Staff Appraisals - January/February 2023 Edition

An article by Chris Moses, Managing Director, Personnel Advice & Solutions Ltd.

As we approach the end of the financial year, this is a time when many councils conduct their staff appraisals. It may also be a time when councils who do not do them, start wondering how they could start an appraisal process. The following is not a step-by-step guide on conducting an appraisal interview, but a set of points that a parish or town council may want to consider when carrying out the process.

We hear many different reasons why a council feels it needs to carry out this process, These include pay awards, starting the disciplinary process, or just because the NALC template contract states a council has to do them. An appraisal has a much more constructive purpose. It is a once-a-year opportunity for an employee to:

• Discuss how they feel about their job.

• Let you know what they are doing well and how the Council can help them do it better.

• Inform you of areas of concern and what support they may need.

• Plan how they can achieve their ambitions and aspirations.

However, there is no right or wrong reason to hold appraisals. It is up to the council to decide why it wants to invest time in the process. The council needs to be united on this reason. It can be damaging and counterproductive if some members think that it is about putting employee(s) back in line, while staff are worried about the effects on their pay. The council needs to agree to do appraisals and set out the purpose of doing them.

If a council has more than one employee, it would be normal for the clerk to carry out the appraisal of their subordinates on a one-to-one basis. Some councils prefer to have members carry out the appraisals instead of the Clerk, and there is no legal reason why this cannot happen. The big question is who appraises the clerk? The council is the default management body, and therefore responsible for the clerk but most councils will delegate employment issues such as appraisals to a separate Employment Committee. If that is done by clear resolution, and the Committee has clear terms of reference to enable it to carry out the process, it can take responsibility for appraisals. At the same time members of the council who are not on the Committee would not have a legitimate aim in being involved in the appraisal process, and would not be able to justify seeing any of the appraisal details. Much of what goes into an appraisal form is sensitive personal data, such as performance data and personal information. Consequently, the Council GDPR obligations require it to ensure that only those councillors who have a legitimate aim in managing employment affairs can be justified in seeing this information.

The Employment Committee may have responsibility for appraising the clerk, but it may be impractical for all of its members to squeeze into a meeting room to do it. Instead, they may prefer to delegate conducting the meeting to a sub-committee.

No one individual councillor can do it. Conducting an appraisal involves exercising management responsibility, such as giving feedback on performance, producing improvement plans and agreeing an Action Plan. According to case law (Hillingdon) no individual councillor can exercise management responsibility. It must be a committee of at least two. Therefore, the clerk’s appraisal would be conducted by two or three members with appropriate authorisation and terms of reference.

There are no hard and fast rules on the type of appraisal form used. Some are based on the employee putting a tick against a number to state how strongly or otherwise they agree with a statement or question. Others require the employee to provide a written response to a range of open questions about their employment. There is no saying which format is best for your council. However, it is fair to say that senior staff prefer to give a balanced explanation for their answers, rather than just tick a box. Our advice is for councils to get some examples of appraisal forms and ask employees and councillors who are involved in the process to review several template forms and pick out the bits they like. The council can then produce its own customised form which has input from all concerned. This can help to develop ownership of the process by employees who have been directly involved in producing the form.

The Appraisal process is aimed at measuring the employee’s performance against the job description, which should be work oriented, objective and clear. By using this as a benchmark of performance, the council will hopefully help the employee to develop their contribution to the council, as well as avoid discriminatory assessment criteria.

However, many job descriptions are out of date, in which case the first appraisal meeting with an employee could simply entail a joint discussion on the list of activities on the document. Out of date tasks that are no longer relevant can be removed, and more recent activities can be added. This conversation can also include discussion about what the employee does well, what they need help with and what the council can do to support them. This can be a good way of easing the employee into an appraisal process, as this conversation is basically what an appraisal is. The resultant job description also needs to be approved by the HR Committee to ensure it delivers what the council needs, and not simply cherry picked the best bits.

Once an appraisal form is agreed, it can be issued to employees a week before the appraisal meeting, and they can be asked to complete it and bring it with them on the day. This should help to break the ice and get the ball rolling. The meeting needs to start by focusing on what the employee has done well during the year. Most people like to talk about their successes, and this is an ideal opportunity.

The appraisers should also ask what the council could have done to make the process better. Extra training, support or resources can be discussed, and the suggestions can become part of the resultant Action Plan.

If criticism is to be given, I would suggest no more than the top three concerns are addressed. If a long list of problems is issued, the employee may become defensive, and reluctant to attend future meetings. A long list of poor performance issues and/or misconduct can be addressed through the disciplinary process, but that is a different event. The top three concerns would be addressed as a counselling issue. The employee would be asked to explain what they would do to improve the issue, how they would approach it with the benefit of hindsight, and what the council can do to support them and help to improve on the matter.

At the end of the appraisal form there is the Action Plan. This sets out what has been agreed and what both parties aim to do to help develop the employee. To be effective it needs to be specific, objective, targeted and costed. The plan needs to set out what changes are required by the employee, how they need to perform, and what the council is doing to help them. Whether through training courses, coaching and mentoring at work, or distance learning, the plan needs to identify and set out how the employee will be supported in achieving the set goals. This can include dates of when these events will happen, and where, such as specific training events and dates. The Council (or relevant committee) can allocate a training budget for each member of staff, which is used to pay for these events. This will ensure that the employee can expect training and development events to happen on set dates and know that the money is there to pay for them. As a result, they can expect the Action Plan to be implemented, and they will receive the support they need to develop as an employee.

PROFILE

Chris Moses LLM Chartered FCIPD is Managing Director of Personnel Advice & Solutions Ltd. He is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and has a Master’s Degree in Employment Law. If you have any questions regarding these issues, please feel free to contact him on (01529) 305056 or email p.d.solutions@zen.co.uk | www.personneladviceandsolutions.co.uk.