinate should face the deficiency of the resources. The resources could be physical, knowledge, financial, etc.

f) Appraise on the representative information. Representative information means the rating should be based on the evidence of the performance. At the beginning of the performance cycle, the subordinate must be told that to prove his/her performance, he/she must maintain sufficient evidence.

g) Manager's duty does not end once the performance goals or the KRAs are designed. He/she must give adequate support to the junior employee to attain the goals or the KRAs.

If the above precautions are taken, then the chances of a dispute on the performance rating are minimal. Nevertheless, even if the dispute arises, then the benefit of the doubt must be given to the junior employee.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Dear Colleague,

Kindly add this brief in addition to the clarity provided by our colleague:

Performance Appraisal in any company is not 100% perfect and there are a lot of challenges, satisfactions, dissatisfactions, disagreements, bell curve, and many other aspects. But overall, what is required is:

1. The manager must set SMART KRAs that are realistic and achievable. Further, periodic coaching has to be given to the subordinates to support them in achieving their KRAs or goals.

2. The employee who is not satisfied with a rating can escalate their grievance to the reviewer, who is the next level authority in terms of skill level, and seek a remedy (this has to be carefully done depending on the maturity of the manager, organization, and system). Many companies handle this transparently, and HR serves as the neutral agency to resolve such issues.

3. If an employee is unable to achieve the desired results and meet expectations, they should be put on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). Here, the employee will receive support such as coaching, training, guidance from the assigned manager and HR to help them align with their KRAs/goals and achieve them.

4. If the employee does not meet expectations even after the PIP process, options like job change, department change, role change, or reducing responsibilities can be explored.

5. Overall, the effectiveness of the Performance Management System largely depends on transparent processes and effective grievance redressal, as well as the PIP mechanism.

All the best, God bless,

Dr. P. Sivakumar
Doctor Siva Global HR

Dear Jawad Kamgar,

It is the duty of the employer to look into the grievance raised by the employee and resolve the matter. One should carefully listen to the points of grievances raised by the employee for his dissatisfaction over the performance appraisal.

Being a Performance Appraisal Officer, you should address where the employee failed to score and what causes hindered the rating of the employee's performance appraisal. The performance appraisal is similar to an examination paper of an exam; show the assessment sheet, provided your appraisal is fair, accurate without biased theories.

I hope this email finds you all in the best of health.

I would like to discuss how to develop an annual talent management plan with all of you and share any format or plan that has been developed for your reference.

I am eagerly awaiting assistance on this matter.