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ratings than the employee deserves. Others evaluate more harshly than necessary so they <br />won't be accused of favoring a subordinate who has become a friend. <br /> <br />Ratings will be inconsistent unless one person evaluates everyone: At least four people <br />would be evaluating exempt employees. The same performance could conceivably <br />receive four different ratings, depending on the eva. luator. <br /> <br />.Performance appraisals have not been ahigh priority.' Successful performance appraisals <br />require a commitment to take the process seriously, believe there is value in it and do it in <br />a manner that is honest, fair, timely, and conscientious. <br /> <br />Implementing performance based pay entails a lot of work for an organization that prides <br />itself on having one of the lowest staff tO citizen ratios in the area: As new mandates and <br />responsibilities are added, none are taken away. Nor is staff added. Diverting attention <br />from doing their jobs to justifying their existence on paper seems like a poor use of <br />resources, especially when it is unclear what additional benefit will be realized from the <br />additional paperwork. <br /> <br />Singling out one employee group for p'~rformance based pay increases is di.s. criminatory: <br />Exempt employees don't have the same protection as unionized employees. Most of <br />them are not eligible for overtime pay or compensatory time. Although their salaries are <br />supposed to reflect the fact that their jobs routinely require more than 40 hours per week, <br />the reality is that on a per hour basis, many managers earn less than their unionized <br />subordinates who receive overtime pay. Raises for unionized employees are negotiated <br />and granted regardless of individual performance. <br /> <br />Mitigating circumstances can prevent employee~ from meeting standards: There is <br />concern that performance based pay will be implemented to the letter, i.e. that whatever is <br />written in the plan is what the employee will be rated on. If, for reasons beyond the <br />employee's control, the expectations weren't met, the employee may be penalized, even if <br />they were doing more work than usual, as in the case of temporarily covering duties <br />normally assigned to someone else. <br /> <br />The implication that exempt employees are not accountable makes them defensive: It's <br />demoralizing to be told that a new structure needs to be developed or the City can't count <br />on exempt employees to do their jobs as they should be done. <br /> <br />revised 7/03/97 <br /> <br /> <br />