Annual performance appraisals are conducted each year for all office, facilities management, and administrative staff. Both the employee and the supervisor participate in the completion of the appraisal form. See Performance Appraisals in the appendices.

Purpose

To manage and assess the performance of each employee by giving constructive feedback on how well an employee has met the specific job requirements and reinforcing the employee’s role in contributing to the mission and vision of Christian higher education as expressed and carried out by Eastern Mennonite University. The appraisal process gives the employee an opportunity to provide ideas for enhancing his or her performance and productivity by setting and assessing goals.

Policy

It is the policy of Eastern Mennonite University to provide annual written appraisals of employee work performance for the purpose of:

• documenting and detailing employee completion of assigned responsibilities and general job performance
• giving feedback to employees about their work and progress within the university
• highlighting achievements or deficiencies for the purpose of affirmation or improvement
• identifying training needs

Procedure

• Training sessions for supervisors are offered annually before annual evaluations and are available on an individual basis if needed by reaching out to the Human Resources office.
• Newly hired employees or employees that transfer into a new position will be reviewed after the first three (3) and six (6) months of employment using the three/six-month performance appraisal.
• The annual performance appraisals are completed during May and June. All annual appraisals are due to the HR office by July 7th. Some flexibility will be considered in scheduling performance appraisals for 9-10 month employees.
• The university reserves the right to conduct unscheduled reviews in the event of drastic changes in performance or for other reasons deemed appropriate by the supervisor.
• Performance Appraisals are available on MyEMU under the “Employee Info” tab.
• The employee’s job description needs to be evaluated and updated so that it accurately reflects any changes in workload, employment hours, specific responsibilities, title, or general editing. An updated and signed job description is to be returned to the Human Resources Office with the completed performance appraisal forms by July 7th annually
• Completed performance appraisals are filed in the respective employee’s personnel file in the Human Resources Office.

Guidelines

• Hiring managers should note on their calendars when three (3) and six (6) month appraisals are due when they hire a new team member. Timeliness of feedback is critical to success.
• Conduct the performance review in private with minimal interruptions.
• Emphasize positive aspects of the employee’s performance.
• Focus your feedback on performance, not on personality characteristics.
• Identify specific, measurable actions the employee can take to improve performance.
• Emphasize your willingness to assist the employee’s efforts to improve performance.
• Ask if the employee needs additional tools or training to be successful in their performance.
• End the evaluation session by thanking the employee for the positive aspects of their performance.

If an employee feels a supervisor has been unfair in the performance appraisal process, and a satisfactory agreement in unattainable between the employee and supervisor, the employee may request the assistance of the director of human resources.

Responsible party

The human resources director is responsible for this policy.

Policy Review

This policy is to be reviewed every three years.

Distribution

Employee Handbook