Author: Site Staff

Sample performance agreement:

Date:
To:
From:

Within the period, ____ to ____, thefollowing will be accomplished:

I. Key Result Area:_______________________

Objectives	Date
1. __________	__________
2. __________	__________
3. __________	__________

II. Key Result Area:_______________________

Objectives	Date
1. __________	__________
2. __________	__________
3. __________	__________

III. Key Result Area:_______________________

Objectives	Date
1. __________	__________
2. __________	__________
3. __________	__________

SOURCE:Keepingthe People Who Keep You in Business, Copyright © 2000 American ManagementAssociation International, http://www.amacombooks.org 

Visitors are granted permission todownload or print out one (1) copy of the content from the Book equal to one (1)page or less and agree not to reproduce, retransmit, distribute, disseminate,sell, publish, broadcast, or circulate this information without prior writtenpermission of the copyright owner (AMA), with this one exception: 

Usersmay, only on a one-time basis, include portions equal to one (1) page orless of information from the above Book in memos, reports, presentations, butonly if such materials are distributed or made available for non-commercial usein non-electronic form, to a limited number of individuals. All suchmaterials must include all copyright and other proprietary notices for theinformation used from the Web site, original source attribution, and the phrase“Used with the permission of American Management Association.” Users areprohibited from posting any content from the above book to any electronicbulletin boards, newsgroups or mail lists.

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Like a mounting number of executives reexamining the role ofperformance appraisal, HR professionals might like to propose an alternativestrategy for their organizations that fulfills the same purposes asappraisal-without its negative effect on employee morale and motivation. Here isa “cheat sheet” to help you frame your arguments and design aneffective initiative.

Function	What todo Instead
Transitioning from Appraisal	Use a broad-based team to design alternatives based on healthy assumptions. Separate the functions (pay, feedback, development, etc.); clarify the aim and design to accomplish that one specific purpose. Educate everyone in the organization about the need for and direction of intended change.
Improving Organizational Performance	Foster a compelling shared sense of purpose and direction for the future. Create a work climate that trusts and respects people as responsible adults. Train everyone to understand and apply system and process improvement methods.
Coaching Employees	Encourage everyone to take responsibility for getting coaching assistance that will best serve their individual needs and the particular situation. Provide employees and supervisors with training and elective tools that facilitate alignment, improvement, goal setting, and development. Use appraisal format as a coaching tool only if it is the most appropriate counseling tool for the particular employee and situation.
Feedback	Enlighten everyone on the value of feedback, information, and communication in improving the performance of individuals and the organization. Train everyone in the organization to be effective receivers of feedback. Foster a work culture where feedback is integrated into the day-to-day work. Make available to all supervisors and employees elective feedback tools and formats.
Compensation	Educate everyone on the realities of human motivation and the intended and unintended effects associated with compensation systems. Adopt profit- or gain-sharing practices that benefit everyone when the overall organization is successful. Foster pay practices that allow increases based on market adjustment, longevity, and maturity progressions, attainment of specific skills, reclassification, and cost of living. Consider systems that can provide special increases or lump sums for those very rare individuals who truly stand out as exceptional performers. Create a compensation system that is easily understood and clearly distinguishes market, cost of living, merit, and longevity.
Promotions/Career Advancement	Create open promotion and career advancement systems that clearly articulate both the objective and subjective criteria. Conduct just-in-time reference checks and use state-of-the-art interview techniques to fairly, accurately assess candidates’ potential for positions sought. Use panels of people to screen promotion applicants and to evaluate eligibility for advancement.
Development	Encourage and train people to be responsible for their own development and professional growth. Provide access to professional development assessment and counseling tools, career counseling, and funding for training and education. Mandate career planning and development only where there is a critical need.
Legal Documentation/ Helping Poor Performers	Educate all supervisors on the origins of poor performance, the importance of good fit, and ways to work with people in need of special help. Conduct appraisal only where legally required or prudently necessary (e.g., employees ending probationary status). Train supervisors on the array of ways to document unacceptable performance. Establish formal counseling and corrective action systems for poor performers.

