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| Appraisal Myths Still Being Perpetuated in the DWP?
Will you be treated fairly? If you aren’t already a member – Join PCS. |
On numerous occasions over the past 12 months we have seen cases where line managers have ignored the DWP procedures and guidance published on the Intranet regarding the People Performance System. This was happening so much across the DWP that the employer was compelled to publish “People Performance Myths Busted” to clarify the correct way to deliver the process.
Below are some of the most frequent breaches of the guidance in order to clarify the correct action that should be taken, please pay particular attention to the statements in bold:
Myth Two: Employees are put into peer groups so that their performance can be assessed against their colleagues, rather than against performance standards.
Truth: No. The purpose of a peer group is to enable managers to set standards and assess performance consistently for a group of employees doing similar work – i.e. to avoid two people receiving different ratings for similar performance levels. People are always assessed on the achievement of work objectives and demonstration of behaviours, as set out in the performance standards, and not relative to their peers.
When line managers meet to discuss standard setting, the aim is not to rank employees based on their average output and then apply the distribution curve, it is to see if the objectives of each member of the peer group are adequate for the work they are doing.
Myth Three: If you got Must Improve at mid year, you must get it at end of year too because you were in Must Improve at some point in the year.
Truth: Not true – performance must be considered over the whole year, so an employee rated as Must Improve after the first 6 months would only get Must Improve at the end of the year if their performance over the full 12 months warranted it. One of the reasons for having a mid year indicative marking is to identify what action is needed to improve or maintain the rating at the end of the year.
If you receive a “Must Improve” at the end of year following an improvement in performance after mid year then you will be caught in a never ending cycle of “Must improve” ratings as a PAL is invoked after each “Must Improve” rating and it appears that if anyone has been on a PAL (formerly a PIP) they will automatically be awarded a “Must Improve” as the “easy target”.
Myth Five: You have to be above average to get ‘Achieved’ – meeting your objectives is no longer good enough
Truth: It is true that People Performance is looking to produce year on year improvements, so this year’s performance expectations could be more stretching than last year’s. However, performance is still measured against known performance standards. Meeting your objectives and demonstrating satisfactory behaviours will be enough to earn at least an Achieved marking.
At your mid-year and end of year meetings you will have a discussion around your objectives and behaviours. If you have met your objectives and your behaviours are fine then you should be given an achieved rating. If you are awarded a “Must Improve” you must be aware that this is the case before the meeting and be given a satisfactory reason for this along with transparent rationale for the decision.
The more members there are the better the chance the Union has to improve conditions of service. Being a member also means access to representation. Please contact Mick Daniels for a membership form.
You become a member when you sign the form (provided that we receive the form in a reasonable timeframe).
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