PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS: THE IMPORTANCE OF DOCOMENTATION

摘要

There is perhaps no more important area of documentation and record keeping in fire service human resource management than performance evaluations or appraisals. Performance evaluations are used for a number of reasons and can have a significant impact on salary administration, performance feedback, promotions, training, and identifying an individual's strengths and weaknesses. Traditionally, supervisors use performance evaluations as a necessary tool in evaluating a newly hired or promoted member's progress through a working test period or until the member becomes certified. Today, this same documentation, although still valued as critical criteria in the evaluation of a subordinate's work progress and ethic, is being used to provide backup information for management decisions when raises, transfers, or corrective actions are called into question. One reason some organizations, including fire departments, fail in their performance appraisal programs is that they often select evaluation criteria indiscriminately, evaluate based on personality, and are very poor record keepers.