The Rating Game

Before evaluating your employees, you might want to ask them what they're doing.

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For his employees, says Jake Ferencz, performance evaluation should be a day of atonement in the workplace -- "their private Yom Kippur."

Ferencz, a Hasidic Jew to whom the analogy seems natural, is the owner of Superior Reproduction Systems, a $5-million photocopying and microfilming business in New York City. Tired of haggling over performance with his five shop supervisors, he decided to make it their problem instead of his. So he designed an eight-page form for them to fill out, full of such questions as "How would you classify your relations with your operators -- excellent, good, or poor? Please describe." and "Why do employees react the way you have described above?"

Putting the ball in the employee's court is an understandable response to the challenge of giving relevant performance reviews. It is also a risky move that can intensify an already tense affair. Asking people to grade themselves can turn discussions with supervisors into defensive face-offs -- the least favorable climate for constructive sessions.

Indeed, performance experts say that self-assessment programs are rarely appropriate. The exception is when they are used with top executives who can measure their performance against the specific goals to which they have been assigned, says James Borland, a vice-president with Drake Beam Morin, a consulting firm that recently conducted a survey of appraisal practices among more than 250 companies.

Andrew Grove, president and chief executive officer of Intel Corp. and author of High Output Management, has some particularly harsh words on the subject of self-assessment. "There is no substitute for a supervisor's comments made unaided, unprodded, or unprompted by an employee's," he said in a recent interview. "[Self-evaluation] is a way for managers to avoid bringing up difficult topics. It's a cop-out." (Intel's system -- among the most common used in business -- requires managers to assess their subordinates in writing, then discuss these written comments with the people involved.)

But what if you need employees' input to evaluate them properly? What if you don't know how your people actually spend their time -- or where their interests and talents really lie?

At Lockheed DataPlan Inc., in Los Gatos, Calif., revelations about people's jobs frequently turn up at annual review sessions. In fact, its evaluation method was deliberately designed to produce such surprises. The company, an $8.2-million subsidiary of Lockheed Corp., has a system that strikes the tricky balance between making employee comments part of the reviews and still holding managers responsible for the ratings.

Lockheed DataPlan's annual reviews begin with written statements by employees that describe in detail the three or four most important elements of their jobs. Managers use these descriptions as the takeoff for the evaluations, grading employees from A to C in each of the areas selected and remarking on the high and low points. The review form also allows room for workers to describe job-related activities or courses they have taken, giving managers a chance to capitalize on employee skills they might not have known about otherwise. So as not to lessen the impact of the comments, money is not discussed at the sessions, but the ratings are tied to raises that are awarded a few months later.

Roberta Clark's hidden talents played a significant role in her review. As payroll clerk, her main duties are preparing paychecks for the company's 100 employees, recording accounts-receivable invoices, and overseeing the employee savings plan. But she also serves on an internal morale-boosting committee, and last spring she co-chaired the company's savings-bond drive.

"I got a new supervisor this year who knew what my job was, but he didn't know how many reports I have to write," says Clark, referring to the filing of weekly, monthly, and annual documents that come with the payroll territory. He was also unaware of the scope of her extracurricular activities. Learning about them in the review, he suggested that Clark's goals might be met by finding a way to be more involved with people than she was at present. "He suggested it in a caring way," she says. "I didn't feel threatened at all. He felt I was doing a good job, and he gave me an A for the payroll."

Such sessions are often eye-openers for new managers, says the program's architect, human resources director Richard Jess (who modified it from the parent company's plan). But discovering unknown skills is only part of the picture.

Each department at Lockheed DataPlan works in concert with the company's executive committee to define its goals, and the challenge for managers is to steer their departments in the direction of these specific objectives. The employee-review forms help by shaking out any confusion over job duties. If a worker emphasizes an aspect of his or her work that the boss considers a low priority, the boss has a perfect opportunity to redirect the employee's efforts.

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