To management's credit, the message got through. And when the state personnel office went back to the drawing board, it brought labor into the room. A modified version of the 1998 plan passed easily in the 2000 legislative session. But in the end, we came back and worked out something that was far better than the 1998 plan. The new system also calls for two interim meetings each year, to gauge employee progress.
Top performers get a day or two of annual leave added to their basic allotment.
Evaluations are appealable one level up in the chain of command, or all the way to the state personnel board in the case of the two lowest ratings. There are some, though, who would argue that Kentucky's new system is still behind the times when it comes to current evaluation philosophy. Rather, the purpose of the exercise is to improve organizational performance. And the best way to do that is to develop some mechanism aimed at encouraging enhanced communication between employees and managers that focuses on how their work and their working relationship impacts the organization. That's why in Portland, Maine, Washington state and the Minnesota Department of Transportation, employees are rated in a host of categories that serve to stimulate and focus discussion about goals and performance, both personal and organizational.