Monday, February 13 2017
TO: Department Heads, Managers and Supervisors
FR: Cynthia Señeriz, Director, Human Resources
RE: FY 2016-17 Performance Evaluations for Policy-Covered Staff
With less than five months remaining in the fiscal year, it is time to begin thinking about annual performance evaluations for policy-covered (non-represented) staff. I am pleased to report that at the completion of last year’s performance evaluation cycle, over 98% of merit eligible policy-covered career staff received a written performance evaluation. I am also appreciative of the seriousness with which those who hold supervisor and management roles approached this responsibility. A solid foundation has been established for a stronger performance management culture. With that said, there are several updates that I want to share concerning the performance evaluation form.
· A number of key enhancements were incorporated into the form to improve the ease of use, to reinforce the performance expectation message, and clarify intent; however, the substance of the form’s content and rating scale remains unchanged. The updated form and instructions are available on the Human Resources website.
· The performance evaluation form will also require that the supervisor determine whether the employee fulfilled his/her mandatory UC training requirements for the performance evaluation period. It is the supervisor’s responsibility to follow-up when an employee does not fulfill his/her mandatory training requirements. In these instances, consultation with Employee & Labor Relations should take place because failure to complete mandatory training requirements should be addressed as a performance deficiency in most cases.
· I would like to acknowledge the insightful feedback provided by the Performance Management Program pilot work group in identifying the enhancements that were incorporated into the form. The work group was comprised of 30 individuals from across the campus, many who were involved in the initial pilot deployment of the form in 2013.
All individuals with supervisory responsibilities for policy-covered career staff should start taking steps now to prepare for the performance evaluation process:
Ø Plan to start the performance evaluation process in March, including reviewing the new updates to the performance evaluation form and establishing internal due dates to ensure completion of the performance evaluation form in advance of the anticipated merit program for policy-covered career staff.
Ø Build in time for your staff to be involved. Inform your staff that you are starting the evaluation process and provide your staff with the Employee Self-Assessment form to submit to you by an established deadline. (Completion is voluntary.)
Ø Take the Employee Self-Assessment feedback into consideration as you review the instructions and you complete the Performance Evaluation Form. Due dates for the completion of the performance evaluation form will be established by the divisional control points.
Ø Be prepared to submit a copy of the completed performance evaluation form to Human Resources upon request.
Keep in mind that the recent UC Staff Engagement Survey highlighted the importance of fairness in the evaluation process as a key driver of employee engagement for our policy-covered staff.
· A fair evaluation implies that poor performance is addressed as readily as strong performance.
· The perception of fairness is enhanced where a process exists to ensure that more than one level of management is reviewing the proposed performance rating, before the performance rating is shared with the employee.
· The perception of fairness is enhanced where a process exists within departments and divisions to affirm that the standards used to rate performance are balanced and the criteria used to determine the top performers are consistent.
A separate memo will be distributed shortly with course information and dates for the upcoming training workshops on the topic of performance management.