How do you get your employees to do everything you want them to do and love it? You have to make them winners, every day of every week.

The tools many managers use today fall short of achieving maximum employee performance. Job descriptions often fail to define specific expectations, standards of performance and objectively measured results.  Consequently, performance appraisals are often not as effective as they could be. They are put off until the last minute, poorly planned and rushed. Managers don’t like to give them and employees often are only interested in the amount of the wage increase. The Performance Accountability Document (PAD) was designed to enable the appraisal process to be a growth experience. It should result in a highly motivated employee who clearly understands and agrees with the appraisal methodology, knowing precisely what is necessary to be successful in the future evaluation period. The PAD gets results enthusiastically!  

For years organizations have struggled for ways to adequately measure employee performance.  One appraisal system after another has been developed with the goal of objectively measuring employee performance only to leave managers and employees feeling disillusioned about matching an appraisal tool with the job performed.  DCMS has found that disillusioned managers and employees exist throughout the spectrum of occupations and cut across every level within an organization.

Why do most traditional performance appraisal systems fail?  The answer to this question is often complex and not easily found.  However, DCMS has identified five basic reasons underlying the failure of performance appraisal systems:

• Most managers are dissatisfied with their current performance review process and would like to see improvement in methods for measuring employee performance.

• Most managers dislike conducting performance reviews; because they are often confrontational and they are often used to justify pay increases as opposed to increasing job performance;

• Most managers and employees feel their job description does not adequately reflect their job responsibilities

• Most employees feel there is too much subjectivity and favoritism in the review process, the review process is not based on actual performance and therefore not objective.

• Most managers and employees feel the review process does not occur frequently enough to be an adequate tool of measuring performance.

In response to years of frustration and disillusionment expressed by managers and their employees, DCMS has developed an innovative tool that objectively measures employee performance: PAD – Performance Accountability Document.  The PAD process effectively blends a job description and appraisal tool into a single, objective document to effectively measure an employee’s performance. The PAD process requires employees and their manager to collaborate up front, about the specifics of the job and then customize it to each unique position and employee within the organization.  Job responsibilities are agreed upon and objective, measurable standards are developed prior to employee performance being reviewed.  Organizations that are currently utilizing the PAD process find that employee and manager levels of satisfaction in the performance review process increase.

 

The process of accurately and objectively measuring job performance requires that an employee’s job be broken into its major components.  The major components of the job are call Responsibility Areas.  Job responsibilities are the outcome of the work performed.  The PAD process requires the identification of four to six Responsibility Areas; if less than four Responsibility Areas, the focus becomes too generalized; if more than six Responsibility Areas, the focus becomes too specific.  Identifying these Responsibility Areas require employee and manager to thoroughly examine the job in terms they are unaccustomed to.  Each of the four to six Responsibility Areas is further broken down into Accountability Areas.  It is within the Accountability Areas that employees are held accountable for their work.  Each of the Responsibility Areas identified may have anywhere from 1 to 20 Accountability Areas. Within each Accountability Area are individual Tasks.  Tasks are the activities that are performed in the job.  This is the process of identifying, step by step, the activities employees perform to complete their job.  Tasks identified in the PAD must be specific and measurable. Once the tasks are identified, a Standard must be agreed upon for each task.  In determining the Standard, a 10-point scale is utilized with ‘10’ representing the “Perfect Job.”  The Standard is written to represent this perfect job.  Therefore, employees performing their job to the Standards outlined in the PAD will attain the score of 10.  If, however, employee performance fails to meet the Standard, a score of less than 10 will be given.  The most important aspect of the PAD process involves the establishment of these Standards.  It is during this part of the process that employees provide their input into what constitutes a 10 score.  These Standards must be agreed upon by the manager and employee in order to be written into the PAD. If an employee fails to attain a score of 10 for any of the Standards outlined in the PAD, it is the responsibility of the manager to communicate to the employee what must be done to achieve a score of 10 for the next review period.  This is accomplished in the area of the PAD entitled Opportunities for Continuous Improvement.  If, during the review process, the manager is unable to communicate to the employee what must be done to achieve a 10, the Standard must be reviewed and modified to reflect a measurable expectation. The PAD Review Process consists of a meeting between the employee and manager.  This evaluation meeting is scheduled at least a week in advance and the employee is given notice of the date, time and location of the meeting.  Both the employee and manager have a copy of the PAD and prepare for the evaluation by scoring the PAD.  A thorough review of the PAD is then conducted between employee and manager with a final score indicated on the PAD.  DCMS recommends that evaluations be conducted twice annually for all employees.  New employees should be evaluated a minimum of four times annually.

During the review process employee performance is based on documentation.  This documentation is called Evidence.  Simply stated evidence is nothing more than data that supports a score given on the PAD.  Any performance appraisal without evidence is invalid.  Both employees and managers provide this evidence to support the scoring of the PAD.   It is important to note that all managers are constantly observing the performance of their employees.  When a manager observes employee behavior, good or bad, and feels it is significant enough to document, the employees should be made aware of this.  These notations (evidence) then become the foundation for scoring the PAD.

The goal of appraising employee performance is a motivated employee.  The review process, based on evidence, provides managers with a forum to motivate each employee with an objective, measurable and personalized appraisal tool.  In completing the PAD, managers provide specific feedback to employees that allow for growth, advancement within the organization and increased performance. A completed, unscored PAD becomes corporate property.  Properly written, PADs become valuable reference materials.  Employees wanting to apply for a position within the organization can refer to the unscored PAD to determine if they are qualified for that position.  Employees will further be able to determine what additional training they will need in order to become qualified. A completed, scored PAD becomes part of the employee personnel file and is therefore not subject to review by other employees.

In summary, whether your organization is large or small, consists of many different job classification or just a few, DCMS has developed the PAD process to give managers an objective tool to measure and appraise employee performance.  The PAD process brings employees and their manager together to agree upon job responsibilities and establish the standards by which employee performance will be measured.  Because clearly established performance expectations are agreed upon up front, DCMS has taken the subjectivity out of the performance appraisal process with a result of increased employee satisfaction, productivity and performance.