One thing’s sure—when things go South, you’re going to catch the heat. Some of the most common problems:
Performance Appraisals and Compensation
Since performance appraisals are tied to compensation in most organizations, there’s a strong temptation for managers to “game the system.” They want certain people to get certain raises, so they manipulate the ratings until they can give the raises they want, without regard to staying honest within the system.
Others go the opposite way, giving everyone the same—but low—raise. This is justified on the basis that it is fair, but it kills the company in the long run. Top performers won’t stay long if the poor performers get the same raise.
Performance appraisals also tend to get skewed to the higher rankings because managers are too timid to deliver bad news. So everyone gets a “Good” or higher rating. This is justified by hoping that the employee will improve.
News flash—that’s not going to happen. And it’s going to leave the compensation structure in shambles.
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Eventually, you’re going to decide to fire the employee, and that “Good” or “Satisfactory” ranking and a raise like everyone else’s will undo your defense to the inevitable lawsuit.
Attorney: “You fired my client because she is a member of a protected class (age, gender, race, religion, etc).
You: “No, we fired her because of poor performance.”
Attorney: “I draw your attention to this recent performance appraisal signed by you and indicating “Satisfactory” performance. Will you please read for us the definition of “satisfactory at the bottom of the appraisal form?”
You: “Performs all tasks at an acceptable level.”
Attorney: And I draw your attention to this salary raise, granted by you and the same as all others in the department.
You can see where this is going. There’s little hope now of a successful defense. Clearly, to any outside observer, the company is lying about the reasons for the termination. And why would they lie? To cover up the behavior that they are accused of.
Discipline
Discipline offers similar challenges. Managers delay discipline, thinking, Surely this person knows that this behavior is wrong; surely, he or she will sense the problem and fix it.
News flash—that’s not going to happen. What’s the motivation for improving? The person’s getting “Good” performance ratings and the same raise everyone else gets.
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Then the longer it goes on, the harder it is to take action. And the more suspicious it becomes. “You let this go for 6 months without making any comment about it and suddenly now, right after my client complained about harassment or pay, you start caring about it?”
When you allow behavior for six months, you are effectively condoning it.
And then there’s another negative—through those 6 months, all your other employees are watching to see what is done. They’re none too happy about picking up the slack and doing the rework. When you do nothing, there’s only one conclusion? No one cares.
And about that raise? Your top performers are sprucing up their resumes.
In tomorrow’s Advisor, ways to help your managers comply, plus an introduction to new, comprenensive budget-conscious training system, TrainingToday.
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These are things that really need to be emphasized in your new-supervisor training. Otherwise (and sometimes even despite), supervisors regard these things as necessary evils that aren’t THAT important, especially if their employees are meeting production goals, etc.