Source: Tom Coens and Mary Jenkins, Abolishing Performance Appraisals: Why They Backfire And What to do Instead (Berrett-Koehler, December 2000)

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Features

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Fight Dirty Hiring Tactics

Unethical recruiters resort to lies, theft, and bribery to woo away your employees. Here are the tools you need to stop them. By Eilene Zimmerman

The New Thinking in Performance Appraisals

HR professionals are abandoning traditional annual performance reviews. Instead, they’re finding new ways to set goals and measure achievement. By Dayton Fandray

A Return to At-Will Employment

A decision by the California Supreme Court might bring business back to real at-will employment. Here’s what it means for you and your company. By Matthew Heller

Special Advertising Section

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Leader Summit Series: Internet Solutions

Human resources wants to free itself from the paper chains and participate in their companies’ strategic decision-making. With its powerful capabilities for recruiting and managing people, the Internet can help. Workforce asked leaders in HR’s Internet revolution to talk about the solutions that can move HR to the next level.

Departments

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Between the Lines

You’ll get through it.

Mailbox

Does age matter? • Why people expect so much from their jobs. • Money isn’t everything.

The Buzz

HR lessons for the dot-coms. • Internship diversity • Raw Data: the smuggler’s want ad • Well Done: Unisys and its college partners.

On the Contrary

Wouldn’t some chicken be good, right about now? Shari Caudron intends to spend less time on work, and more time mulling her poultry picks.

What Works

How a workplace drone blossomed into a motivated, engaged business partner. Tom Terez tells the tale of Walter, an employee you might recognize.

Interview

Executive coach Marshall Goldsmith comes with a money-back guarantee. He shares his tips on HR’s role as coach, including how to handle the know-it-all boss.

Dear Workforce:

Expert advice on measuring employee worth, workplace mentoring, and configuring a vacation and personal leave policy.

Legal Insight

The legal aspects of performance appraisals. • What to do with an employee who reeks of alcohol. • Can you force employees to have lunch together?

Small, Medium, Large

Nothing kills business faster than bad service. Here’s how three very different companies created customer-service training that delivers.

Think Twice

Todd Raphael isn’t ready to give exclusive tax breaks to ensure a supply of IT workers. Not when other vital professions have such critical shortages.

Use and modify this guideline torestrict the sharing, duplication and installation of company software outsideof work.

Guidelines for Employees’ HomeSoftware Use

Employee use of (organization’s)software at home is strictly prohibited unless express permission is receivedfrom (organization’s) software manager or designated department. If the softwaremanager or designated department determines home use is permissible under therelevant software license agreement, then in exchange for the privilege of homeuse, I expressly agree to the following terms and conditions of home softwareuse:

1. To install only the permissiblenumber of copies of (organization’s) software into my home computer asdetermined by (organization’s) software manager or designated departmentunder the relevant software license agreement.

2. To use the (organization’s) softwareconsistently with the software’s license agreement and (organization’s)software policy, including, but not limited to, restricting the software’suse to (organization’s) business only.

3. To subject my home computer with(organization’s) software for periodic software audits to ensure the(organization’s) software compliance, consistent with paragraph nine (9) of(Organization’s) Software Use Guidelines. (See Sample 3.)

4. To remove the (organization’s)software from my computer and return materials I may have relating to(organization’s) software back to (organization) should I cease to work for(organization). I understand that continued use of the software may subjectme to potential civil liability.

I have read (organization’s) SoftwareUse Guidelines and the preceding terms applying to home use of (organization’s)software. I am fully aware of the software compliance policies and agree toabide by them. I understand that violation of any of the (organization’s)software use policies, including, but not limited to, the terms above, mayresult in my termination.

___________________________________________
Employee Signature

___________________________________________
Date

SOURCE: Software & InformationIndustry Association (SIIA), SPA Anti-Piracy Division.

