A Study of Employee Performance Appraisal Systems in State Governments

Employee performance appraisal has grown in importance in the public sector, and it is now being used for personnel decisions for pay raises, promotions, and discipline. However, appraisal systems are now being criticized as being unfair and an unnecessary burden on management. A recent survey was undertaken to determine the current employee performance appraisal practices of statewide systems. Questionnaires were sent to the directors of personnel of the 50 states. The respondents indicated that setting the objectives is the first step in the development of a performance appraisal system and that this, in turn, sets the tone for the implementation of the policies within the system.The use of Behavioral Anchored Rating Scales, a form of rating scale that has received a lot of recent attention, was found to be non-existent in the state appraisal systems. The most common objective of the appraisal system was salary adjustment, followed by promotion and employee termination. Eighty-six percent of the states appraise employees once a year, and the person conducting the appraisal is usually the immediate supervisor. Most states use a single performance appraisal form to evaluate all employees in order to simplify the administration of the appraisal process, and quality of work is the most commonly used job factor. Overall, the survey found that appraisal systems and forms used by the states are generally non-related to jobs and, therefore, inadequate.