It is important to establish the road to success by providing a planning document and communicating an expected level of performance for all employees. It is recommended that the planning stage of the evaluation be completed and communicated to employees within the first four weeks of employment. Employees need to understand and realize early in their employment the success criteria by which they will be evaluated.

A supervisor should provide periodic feedback during the evaluation period prior to the annual review. A documented midpoint assessment with the employee during the evaluation year is strongly encouraged not only to pinpoint performance concerns but also to provide positive feedback as well.

Problems associated with unacceptable job performance should be communicated as soon as possible to the employee. This will give an opportunity to overcome any deficiency prior to the annual review. If a counseling session is needed, a supervisor should define what area of a specific job duty is deficient, provide suggested ways to overcome the deficiencies, provide a time period for the expected improvements and the resulting consequences in the event no improvements are made.

If improvements are not made, a supervisor may issue a Warning Notice of Substandard Performance. This is done if performance becomes substandard in one or more essential job function(s) or objective(s) that significantly impact overall performance. Supervisors must be sure that a planning stage document is in place prior to issuing the warning notice.

A workshop for supervisors of classified employees is available for individuals who would like to learn more about evaluating employee performance using the Employee Performance Management System. EPMS for Supervisors is a performance appraisal workshop designed for supervisors to learn methods and techniques in using the EPMS as a communication tool when evaluating employees and setting performance objectives. The workshop also provides clarification when dealing with substandard job performance issues as well as ensuring understanding of the importance of preparing the EPMS planning document.

New supervisors are encouraged to attend and will receive guidance and information in completing the EPMS document, hands-on experience with writing success criteria, and exploring case exercises that illustrate various scenarios in which supervisors must consider the ideas presented in the class and identify what decisions or actions they would undertake. Experienced supervisors also can take advantage of this workshop to refresh or update their skills in conducting the evaluation review. This workshop is held each month at no charge. Detailed information on EPMS for Supervisors and online registration is available at the Professional Development website.

For detailed information, refer to HR 1.36, Performance Appraisal for Classified Employees.

EPMS Forms—The management/supervisory and the nonsupervisory forms are available in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF) and can be completed online before being printed for signatures. If you do not have Adobe® Acrobat® Reader, it can be downloaded free of charge from Adobe's website.