Reprinted with permission of E-PolicyHandbook: How to Develop Computer, E-mil, and Internet Guidelines to ProtectYour Company and its Assets by Nancy L. Flynn, published by AMACON Books. Allrights reserved.

The information contained here is intended toprovide useful information on the topic covered, but should not beconstrued as legal advice or a legal opinion.

Use a modified version of this formto regulate company sharing of computer software.

Corporate Policy Statement

Company/Agency Policy Regarding theUse of Personal Computer Software

(Company/Agency) licenses the use ofcopies of computer software from a variety of outside companies.(Company/Agency) does not own the copyright to this software or its relateddocumentation and, except for a single copy for backup purposes or unlessexpressly authorized by the copyright owner(s), does not have the right toreproduce it for use on more than one computer.

With regard to software usage on localarea networks, (Company/Agency) shall use the software only in accordance withthe license agreement.

(Company/Agency) employees are notpermitted to install their own copies of any software onto (Company/Agency)machines. (Company/Agency) employees are not permitted to copy software from(Company/Agency’s) computers and install it on home or any other computers.

(Company/Agency) employees, learning ofany misuse of software or related documentation within the company, shall notifythe Manager of Computer Systems or other appropriate person. According to theU.S. and Canadian copyright law, unauthorized reproduction of software is afederal offense. Offenders can be subject to civil damages of as much as U.S.$100,000 per title copied, and criminal penalties, including fines (up to U.S.$250,000 per work copied, CN $1,000,000) and imprisonment (up to 5 years pertitle copied).

Any (Company/Agency) employee whoknowingly makes, acquires, or uses unauthorized copies of computer softwarelicensed to (Company/Agency) or who places or uses unauthorized software on(Company/Agency) premises or equipment shall be subject to immediate terminationof employment.

(Company/Agency) does not condone andspecifically forbids the unauthorized duplication of software.

I am fully aware of the softwareprotection policies of (Company/Agent) and agree to uphold those policies.

_______________________
Employee Signature

_______________________
Date

SOURCE: Software & InformationIndustry Association (SIIA), SPA Anti-Piracy Division.

Reprinted with permission of E-PolicyHandbook: How to Develop Computer, E-mil, and Internet Guidelines to ProtectYour Company and its Assets by Nancy L. Flynn, published by AMACON Books. Allrights reserved.. Flynn, published by AMACON Books. All rights reserved.

The information contained here is intended toprovide useful information on the topic covered, but should not beconstrued as legal advice or a legal opinion.

QDear Workforce:

    Our Montana-basedcompany is opening an East Coast office and is trying to convince some of ouremployees to relocate to Virginia. We also will be hiring some people inVirginia who will need to train for six months in Montana. Therefore we need todevelop both permanent and temporary relocation packages. The average pay forthe employees relocating will be about 60K. In this day and age, whatconstitutes an appropriate package?

– Lucy, Human Resources Manager,liability protection company, Missoula, MT

Dear Lucy:

    For executive-levelemployees it is not uncommon to spend in excess of $45,000. Gross-up calculationwould probably add another $15,000 or so to that number, depending on criteria.Interim living, home finding and day(s) of move are generally handled in a lumpsum.

    Typical calculationsinclude 30 days of interim living for homeowners with a seven-day house huntingtrip and two days for final move and 15 days of interim living, a three-dayhouse hunting trip and two days of move for renters. This figure is calculatedby taking an average of the mid- to higher-range hotel/apartment costs in theproposed destination – probably somewhere around $90 per night in Virginia.

    Meals are calculatedon a per diem of $25 per day per person. During house hunting and day(s) ofmove, meals’ per diem would expand to include the number of people affected.Generally included in the lump sum is 10 days of car rental at approximately $44per day for homeowners and five days for renters. Transportation costs for househunting, interim living trips home and day(s) of move should be paid separatelyfrom the lump sum because airfares fluctuate and would make it impossible to befair to the employee or the company. All expenses associated with interimliving, house hunting and day(s) of move are considered taxable income to theemployee and must be grossed-up.

