Evaluating Staff in Relocation

Earlier this year, myself and all the managers of the H&R Group- “More Than Relocation”, undertook a seminar on how to better evaluate our staff. Here are some pointers that we were given on the things that you tend to forget……..

1.     THE HELO EFFECT

This is where the employee shines in one particular area, or a number of particular areas, but the “Helo Effect” of these well performed areas leads you to mistakenly believe that the person performs outstandingly in all areas. You must review all performance areas independently and objectively, and seek the reality of the situation at all times.

2.     THE CENTER EFFECT

This is whereby many of your evaluations collect in the middle of your evaluation scale. eg, on a scale of 1-5, you score many of your employees a score of 3. You must review all performance areas independently and objectively, and seek the reality of the situation at all times.

3.     THE HIGH-LOW EFFECT

This is whereby you tend to be overly kind or overly strict to the employees you are evaluating. You must review all performance areas independently and objectively, and seek the reality of the situation at all times.

4.     THE SIMILAR EFFECT

This is whereby you take like sections of the evaluation and assume that they are all the same. You must review all performance areas independently and objectively, and seek the reality of the situation at all times.

5.     THE COMPARISON EFFECT

This is whereby you compare the evaluation of the employee to yourself. eg. You are poor at using excel, so you evaluate the person highly when they are more skilled at using excel. Or you are extra-ordinarily good at something, so you evaluate the person lowly, because they are not. You must review all performance areas independently and objectively, and seek the reality of the situation at all times.

6.     THE WRONG PERIOD EFFECT

This is where you mistakenly evaluate someone on the wrong evaluation period. eg. You evaluate them lowly on a particular area because they made a big mistake last year, when in actual fact you are supposed to be evaluating their performance this year. You must review all performance areas independently and objectively, and seek the reality of the situation at all times.

7.     THE RECENT MEMORY EFFECT

This is whereby you mistakenly evaluate somebody on what they have achieved recently that you remember, and not necessarily what they have achieved over the entire evaluation period. If the evaluation period is significantly long (eg. more than 3 months), it is advisable to write things down, so you don’t forget what has been achieved or not. You must review all performance areas independently and objectively, and seek the reality of the situation at all times.

8.     THE BACK DATING EFFECT

Once the evaluation has been completed, this is where you go back and revise the evaluation, so as a “fixed score” is received. This defeats the objectivity of the evaluation you conducted. You must review all performance areas independently and objectively, and seek the reality of the situation at all times.

Are you guilty of committing one of the evaluation crimes above on your relocation staff?

I know that I certainly have been in the past. It is a good idea to read the above before you conduct a relocation staff evaluation!

In closing, the best thing you can do to assist in making an objective evaluation that is free of bias, is to clearly articulate the goals at goal setting time. Much of the dis-belief and mis-trust that is created mutually between evaluators and the staff being evaluated is caused by a mis-interpretation of what the original goals were. ie. The manager thought the goal (output) was one thing, but the staff member thought the goal (output) was something different. This happens due to poor and unclear goal setting. If you set goals that are as “clear as daylight”, it is not possible for this mis-interpretation to occur. eg. I will “achieve sales of JPY XXX with my team”, or “I will train Mary so that she can do X, Y and Z without supervision and any mistakes”. Goals must be “concrete” and they must describe the desired output at the end of the evaluation period!

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