Annual performance reviews were among the human resources functions that moved to the Workday platform last July but are getting more attention as the university heads toward the end of the fiscal year. For faculty and professional and scientific (P&S) employees, only the employee's rating and supervisor and employee confirmation of a completed evaluation will be logged in Workday this year. The content of the evaluation, including worksheets, self-assessments and other documentation, will remain in the employee's departmental file.
Since July, the entire process has been in Workday for merit employees, including an evaluation form developed in university human resources (UHR) appropriate for all merit positions. Merit employee evaluations occur throughout the year, and the new system alerts a supervisor six weeks in advance of an employee's review date.
In a memo to supervisors this week, interim vice president for university human resources Kristi Darr and associate provost for faculty Dawn Bratsch-Prince announced the deadline for completing faculty, staff and postdoc performance evaluations is extended to Sept. 1.
"This is particularly necessary for those involved in COVID-19 planning and response," they wrote.
Evaluations in progress should continue and may be completed sooner, they noted.
Performance evaluations should be conducted online or by phone, if supervisor and employee agree on a delivery method, wrote Darr and Bratsch-Prince. In-person evaluations must adhere to social-distancing rules.
P&S staff
Supervisors of P&S employees are welcome to use sample evaluation forms available on the UHR website, one developed for their department or unit, or to develop their own. Supervisors should inquire with their department head about using a department standard before developing their own or using one of the UHR forms.
The former P&S performance appraisal confirmation form is gone, replaced by a two-part process in Workday. Prior to the evaluation meeting, the supervisor opens the evaluation process by submitting in Workday one of two assessments for the employee: Meets or exceeds expectations, or does not meet expectations. Following a job performance conversation, the supervisor first confirms that the evaluation is complete. The action item is routed to the employee, who also must confirm.
Ruth Carlton-Appleton, UHR employee and labor relations consultant, noted that a systemwide record of performance appraisals serves two purposes: It compels supervisors to complete evaluations of their employees (the old system couldn't capture the omission rate succinctly) and it provides useful data to UHR leaders for identifying professional development needs.
Faculty
As spelled out in chapter 5 of the Faculty Handbook, department chairs evaluate faculty each spring for the previous calendar year (January-December), with two possible assessments: satisfactory or unsatisfactory. The evaluation meeting includes a review of the faculty member's position responsibility statement and any action plans from the previous post-tenure review or annual performance evaluation.
To save on administrative tasks for academic departments this spring, HR delivery partners will collect the faculty ratings from departments centrally in the provost's office, where they will be loaded into Workday, but this process also will be delayed. When it's completed, that leaves just the short confirmation process for the department chair and faculty member to complete.
