The beatings will continue
until morale improves.
-- The Management
Taking an interest in staff members lives, being the first to extend a
pleasant greeting, and praising a job well-done are gestures that go a long way
to creating a positive work environment. Additionally, paying better wages,
providing good benefits and having policies that stress fairness to all
employees are important factors in attracting and maintaining the excellent
staff we all want.
Rather than holding a formal annual review either at the beginning of each
calendar year or at the annual anniversary of the start of employment, I prefer
to provide feedback on a more frequent basis. This may be with just the employee
and me in a private setting or it may be more general at our weekly staff
meetings. The discussion might be positive feedback about things we are doing
well or it might be the correction of a deficiency. I often ask for staff
opinions and input about how to handle situations.
Formal reviews and raises
I used to perform an annual evaluation of each employee’s performance. I found
the exercise resulted in one of two things:
Because of this no win situation, I let the regular reviews drop away.
Instead, I gave feedback informally and more often without any connection to the
thought of a raise. I still give unexpected raises or bonuses when I see
excellent work performance. But overall, I now rely on employees to ask to be
reviewed for a raise when they feel it is appropriate. These requests are made
to our office manager, who brings the request for a review to me (and my wife
who is an OD/partner). Some employees request a review on an annual basis, but
many will go several years before asking for a raise.
It often works out that employees who are in that middle range of performance,
not bad but not stellar either, are the ones who sense that and remain content
with their current salary. These are employees I do not want to dismiss, but I
also do not feel a raise is warranted. I am quite content to let these people
drift along without rocking the boat.
Additionally, the formal reviews took a great deal of time and seemed to always
be looming ahead for someone. They just did not help foster the culture and
teamwork I wanted.
Granting raises and how much?
When I receive a request for a review, it is considered informally with the
office manager. Our practice is managed so closely that it only takes a few
minutes for me to decide to grant a raise or not. Usually the answer is yes, but
if there are factors such as poor attendance or punctuality, the answer could be
no with that explanation given. If the negative factor can be improved and
sustained, the raise may be granted at a later date.
A cost of living raise is really not a raise at all, it is simply staying even.
For most of our employees, that would result in a 50 cent per hour raise. So
even with mediocre performance, that amount of raise can be offered and morale
is maintained. If performance has been good, then a $1 per hour raise is common.
Our office manager generally meets with the employee who requested the review
and gives a short verbal summary of the person’s work performance and indicates
the amount of any raise.
While I want to maintain an excellent staff, I’m also interested in keeping
operating costs at a minimum. That is the balance that is required in managing a
business. I am willing to accept a payroll percentage of gross in the 22% range,
but if allowed to go unchecked, it could quickly rise much higher than that.