Grading Job Performance

My wife, Sue, is a nurse. When I am sick or injured, she will sometimes ask me to use a numeric rating scale for pain.

Sue: I see you just stubbed your toe Dwayne. On a scale of 1-10, how badly does it hurt?
Dwayne: %$&!
Sue: Dwayne?
Dwayne: 10!

The problem with the numeric rating scale for pain is that not all people have the same tolerance for pain. What might be a “10” for me is probably more like a “4” for Sue.

Sue: Oh please! One little stubbed toe? You call THAT a 10? Men are such wimps!

Numeric assessments can be problematic and unreliable. Primarily, this occurs in matters of opinion such as with restaurants, movies, or books.

Dwayne: Those Brussel sprouts were the best I have ever eaten. I give them a 10 out of 10!
Sue (who hates Brussel sprouts): I give them a 1, and they only get a 1 because they were the correct shape for a Brussel sprout.

Numeric assessments in other contexts can be quite useful; employee performance reviews, for example. In this context, it is imperative that the person doing the assessing and the person being assessed both agree upon the variables that constitute each score.

If I sat down with an employee to do an annual appraisal of his or her work performance and the only document we had to work with was a position description, the resulting performance review would not be very helpful to either us.

Let us look at a job duty for a bulk mailroom technician as an example.

Job Duty: Address, stuff, seal, bundle, and tray mailings, sorting according to USPS requirements.

Performance Review Conversation:

Supervisor: I gave you a 4 out of 10 for your work performance preparing bulk mail.
Employee: I gave myself a 9 out of 10.
Supervisor: How can that be?
Employee: I guess I must have a higher tolerance for mistakes than you do.

As you can see, the position description alone does not provide enough information to perform an effective and meaningful, numerically based, performance review. The expectations of successful job performance are open to interpretation.

Supporting Documents

Job duties, when listed on position descriptions are brief. They are primarily useful as tool when a company has a position opening. This is why, in my shop, I have created two supporting documents for each position description.

The first supporting document is a document I call an “expectations sheet.” On this sheet, I copy each job duty from the employee position description. Then, I expound upon those job duties.

Job Duty: Address, stuff, seal, bundle, and tray mailings, sorting according to USPS requirements.

Expectations:

• Addresses outgoing mail in a neat, readable manner, adhering to USPS guidelines and standards.
• Trays and sacks mail for presentation at the Mechanicsburg Post Office according to USPS standards, banding and strapping as needed.
• Stuffs mailings as needed, making sure all components match and are in the proper sequence.
• Maintains accuracy while keeping a consistent and careful work pace. Not easily distracted.

The expectations sheet is very helpful. This document expounds upon the job duty. After reading the expectations sheet, there is greater clarity as to what is expected.

The 1, 2, 3 Document

The second supporting document is the key document to all performance reviews in my shop. This document makes the performance review process easy and effective. In fact, if this document is properly prepared, the employee and the supervisor will almost never have a disagreement about a review score.

I call it the “1, 2, 3 Document” and, you guessed it, this is where that previously mentioned numeric scale scoring method comes in handy.

I use the “1, 2, 3 Document” to clearly define how I will go about scoring job performance.

1 = Development Needed
2 = Solid Job Performance
3 = Exceptional Job Performance

I like using a score range of 1 to 3 because it takes away gray areas. There is very little room for opinion or interpretation. To make sure of that, I work with each employee to create the “1, 2, 3 Document.”

When it is completed and we both agree on terms, we both sign it. In this way, we now know we are both on the same page each year when it comes time to do an annual performance review. (See table.)

Click to enlarge.

Expectations and a “1, 2, 3” description should be drafted for each job duty on a position description. When those documents are carefully prepared, the annual employee performance review does not have to be a meeting no one is looking forward to attending.

With a carefully thought out numeric scoring system along with properly prepared supporting documents, the supervisor and the employee can complete the appraisal meeting quickly and then move on to more important matters, such as setting goals or celebrating accomplishments.