Are Limited Performance Ratings Hurting Employee Satisfaction? Seeking Solutions!

Hello everyone,

Listed below are the ratings currently used in the company where I am undergoing my training for performance assessment. Based on research and feedback, it has come to our attention that employees are not satisfied with the limited ratings and are seeking improvements or additional ratings.

Can someone provide a solution?

EXPLANATION OF RATINGS:

SE/EP (Surpassed expectations/EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCE): The individual has performed exceptionally well (rare). Achieving beyond 110% of the stretched goals documented in the PDM formats.

ME/GP (MET EXPECTATIONS / GOOD PERFORMANCE): Achievement between 91% - 110% of stretched goals documented in the PDM formats.

CB/FP (CAN DO BETTER / FAIR PERFORMANCE): Achievement ranging from 60% - 90% of stretched goals.

BE/PP (BELOW EXPECTATION / POOR PERFORMANCE): Achievement below 60% of stretched goals.

Regards,

Neha

Hi,

I am a student doing my MBA and I would like to offer some tips on performance assessment that may be helpful for your confusion. If the employees are not happy with the current performance assessment system, obviously, there is a problem in the assessment system itself. I think you can analyze the system again and consider implementing a new performance assessment system to improve employee satisfaction.

Is this correct? Please provide your feedback for the budding manager.

With regards,
Jayavel.k

Hello Jayavel,

Thank you for the input. However, the issue lies not with the system; the system itself is good. The problem lies with the ratings that this system has adopted. The criteria, or should I say the measures taken into consideration such as KRAs, action plans, and many more, are really good and accepted by the employees. What they want to change or add are the ratings, which are currently SE, ME, CB, and BE. According to them, these ratings are not sufficient or appropriate for evaluation.

I believe I have effectively communicated the issue. If not, please let me know.

Regards,
Neha

Hi Neha,

As you claim the system is good but not the rating factor, well, the concept on which the entire foundation is laid should be good enough to be accepted by the employees. I doubt whether the desired concept is implemented properly. The rating scales you specified were more of a generic kind. A person may look forward to a genuine appraisal that is not supported by any of the scales you specified. Maybe you have to go in for more specific ratings on a 5-point or an 11-point scale.

Hope I have given some input to help you out.

Regards,
Durga

By what it seems, increasing the rating scale from the current to an 11-point scale would be a good idea.

Additionally, you can include a descriptive assessment for each topic, where the assessor would provide remarks on what has been done, what could have been achieved, and why they are allocating a certain number of points.

This approach would satisfy both the assessor and the assessee, allowing the assessor more time to consider the points being awarded.

Ajmal Mirza

Hi Durga,

Thank you for analyzing the situation. You are right that the rating scales I specified were more of a generic kind. A person always looks forward to a genuine appraisal, which is not supported by any of the scales I specified. I want to know what could be other, more specific rating scales so that an employee can receive a fair appraisal.

Regards,
Neha

Dear friends,

Namaskar.

In a class of adult trainees, I was explaining perception. My emphasis was that there is no one-to-one relationship between the objective world and the subjective world. To demonstrate this, I asked the trainee participants:
"I am very much in front of you. Can you assess my age individually?"
The results varied, with assessments ranging from 21 years to 49 years.

What can we learn from this? The assessment that is deemed acceptable in a given setting is the working measure. Typically, the statistical central tendencies - mean, median, or mode of the ratings - are acceptable depending on the judgment of the rater. There is no perfect solution to this issue.

Regards,
Jogeshwar