After nearly six years of absence the dreaded Performance Review program is back at Renmark Paringa Council. Human Resources Officer Tracey Faehrmann is quite sure that’s how many of the staff were viewing this essential Human Resources program when it was reintroduced earlier this year.
“However with a new CEO and two new Directors on board and with their total support, it was a perfect opportunity to get the process of reviewing employees performance back on the annual agenda,” she said. “Viewing the previous process indicated that it was too complicated, appeared very one sided and the objectives were not realistic or measurable.
“Council had purchased a performance review database, but all that data was lost among the many computer upgrades over the years. Performance review programs are hard to implement at the best of times, but as ours is not linked to wage increases it is especially hard to obtain staff buy in based on the ‘what is in it for us’ mindset.”
Tracey Faehrmann wanted to ensure the program was not only going to be effective, but it also involved strong communication and involvement fromthe employee.
“After all it is only through staff growth and development that Council can prosper,” she said.
To achieve these goals, Human Resources conducted presentations at relevant departmental meetings on the program including:
- a review of position description by employee to ensure it is current and a review by Council to ensure the document meets any legislative or HR requirements
- a review of training profile analysis, which showed gaps between training undertaken and position profile/competencies. This also ensured that the training database was up to date and that the manager and employee had a training plan to work to for the next 12 months.
- the ‘Booster Pack’ which is a positive feedback form that staff were asked to complete about other staff. This entails one short, positive, sentence about each person on the list which is then compiled and every employee is then given a nicely presented document that is full of all the positive words other people have used to describe what they like about the person or what they know the person does well. No names just ‘ a booster pack’ for their confidence to use on days when they maybe feeling low or angry.
For further information contact Renmark Paringa HR Officer Tracey Faehrmann on (08) 8580 3015.
