I usually disregarded the email announcing employee evaluations. I was pretty confident that I’d never be evaluated.
Evaluations at the paper where I worked meant the editors scheduled a meeting with reporters not doing their jobs. You knew who was in trouble when you saw them do the walk of shame across the newsroom, go into the conference room (otherwise lovingly known as “the closet,” since it previously was a coat closet) with the editors and shut the door.
Otherwise, the editor would come to your desk with a little form for you to sign if you wanted the offered pay increase. No negotiation. No praise. No hassle.
It was an efficient approach, for sure. It wasn’t an effective one.
We tend to assume as managers that employees know where they stand if they don’t hear from us. The idea is that “no news is good news.” It’s a terrible approach to management.
Employees want feedback, both positive and negative (Consider reading Managers: Reduce Stress by Providing Feedback). This is especially true during difficult financial times when there is more job instability. Employees want to feel secure in their positions, understand what they’re doing well and know where and how they can improve.
The sign is posted on the newsroom door for all student employees to schedule end-of-the-semester evaluations with myself and the editor-in-chief.
The EIC and I chose a day we both were available to perform evaluations, then offered it up to the staff. Any staffer who cannot attend evaluations on that day, perhaps because of course schedule or holiday travel plans, was told to email the EIC to schedule another time. So far, there only have been two such issues, and those staffers were accommodated with other times.
The EIC now will use a standardized form to evaluate each staffer. I encouraged her to provide specific examples of positive performance and areas for improvement. If the EIC feels she cannot adequately evaluate a staffer (for example, photographers who report directly to the photo editor), she will meet with another editor to complete the evaluation form.
The EIC will submit all of the forms to me so I can review them before evaluations begin. I will discuss with her any changes/additions I have, but mostly this is just so I am not surprised during evaluation meetings.
Staffers also shouldn’t be surprised during their evaluation meetings. We do informal evaluation constantly, so this is just a method of wrapping up the semester.
For the meetings, staffers will come to my office, where I greet them and explain the purpose of the evaluation. Staffers then are given a copy of their evaluation form for their records. The EIC will review the form with them during the meeting, then ask two questions:
1. Do you have questions or concerns about your job with Student Publications?
2. What can I do to make your job better?
Finally, I will ask staffers what job they hope to perform for Student Publications during the next semester.
The meetings usually take about 15 minutes each.
Every staffer is evaluated. If staffers do not sign up for evaluations, it is assumed they no longer want to work for Student Publications. The importance of the evaluation meetings in securing their job for the next semester is communicated several times with the staff.
The evaluation meetings mean that staffers end the semester aware of their work-related successes and failures and having plans for their jobs in the upcoming semester.
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Do you perform staff evaluations? If so, how often? What is your evaluation process?
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