    Household-goodsshipment will vary depending on the size of the home and also should be handledseparately. This is not considered taxable income to the employee and will notaffect gross-up.

    It is probablyunnecessary to include Guaranteed Purchase Offers on employee’s homes. Thecurrent trend is to require employees to sell their homes on the open market.The homes will then be closed as Amended Value Sales, which will eliminate anygross-up since payment of closing costs no longer would be considered taxableincome to the employee.

    Finally, for the toptier, it is customary to include one month’s salary as a miscellaneousrelocation allowance to be used at the employee’s discretion in the newlocation. This is typically taxed at time of payment and, therefore, does notrequire gross-up.

SOURCE: Linzi Eisemann of Directmoving,St. Petersburg, Fla., and Margaret McCurdy of AmeriCorpGlobal Relocation, Dallas, Texas, Feb. 7.

The information contained within this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or legal opinion. Also, remember that state law may differ from federal law.

A sample policy covering a range ofcompany software issues.

Guidelines for Organization SoftwareUse

General Statement of Policy

It is the policy of (organization) torespect all computer software copyrights and to adhere to the terms of allsoftware licenses to which (organization) is a party. (Organization) will takeall steps necessary to prohibit users from duplicating any licensed software orrelated documentation for use either on (organization) premises or elsewhereunless (organization) is expressly authorized to do so by agreement with thelicenser. Unauthorized duplication of software may subject user and/or(organization) to both civil and criminal penalties under the United StatesCopyright Act. (Organization) must not permit any employee to use software inany manner inconsistent with the applicable license agreement, including givingor receiving software or fonts from clients, contractors, customers and others.

User Education

(Organization) must provide and requirea software education program for all its software users (to be crafted by thesoftware manager). Upon completion of the education program, users are requiredto sign the (organization’s) Employee Personal Computer Software UsageGuidelines. New users will be provided the same education program within ten(10) days of the commencement date of their employment.

Budgeting for Software

When acquiring computer hardware,software, and training, (organization) must budget accordingly to meet the costat the time of acquisition. When purchasing software for existing computers(organization) must charge the purchases to the department’s budget forinformation technology or an appropriate budget set aside for tracking softwarepurchases.

Acquisition of Software

All software acquired by (organization)must be purchased through the (MIS, purchasing, or other appropriate designated)department. Software may not be purchased through user corporate credit cards,petty cash, travel, or entertainment budgets. Software acquisition channels arerestricted to ensure that (organization) has a complete record of all softwarethat has been purchased for (organization) computers and can register, support,and upgrade such software accordingly. This includes software that may bedownloaded and/or purchased from the Internet.

Registration of Software

When (organization) receives thesoftware, the designated department (MIS, purchasing, etc.) must receive thesoftware first to complete registration and inventory requirements beforeinstallation. In the event the software is shrink-wrapped, the designateddepartment is responsible for completing the registration card and returning itto the software publisher. Software must be registered in the name of(organization) and the department in which it will be used. Due to personnelturnover, software never will be registered in the name of the individual user.The designated department maintains a register of all (organization’s) softwareand will keep a library of software licenses. The register must contain:

1. title and publisher of the software;

2. date and source of softwareacquisition;

3. location of each installation aswell as the serial number of the hardware on which each copy of the softwareis installed;

4. existence and location of backupcopies; and

5. the software product’s serialnumber.

Installation of Software

After the registration requirementsabove have been met, the software manager will install the software. Onceinstalled, the original media will be kept in a safe storage area maintained bythe designated department. User manuals, if provided, will reside either withthe user or the software manager.

Home Computers

(Organization’s) computers areorganization-owned assets and must be kept both software legal and virus free.Only software purchased through the procedures outlined above may be used on(organization’s) machines. Users are not permitted to bring software from homeand load it onto (organization’s) computers. Generally, organization-ownedsoftware cannot be taken home and loaded on a user’s home computer if it alsoresides on (organization’s) computer. If a user is to use software at home,(organization) will purchase a separate software package and record it as anorganization-owned asset in the software register. However, some softwarecompanies provide in their license agreements that home use is permitted undercertain circumstances. If a user needs to use software at home, he/she shouldconsult with the software manager or designated department to determine ifappropriate licenses permit home use.

