Purpose
Volunteer State Community College recognizes that employees have a need and expectation to be continuously advised of their performance as perceived by their supervisors. The purpose of the evaluation is to provide employee feedback and to enhance the ability of the employee to advance the mission of the College.
Although Volunteer State Community College’s performance evaluation process is designed to provide feedback and measure an employee’s overall job performance during the performance year, the evaluation should focus on goal planning and goal attainment.
Policy
It is the policy of Volunteer State Community College that regularly scheduled performance evaluations will be conducted for all employees annually. Performance Evaluations cycle for Executive/Professional/Administrative and Clerical/Support staff annually, usually in the spring of each fiscal year. The performance evaluation of the President is conducted by the Office of the Chancellor under TBR Policy 1:03:03:00 Selection and Retention of the Presidents. The evaluations should effectively measure the competence, efficiency, conduct, merit, and other job-related functions
It is the responsibility of the Director of Human Resources to assist the Vice President, Deans, Directors, and Department Heads in the development of performance standards, methods, and procedures and to assume overall responsibility for the College’s performance evaluation system.
Volunteer State Community College maintains a policy of evaluating the job performance of its employees as a means of measuring operational efficiency and effectiveness; providing employees with meaningful information about their work and aiding the College in making personnel decisions related to such areas as training, compensation, promotion, job assignments, retention and long-range planning of College operations. Evaluation of employees is intended to be participatory in nature, involving the employees’ input as much as the rating supervisors’, thereby helping employees to contribute to the progress of the College.
Procedure
Administrative/Professional Employee
The performance evaluation process for Administrative/Professional employees should focus on the effectiveness, goals, and training needs of the employee. Performance goals should be challenging, realistic, measurable in time, quantity, and/or quality.
Clerical/Support Staff
The performance evaluation process for this class of employees should also focus on specific goals. Employees in this class may routinely perform similar duties and in such cases may have similar organizational goals. Performance evaluations for Clerical/Support staff should measure employees’ contribution to overall departmental goal achievement.
Among the factors evaluated during formal performance reviews are the employee’s quality and quantity of work, work habits, interpersonal relations, and adaptability to job conditions. Each employee is to be given an opportunity to meet with the evaluating supervisor to openly discuss candidly the evaluation before it is finalized, whereupon the employee will be given a copy of the completed form. Where an employee has received a deficient rating in any category or aspect of work that represents a significant area of job responsibility, the evaluating supervisor shall recommend specific corrective action to the employee and notify the appropriate Vice President, Dean, Director, or Department Head accordingly. Specific performance goals must be in writing. It is the responsibility of all supervisors to provide reasonable training for employees, to initiate efforts to assist employees in correcting deficient performance behavior and to evaluate employees objectively.
Probationary Evaluations
Employees at Volunteer State Community College are appointed with the expectation that they will contribute to the mission and success of the College. It is therefore reasonable to initiate certain measures during the employee’s initial probationary period to maximize their potential for success. The initial probationary period for all non-faculty employees is six months.
Each employee shall receive a formal performance evaluation during the initial probationary period as a means of determining such job characteristics as adjustment to employment conditions, integration into the College’s workforce, job learning process, attendance, and any other feature of the individual’s job success. During this period of initial employment, each employee is to receive close supervision, instruction, and review of work, training, and any other guidance that is supportive of the employee’s opportunity for success on the job.
Discretionary Performance Evaluations
Volunteer State Community College retains the right to conduct performance evaluations outside of the regularly scheduled times. This provides Vice Presidents, Deans, Directors, and Department Heads a means of documenting any specific performance deficiencies and a process in which to correct them. Further, should the particular performance deficiency not be corrected within acceptable limits, the discretionary evaluation can serve as important documentation when it becomes necessary to consider disciplinary actions up to and including termination of the services of such an employee. The primary intent is to bring to the employee’s attention a performance decline and the ways and means to correct it. It is the desire of the College that the problem will be resolved in this manner and that disciplinary measures, including termination, will be avoided. Division/Department Heads may utilize the self-evaluation as a means for gaining the employee's perception of his or her performance.
Review with Employee
Each formal performance evaluation will be thoroughly discussed with the applicable employee to point out areas that need improvement or are unacceptable. Employees are encouraged to comment about their work performance, in writing or verbally, and to discuss working conditions and offer suggestions for improving business operations.
The employee should sign the performance report to acknowledge awareness of its contents and the discussion with the rating supervisor. The employee’s signature does not necessarily mean the employee fully agrees with the contents of the evaluation and a statement to this effect is included on the evaluation instrument. The employee is entitled to a copy of the evaluation. In situations when an employee has reason to disagree with the performance evaluations, the employee may respond to the content or conduct of the performance evaluation in writing within 14 days following the employee’s discussion of the performance evaluation with the evaluating supervisor.
If an employee chooses this option, the employee’s response should be forwarded to the evaluating supervisor and a copy should be submitted to the Director of Human Resources/Affirmative Action Officer for inclusion into the employee’s file with the original evaluation document. It is the intent of the College that performance evaluations are to be completed and discussed with the employee on time. In the event that this does not occur, employees are encouraged to request, in writing to their supervisor, that their annual performance evaluation be conducted in a timely manner.
Effects of Substandard Rating
An overall substandard rating, as applied to performance evaluation, means any rating below the rating level of satisfactory/average/standard. Employees receiving a substandard rating or rating may have their employment condition modified in the following manner:
- Ineligibility for promotional consideration until the deficiency is corrected.
- Demotion to a lower level of responsibility with a corresponding decrease in salary.
- Disciplinary probation with specific performance goals for improvement.
- Termination
The specific action taken as the result of substandard rating(s) will depend on, but not be limited to, such consideration as the weight or significance of the evaluation category compared to the importance of other aspects of job performance and the length of time pertinent job factors have been observed by the rating supervisor. Repeated deficient performance ratings without improvement will lead to disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment.
Employees receiving substandard ratings will be reevaluated within three months to document progress in deficient categories unless the rating has resulted in a transfer, demotion, or termination. If the employee’s performance in the deficient category or categories has improved to at least a satisfactory/average/standard rating, while maintaining acceptable performance in other performance categories, the Vice President, Dean, Director, or Department Head may recommend the reversal of any demotion or restoration of promotional considerations.
Supervisory Evaluations
Employees wishing to evaluate their Vice President may elect to do so, by participating in the periodic evaluation of Senior Leadership that is distributed periodically. Participation in the evaluation by employees is voluntary. A summary of the responses will be used to improve the administration of the President and Senior Leadership.
Recordkeeping
Division Heads will forward employees' final annual performance evaluation to the Office of Human Resources for inclusion in the employee’s official personnel record. Discretionary and self-evaluations shall be maintained in the office of the Division/Department Head and are not submitted for inclusion in the employee’s official personnel file.
TBR Source: TBR Meeting, September 30, 1977; December 4, 2008
VSCC Source: September 8, 1999, President; November 24, 2008, President’s Cabinet; January 7, 2019, President’s Cabinet.
