| PART
A: POLICIES AND COLLECTION BARGAINING AGREEMENTS |
| A1.
Standards |
Assure that
all personnel evaluations adhere to an officially adopted set of
standards for personnel evaluation—e.g., Joint Committee on Standards
for Educational Evaluation (1988). The personnel evaluation standards.
Newbury Park, CA: Sage—or a locally developed set of standards.
|
| A2. Laws |
Assure that
all personnel evaluations and evaluation systems are consistent
with local, state, and federal laws.
|
| A3. Criteria,
Forms, and Procedures |
Keep the specifics
of personnel evaluation criteria, forms, and procedures out of collective
bargaining agreements, so that the institution can expeditiously
update and improve or replace the evaluation system as appropriate.
|
| A4. Employee
Rights and Responsibilities |
Define clear
personnel policies on such matters as equality of opportunity, affirmative
action, and sexual harassment.
|
| A5. Job Qualifications |
Clearly state
that job qualifications are a threshold requirement in the hiring
process.
|
| A6.
Job Performance |
Clearly
identify fulfillment of job responsibilities as the foundation criteria
for assessing job performance.
|
| A7. Diversity
Goals |
Develop and
regularly update institutional diversity goals to provide and maintain
a staff that is representative of qualified women and minorities,
qualified persons with disabilities, qualified veterans, and qualified
members of other designated protected groups.
|
| A8. Personnel
Evaluation Files Control |
Define requirements
and prescribe means for storing personnel evaluation files and keeping
them secure and confidential.
|
| A9. Personnel
Evaluation Files Access |
Consistent
with state law and institutional policies, define the limits and
conditions for accessing personnel evaluation files.
|
| A10. Evaluator
Responsibilities and Rights |
Stipulate evaluators'
authority and responsibility to issue negative as well as positive
evaluations, so long as they are fair and meet professional standards
and legal requirements.
|
| A11. Remedy
and Dismissal Process |
Define procedural
and substantive due process requirements for documentation, notice,
improvement assistance, and dismissal.
|
| A12. Appeal
Channels |
Define appeal
channels so that employees can request and obtain a third-party
review of any evaluation activity or report deemed unfair or inaccurate.
|
| PART
B: MAINTAINING EVALUATION SYSTEM INTEGRITY AND EFFECTIVENESS |
| B1.
Equality of Opportunity |
Meet equality
of opportunity requirements by recruiting, hiring, training, promoting,
transferring, or compensating individuals based solely on merit
and qualification and without regard to race, national origin, color,
religion, gender, disability, age (except where age ranges are legitimately
prescribed), height and weight (except where appropriate applicable
restrictions apply), political affiliation, or sexual orientation.
|
| B2. Equity
and Affirmative Action Balance |
Uphold equality
of opportunity rights in the process of meeting affirmative action
goals.
|
| B3. Bias Control |
Regularly examine
evaluation proceedings and consequences to ensure that evaluations
are not de jure or de facto biased against members of any group.
|
| B4. Even-Handed,
Justifiable Issuing of Rewards |
Reward employees
based on job-related merit and do not tender special privilege to
employees by allowing them to persist in deficient performance because
of unusual talents, political connections, previous outstanding
work, popularity, and so on.
|
| B5. Defensible
Candidate Job Pools |
Assure that
the institution's pools of candidates for positions appropriately
reflect the institution's diversity goals.
|
| B6. Institutional
Control |
Maintain institutional
control over evaluation criteria, instruments, and procedures so
that they are not vulnerable to political manipulation by interest
groups.
|
| B7. Criteria,
Forms, and Procedures Generality |
Keep model
personnel evaluation criteria, forms, and procedures general, so
that these can be customized to fit the different assignments of
different employees.
|
| B8. Objective
and Subjective Information |
As appropriate,
employ subjective criteria and professional judgment as well as
objective data in order to make evaluations clear and functional.
|
| B9. Information
for Dismissal Proceedings |
As feasible,
use all relevant information to inform and substantiate a dismissal
decision, including valid evidence of beneficiaries' perceived or
assessed outcomes that result from the employee's services.
|
| B10. Documentation |
Document all
dismissal processes and other potentially controversial personnel
evaluations, especially summative evaluations.
|
| B11. Evaluation
of and for All |
Evaluate and
pursue appropriate follow-up actions for tenured as well as untenured
personnel.
|
| B12. At-Will
Terminations |
Make at-will
dismissal decisions consistent with both the law and requirements
for professional integrity.
|
B13. Implement
Needed Remedial or Dismissal Proceedings
|
Initiate needed,
justifiable remedial or dismissal proceedings despite prospects
for legal challenge.
|
| B14. Reasonable
Investment in Improvement |
Limit the time
and resources devoted to improving employees' performance, so that
the success of the larger effort is not diminished or substantial
funds wasted.
|
B15. Balanced
Concern for Clients' Welfare and Employees' Improvement
|
Protect an
employee's clients from harm while taking steps to improve a deficient
staff member.
|
| B16. Protection
of An Employee's Future Clients |
Counsel institutional
officials against resolving personnel disputes with confidential
settlement agreements, when doing so would jeopardize the health
or safety of children or other clients in successive employment
environments.
|
| B17. Attorney
Involvement |
Consult an
attorney early and prospectively in a problem situation or potential
problem situation rather than waiting until a problem becomes serious.
|
| B18. Reporting
on Previous Employees |
When external
parties request evaluative feedback on a previous employee, state
only the facts of the employment that are part of the public record,
such as beginning and ending employment dates, job title, job responsibilities,
and awards; address other pertinent questions that your institution's
personnel evaluation policies permit; however, do convey any institutionally
held, validated information that proves that a former employee is
dangerous to children or others.
|
| PART
C: INDIVIDUAL PERSONNEL EVALUATIONS |
| C1.
