CASE STUDY: PERFORMANCE

APPRAISALS

Bent Ericksen and Tim Twigg

A doctor discharged a staff member who had been working for him for nine months. She then

claimed that her civil rights were violated and that she was discriminated against because of her

age. She was $46$ years old. During an investigation, the doctor was asked to provide copies of her

performance evaluations to justify the contention that the discharge was based on her

performance, not her age. No performance evaluations had been given to any employees. This

claim led to an out$-$of$-$court settlement.

Considerations

The employee had been with the doctor for nine months and had not received a

performance appraisal. She claimed that she was not aware that her performance was not

satisfactory and was surprised when she was terminated. She alleged that the sole reason

for her discharge was her age $$ that the doctor wanted to hire a younger person. The

doctor said she had been warned on several occasions, but nothing had been documented.

This is not an isolated incident; such claims are made against doctors every day. What can

you do to prevent this from happening?

Solutions

Make sure that a discharge does not come as a surprise to an employee. One way to

prevent this is to conduct written performance appraisals on a regular basis and provide

ongoing, constructive feedback as close to the notable work behavior as feasible.

A good performance review program should:

$(1)$ Provide data for use in wage adjustments, promotions, reassignments, disciplinary

actions, and$/$or discharge.

$(2)$ Provide objective, factual evaluations of an employee's performance, rather than a snap

judgment.

$(3)$ Improve employees' job satisfaction and morale by communicating interest in their

progress and personal development.

$(4)$ Provide information regarding an employee's need for training.

$(5)$ Provide a forum for setting goals and performance standards for the next year or

appraisal period.

$(6)$ Provide an opportunity for each employee to discuss job problems and interests.

How often should you do performance appraisals? We recommend that a new employee

be given a performance appraisal after approximately four weeks and again eleven weeks

from the date of hire. Committing to this forces you to more closely observe a new

employee's performance during the first few weeks, recognizing that it is safer to let

someone go during the orientation and training period rather than later. Using a form such

as our "New Employee Progress Report" covering a few essential performance factors will

serve this purpose and the meeting with the employee should take very little time. The

employee should be evaluated on how well he or she has performed key duties and

accountabilities. Performance factors usually are derived from the employee's job

description.

A more complete review, using a standard format for consistency like our "Performance

Appraisal Form" covering such items as quality and quantity of work, job knowledge, and

staff and patient relations, should be conducted approximately once a year. Each of these

items may have some subsections that record levels of performance. For example, you

might have a range of one to five, with a three denoting satisfactory performance and a

one equating to "understands all facets of the work and has complete mastery of duties $$

carries them out effectively." A score of five would equate to "lacks sufficient understanding

and skills of job functions to perform duties in a satisfactory manner."

A note of caution: Many employers arrive at an overall rating of satisfactory, even though

the performance is far from acceptable in one category. This is a mistake! Do not provide

an overall rating. If you do $$ and later have to justify why you discharged an employee $$

the authorities will only look at the overall satisfactory rating and wonder why you

discharged a satisfactory employee. Evaluations must be job$-$related, balanced, and candid

in presenting constructive guidance regarding performance deficiencies.

$1)$ With respect to the performance management process, what steps should the

doctor have taken when she first hired the staff member that was dismissed $9$

months later?

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