“Performance goals should start with what the minimum acceptable performance for the specific job responsibility is.”
- No matter what type of form and rating scale an organization uses, all supervisors and managers must be able to articulate to direct reports the standards that represent the evaluation scale used by the organization.
- For example, if a company uses a rating scale that categorizes employee performance into various levels: acceptable performance, routinely above acceptable level of performance, and sustained superior performance, the employee needs to know exactly what constitutes those levels.
- Also, performance goals should start with what the minimum acceptable performance for the specific job responsibility is. Goals should not rest on what the employee has achieved in the past, what the manager thinks the employee might achieve in the future, or how the employee fares against other employees.
- It is a good rule to reward contribution and good work by rating performance relative to minimum acceptable job requirements, i.e., “what is expected of any individual who holds the job.”
- Not following this rule often means a lower-performing employee gets higher marks because the standards are lowered to accommodate that particular employee. Talented employees then get angry and take their high performance to another organization. When moderate performing employees share in organizational rewards at the same rate as higher performing employees, the performance review process loses its credibility and integrity.