Shareware

Shareware software is copyrightedsoftware that is distributed via the Internet. It is the policy of(organization) to pay shareware authors the fee that they specify for use oftheir product. Under this policy, acquisition and registration of sharewareproducts will be handled the same as commercial software products.

Quarterly Audits

The software manager or designateddepartment will conduct a quarterly audit of all (organization’s) PCs andservers, including portables, to ensure that (organization) is in compliancewith all software licenses. Surprise audits may be conducted as well. Auditswill be conducted using an auditing software product. Also, during the quarterlyaudit, (organization) will search for computer viruses and eliminate any thatare found. The full cooperation of all users is required during audits.

Penalties and Reprimands

According to the U.S. Copyright Act,illegal reproduction of software is subject to civil damages of as much as U.S.$100,000 per title infringed, and criminal penalties, including fines of as muchas U.S. $250,000 per title infringed, and imprisonment of up to five years. An(organization) user who makes, acquires, or uses unauthorized copies of softwarewill be disciplined as appropriate under the circumstances. Such discipline mayinclude termination of employment. (Organization) does not condone the illegalduplication of software and will not tolerate it.

I have read (organization’s)anti-piracy statement and agree to bind the (organization) accordingly. Iunderstand that violation of any above policies may result in both civilliability and criminal penalties for the (organization) and/or its employees.

______________________
Signature

______________________
Title

______________________
Date

 

SOURCE: Software &Information Industry Association (SIIA), SPA Anti-Piracy Division.

Reprinted with permission of E-PolicyHandbook: How to Develop Computer, E-mail, and Internet Guidelines to ProtectYour Company and its Assets by Nancy L. Flynn, published by AMACONBooks. All rights reserved.

The information contained here is intended toprovide useful information on the topic covered, but should not beconstrued as legal advice or a legal opinion.

Use the guidelines below to preventunauthorized uses of software including duplication and sharing.

Guidelines for Employee Software Use

Software will be used only inaccordance with its license agreement. Unless otherwise provided in the license,any duplication of copyrighted software, except for backup and archival purposesby the software manager or designated department, is a violation of copyrightlaw. In addition to violating copyright law, unauthorized duplication ofsoftware is contrary to (organization’s) standards of conduct. The followingpoints are to be followed to comply with software license agreements:

1. All users must use all software inaccordance with license agreements and the (organization’s) software policy.All users acknowledge that they do not own this software or its relateddocumentation, and, that unless expressly authorized by the softwarepublisher, may not make additional copies except for archival purposes.

2. (Organization) will not tolerate theuse of any unauthorized copies of software or fonts in our organization. Anyperson illegally reproducing software can be subject to civil and criminalpenalties including fines and imprisonment. Users must not condone illegalcopying of software under any circumstances. Anyone who makes, uses, orotherwise acquires unauthorized software will be appropriately disciplined.

3. No user will give software or fontsto any outsiders, including clients, customers, and others. Under nocircumstances will (organization) use software that has been brought in fromany unauthorized location under (organization’s) policy, including, but notlimited to, the Internet, home, friends, and colleagues.

4. Any user who determines that theremay be a misuse of software within the organization will notify theCertified Software Manager, department manager, or legal counsel.

5. All software used by (organization)on (organization)-owned computers will be purchased through appropriateprocedures.

I have read (organization’s) softwarecode of ethics. I am fully aware of our software compliance policies and agreeto abide by them. I understand that violation of any above policies may resultin my termination.

___________________________________
Employee Signature

___________________________________
Date

 

SOURCE: Software &Information Industry Association (SIIA), SPA Anti-Piracy Division.

Reprinted with permission of E-PolicyHandbook: How to Develop Computer, E-mil, and Internet Guidelines to ProtectYour Company and its Assets by Nancy L. Flynn, published by AMACONBooks. All rights reserved.

