This audio conference was recorded on Monday - April 13, 2009

Credits:

This program has been approved for 1.5 recertification credit hours toward PHR and SPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HRCI homepage at www.hrci.org. The use of this seal is not an endorsement by HRCI of the quality of the program. It means that this program has met HRCI’s criteria to be pre-approved for recertification.

Description:

Even in the best of times, performance appraisals pose big challenges for employers. Many frontline supervisors hate doing them - and many rank-and-file employees view them as necessary evils to suffer through before they learn whether they’ll get a pay raise for the coming year.

Now, in today’s stressful economy, those appraisals are even tougher to handle. When everyone’s worried about what the future holds, it’s difficult to focus on individual performance goals. Many managers don’t really know how to use appraisals to keep their teams focused on your organization’s objectives, and many inflate ratings for the sake of keeping the peace.

Put an end to these problems and begin overhauling your performance appraisals with our intensive 90-minute audio conference recording.

Speaker(s):

Robin M. Throckmorton, SPHR, is president and executive HR strategist at Strategic Human Resources, a national HR consulting firm based in Cincinnati. She also serves as a founding partner of e-HResources.com, an online resource site for employers. She has helped clients in many different industries establish and enhance their human resources functions, research and implement performance management strategies, and create organizational development programs. Her expertise in organizational development includes strategic planning, performance management, multi-rater feedback, succession planning, and career management. Throckmorton holds the Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certification, and she is also a Development Dimensions International certified trainer. She is co-author of the book Bridging the Generation Gap, and she has written and spoken widely on human resources issues. She earned her master’s degree in labor and employment relations from the University of Cincinnati.

You and your colleagues will learn:

• Practical (and immediate) strategies for turning your organization’s appraisals from frustrating annual exercises into confidence-building retention tools for your workforce
• How to train your managers to create appraisals built on the facts - not subjective reviews or personal feelings
• Best practices for writing effective appraisals and conducting tension-reducing appraisal meetings
• Why you should prepare action items, follow-up dates, and other documentation before and after appraisals to track performance all year round
• Techniques for holding employees accountable without making them defensive in the process
• What you can do, across your organization, to ensure that rankings such as “Exceeds Expectations” or “Below Average” are interpreted consistently
• How your supervisors can structure appraisals that motivate your top performers, support your mainstay workers, and coach your stragglers
• Common appraisal mistakes that can lead to discrimination claims and other legal risks (and how you can avoid repeating those errors)