Habitat For E-Commerce: Let All Incomes Join In
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Published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on May 3, 2000. All rights reserved.
E-mail: MelindaSherwood@princetoninfo.com
Dreaded Appraisals
E-mail: MelindaSherwood@princetoninfo.com
The dreaded performance appraisal serves many purposes,
not the least of which is avoiding wrongful termination suits, says
John Sarno, a former corporate lawyer and president of the Employers
Association of New Jersey. “Employment litigation is proliferating
and there are a lot of lawsuits being filed that lack merit, what
could be generally described as wrongful termination suits,” he
says. “One of the best ways to justify or explain an employment
decision is by having performance documented. Big companies could
grind down the plaintiff over time, but small companies can ill-afford
litigation, and the best way to prevent it is to have an honest performance
appraisal situation.”
Sarno speaks on “The Art and Science of Performance Appraisal”
at the association meeting on Tuesday, May 9, at 9 a.m. the Labor
Building in Trenton. Call 609-984-3518. Cost: $10. www.eanj.org
There should be no surprises when you sit down to conduct a employee
performance evaluation, says Sarno, who has a BA in psychology from
Ramapo (Class of 1977) and a law degree from Seton Hall. “It’s
a dreaded tasks for managers and supervisors, because it’s sort of
like sitting in judgment of other people,” he says, “and often
times it’s artificial — it’s one time out of the year. It should
be a natural extension of the communication that’s going on throughout
the year.”
The delicate art of performance appraisal begins here:
Outline the job description in concrete terms, with measurablecriteria, so you can see if someone is succeeding or not. “Themanager or supervisor has to have a very good understanding of whatthe person’s job is and whether they’ve been meeting the expectations,”says Sarno. “The goal is to have the manager and the person who’sbeing supervised to come up with a goal that they both agree to.”Train managers on a standard style and approach to performanceevaluations. The nuances might include where and how you talk to people,says Sarno, “whether or not you sit across from a desk, or sitside-by-side — that’s my own preference, by the way. The deskcauses a physical barrier, but everybody has to pick their own style.A lot of people need the symbolic trappings of authority. That’s fineas long as you’re aware that will influence what’s going on. There’ssome people that don’t even meet with employees — they simplyask that they fill out a form.”Give immediate and ongoing feedback to employees all year.Again, there should be no surprises.Document it, if there’s a chance an employee will be dismissed.”If you’re counseling a poor performer, and you know there mightbe a discharge decision in the future, then you want to document everyimportant conversation,” he says. “Other than that, though,you don’t need to be documenting it.”In small business environments, take a different approach.”For some small professional teams where people are more or lessprofessional peers, you need a means of feedback and continual evaluationof the team, but you don’t necessarily need a performance evaluation,”he says. “What’s being evaluated is team and individual responsibility— in that environment there is a totally different approach.”Never link performance evaluations to pay issues. “Theconsensus is that the performance evaluation should be about the person’sperformance and a separate meeting should be held over pay,” saysSarno.The evaluation is as much an employer appraisal as an employeeappraisal, adds Sarno. “A good evaluator will ask the employee’sview first,” he says. “Most employees will be honest, andoften times, employee has a real good idea has a comment or helpfulto the employer. Either it’s a job reassignment or a way to restructurethe work. It might become apparent that the work is just over theirhead. That’s not their fault; it’s the employer not having the typeof work aligned with that employee.”— Melinda SherwoodTop Of PageHabitat For E-Commerce: Let All Incomes Join InSecuring a place for the under-privileged to live hasbeen the primary aim of Habitat for Humanity. Now Habitat would liketo help the underprivileged secure a place in the new economy. Habitatis sponsoring a meeting entitled “E-Commerce: The Impact on YourCompany and Your Community” on Thursday, May 4, at 7:45 a.m. atthe Merrill Lynch Executive Training Center in Plainsboro. Call 609-393-8009.Habitat’s Trenton area executive director, David Gibbons, describesthe program as an effort to bring together corporate sponsors of Habitatto discuss ways in which E-commerce can be used to build healthy,dynamic communities. “We are wondering what things that interestthe corporate community would also be of concern to Habitat partnerfamilies,” says Gibbons. “We want to insure that low incomefamilies can participate in this new economy.”Speakers include Donn Rappaport of American List Counsel, RickButare, chief architect of technology at Dow Jones, Diane Parks,vice president of contributions and community affairs at Janssen Pharmaceutica,and Randal Langdon, first vice president of Merrill Lynch/DigitalBusiness Development. The panel will be moderated by Richard Bilotti,publisher of the Times of Trenton.Habitat for Humanity has built 40 houses in Trenton, and has justcommitted to an initiative to eliminate all sub-standard housing inthe East Trenton area within 10 years. There are six new houses underconstruction in East Trenton. Volunteers are still need, particularlypeople with skills in sheetrock installation, trimwork, roofing, orsiding. Corporate sponsors do everything from underwriting the fullcost of a house at $60,000, to providing in-kind services, donatingmaterials, providing teams of volunteers, and making financial contributionsof a more modest nature. E-mail: habitren@aosi.comPrevious StoryNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