The information contained here is intended toprovide useful information on the topic covered, but should not beconstrued as legal advice or a legal opinion.

Unifi Network, a division ofPricewaterhouse Coopers, conducted a study of employee referral programs amongthe IT functions of companies. The survey data below is effective May 2001.

Prevalenceof Employee Referral Programs

Eighty-eightorganizations (61.1%) indicated that they have a formal employee referralprogram.

 

Prevalenceof Employee Referral Plan Structure
	Responses	Percentof Responses
Company-wide employeereferral program	51	58.0%
–with separatebonus structure for IT	21	23.9%
IT-specific employeereferral program only	16	18.2

 

AverageReferral Bonus by Employee Group
Company-wide
		TotalEnterprise
EmployeeGroup	Responses	25th %	50th %	Average	75th %
TopManagement	47	$500	$1,000	$1,405	$2,000
Mid-Management	47	$500	$1,000	$1,214	$2,000
Exempt	46	$500	$675	$993	$1,425
Non-Exempt	42	$500	$500	$652	$900
Company-wide/IT Bonus
		IT-Specific
EmployeeGroup	Responses	25th %	50th %	Average	75th %
TopManagement	16	$1,375	$1,500	$2,031	$2,000
Mid-Management	16	$1,375	$1,500	$2,031	$2,000
Exempt	16	$1,000	$1,500	$1,838	$2,000
Non-Exempt	12	$500	$500	$879	$1,125
		TotalEnterprise
EmployeeGroup	Responses	25th %	50th %	Average	75th %
TopManagement	16	$500	$900	$1,056	$1,000
Mid-Management	16	$500	$900	$1,056	$1,000
Exempt	16	$500	$750	$888	$1,000
Non-Exempt	12	$425	$500	$554	$688
IT-Specific
		IT-Specific
EmployeeGroup	Responses	25th %	50th %	Average	75th %
TopManagement	14	$1,000	$1,500	$2,050	$3,000
Mid-Management	14	$1,000	$1,500	$2,505	$3,000
Exempt	14	$1,000	$1,350	$1,764	$2,750
Non-Exempt	11	$1,000	$1,200	$1,609	$2,000

A Workforce Q&A with Mike Smith, vice president, business development, TALX Corporation, about the good and bad side of ASPs.

Workforce:

What is the current state of ASPs in the human resources arena?

Mike Smith:

ASP-based solutions actually complement HRMS-vendor-provided solutions.Today, all popular HRMS solutions provide standard application programminginterfaces (APIs) that make ASP integration a well-defined process. Inaddition, the employee portal trend is making integration simpler and offersemployees seamless access to a variety of services.

WF:

What are the pros and cons of blending conventional client-server softwareand ASP solutions?

MS:

The biggest advantage to integrating in-house systems with ASP software isthat the final solution is more robust and the total service offering ismuch richer. The blending of in-house and ASP-based solutions also offersthe advantage of bringing best-of-class services to employees. The biggestdisadvantage is the loss of control. That is why it is very important toselect an ASP that not only can provide the desired employee servicefunctions but also delivers a high level of service.

WF:

Which type of company benefits most from ASPs?

MS:

Traditionally, an ASP model has been most appealing to medium-sizeenterprises that simply cannot afford up-front software licensing costs, orthe infrastructure and ongoing maintenance costs required for enterprisebusiness applications. Now, with a multi-year ASP commitment, companies havepredictable ongoing costs. Even the larger companies with diverse employeepopulations can realize benefits by not staffing to handle peakemployee-centric events or supporting specialized employee servicestechnologies, such as IVR or speech recognition.

WF:

What are the most important issues to pay attention to when structuring adeal with an ASP?

MS:

Keyperformance measurements should include service availability, employeeutilization and acceptance, and consistency and reliability in dataexchange.

Workforce, February 2001, Vol80, No 2, p. 54  Subscribe Now!

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