Communication of Bases for Evaluation |
At the outset
of an employee's employment and at the start of each evaluation
cycle, insure that each employee is informed of the specific evaluation
criteria and procedures that apply to her or his position.
|
| C2. Intended
Uses |
Clearly define
the intended uses of a set of personnel evaluation information,
so that misuses are avoided and disputes about what information
may be used in what ways can be settled by referring to the prior
agreements.
|
| C3. Privacy |
Conduct all
evaluation planning and reporting meetings in a private setting,
with only authorized persons present.
|
| C4. Focus |
Key evaluations
to up-to-date role definitions and any mandated improvement goals.
|
| C5. Job Effectiveness
Criteria |
Emphasize fulfillment
of job responsibilities rather than performance style or personality
characteristics.
|
| C6. Information
Sources |
Collect performance
evaluation information from relevant multiple sources, such as the
employee, coworkers, supervisor, clients, and special reviewers.
|
| C7. Information
Security |
Be consistent
with pertinent laws in keeping personnel evaluation information
secure and confidential, and inform evaluatees of both the provisions
for and limits of security from disclosure.
|
| C8. Interim
Evaluation |
Regularly review
the employee's progress and provide clear, constructive feedback,
letting the employee know in a timely manner if there are deficiencies
that must be corrected.
|
| C9. Constructive
Feedback |
When providing
constructive feedback, discuss reasons for deficient performance
and give due consideration to mitigating circumstances, such as
poor health, inadequate staff or mentor support, and so on, and
take appropriate feasible steps to help the employee know clearly
and in a timely manner if there are deficiencies that must be corrected.
|
| PART
D: REMEDIAL AND TERMINATION PROCESSES |
| D1.
Informal Notice and Assistance |
Except in emergencies,
such as health or safety threats, provide the employee whose performance
is deficient with informal, constructive, verbal identification
and discussion of problems; counseling as appropriate; and clear
and fair directives and time lines to improve.
|
| D2. Formal
Notice to Remedy |
If deficiencies
are not corrected in response to informal, constructive warnings,
provide the employee with a written notice to correct clearly identified
deficiencies.
|
| D3. Dismissal
Process |
Provide a publicly
employed person under contract or with tenure with sufficient advanced
notice of contemplated action and the decision-making criteria to
be applied before enacting a dismissal process.
|
| D4. Minimizing
Embarrassment |
To avoid any
unnecessary embarrassment to the employee, limit the distribution
of the notice to remedy and associated information as much as possible
to those with a legitimate need to know.
|
| D5. Correcting
Deficiencies |
Provide reasonable
time and a clear deadline for an employee to correct deficient performance.
|
| D6. Remedial
Process |
Ground the
remedial process in an approved, written improvement plan, including
scheduled progress reports and other forms of concrete evidence
of progress.
|
| D7. Assistance |
Provide an
employee involved in a remedial process with a reasonable level
of assistance to help the process succeed.
|
| D8. Communication |
Review and
assess progress a reasonable number of times during a remedial process.
|
| D9. Progress
Assessments |
Gauge progress
based on defensible evidence, not just discussion, reflecting the
terms of the required improvement.
|
| D10. Employee
Input |
Advise, but
do not require, an employee placed on probation to write and share
her or his notes or reactions on the progress review meetings.
|
| D11. Documentation |
Document the
assessment meetings, data, and process from the supervisor's perspective.
|
| D12. Third
Party Perspective |
Consider engaging
an independent party to monitor and assess the disciplinary or dismissal
process.
|
| D13. Defensible
Decisions |
At the end
of the improvement period, make a decision that can be defended
based on the improvement process and the documented performance
record.
|
| D14. Dismissal
Decision |
Finalize the
decision to dismiss an employee only after studying the relevant
evidence and only after the decision is institutionally authorized.
|
| D15. Concluding
Notice |
Notify the
employee in writing and in person of the final results of the probationary
evaluation.
|
| D16. Alternative
Employment |
Before dismissing
the employee, consider whether he or she might still be valuable
to the organization and might succeed in a different, institutionally
viable role, and act accordingly.
|
| D17. Inform
Officials of Personnel Action |
Notify need-to-know
officials about the facts of a termination, while limiting and guarding
the information so as to avoid unnecessary embarrassment to the
involved parties.
|
| D18. Avoid
Negative Side Effects |
When dismissing
an employee, provide fair treatment to her or his subordinates and
clients who might be adversely affected by taking such steps as
assuring them in writing of continued employment or service, promptly
assigning and announcing a replacement employee, promptly working
out and communicating the details of the transition process, and
providing the replacement employee with adequate assistance and
support.
|
This
checklist is being provided as a free service to the user. The provider
of the checklist has not modified or adapted the checklist to fit the
specific needs of the user and the user is executing his or her own discretion
and judgment in using the checklist. The provider of the checklist makes
no representations or warranties that this checklist is fit for the particular
purpose contemplated by user and specifically disclaims any such warranties
or representations. |
