Evaluating employees: Tanner, Stephanie (Why PR professionals need evaluation) After the hiring process has been completed,

it is important employees receive evaluations on their wor ! "rom a management perspective, evaluating employees is the most difficult function to (verb) correctly! Whether it be an evaluation based on performance or based on some other criteria, it must be done it complete fairness and ob#ectivity in order to both comply to laws stated in the previous section of this paper, as well as maintain an effective and unbiased wor environment! This section will consider three principles of evaluation$ %) why evaluation is necessary for PR professionals, &) what tools are available to managers to ma e the evaluation process fair, and ') how to evaluate PR and professionals effectively and fairly! Why evaluation is necessary. The first principle of evaluation deals with the purpose in performing the evaluations! Performance(based evaluations can ta e place anywhere from once a year to once a )uarter, and any variation in between! The timing of the evaluating depends on the structure, functionality and goals of an organi*ation, but the purpose should always be the same$ to measure the impact of employees and their wor on the bottom line of the company! +n A Practitioner's Guide to Public Relations Research, Measurement, and Evaluation, evaluation of PR tactics is described as the process through which hard and soft data are recorded and measured for their bottom(line effectiveness, or how well they meet company ob#ectives! ,ard data are numbers and figures while soft data are the overall effectiveness of a media campaign! Soft data, or -non(financial indicators. are harder to measure because they do not directly demonstrate how the bottom line of a company has been impacted! "or e/ample, one might measure success of a story pitched to the media in its placement in a certain number of ma#or media outlets, or how many press releases were sent out! These demonstrate success in the campaign, but do not show specifically how numeric company ob#ectives are met! +n evaluating employees in the wor place, soft data can be more closely e/amined and employee effectiveness can be determined! Along with evaluating the effectiveness of each employee0s performance, it is important to

identify areas of great achievement as well as areas needing improvement! 1valuating gives upper management the opportunity to associate with employees usually unseen by them, which can be used for good if praise and suggestions are given! The motivation of employees can be greatly affected during evaluation periods when there may be a stigma of negative criti)ues or criticism! +f managers use evaluations to instruct employees of proper company eti)uette or procedures, the shelf(life of employees will increase! Performing evaluations on a regular basis is also an effective type of -insurance. for the company! +n the recording and ma ing aware of critical incidents of employees, companies can actually avoid lawsuits if the termination of an employee ta es a wrong turn! 2n the opposite end of the spectrum, evaluations can also serve as an insurance for the company in establishing strong employees for the company0s future! Rewarding goo behavior is #ust as important as pointing out incorrect behavior, in fact, it is probably more important because it not only establishes good practices, but creates an environment of positive attitudes, trust and leadership! Another principle in the reason for evaluating employees is to ma e it a daily process for managers aside from a )uarterly or semi(annual company(wide procedure! 3aily evaluation will help in the day(to(day wor ings of the company environment! As stated earlier, evaluation for public relations professionals is an opportunity for non(financial factors to be measured! Along with campaign tactics effectiveness, these can also include at(wor attitudes and relationships with co(wor ers! The essence of employee evaluating stems from the overall goals of the company! Whatever those may be, evaluations create a mutual understanding between employees and management that should be used for the perpetuation of the company at large! (Tools to evaluate) How to evaluate effectively and fairly. +n class and in (the te/tboo ), four steps to evaluating employees fairly have been discussed! The first is to set measurable goals for each employee to wor towards between each evaluation period! This creates a sense of belonging and responsibility! +t helps the

employee now what is e/pected of them, and it helps company management control the focus of their subordinates! There also should be clear criteria for the actual evaluation! This ensures continuity and ob#ectivity in the grading of employees0 performance! These criteria must be as ob#ective as possible! To do this, management should assign )uantifiable scales to each criteria point! Second, managers need to ma e sure employees now the e/pectations they will be evaluated on! Transparency in the wor pace is important and to be completely fair to all employees, their evaluation criteria should be now! Along with this, a third step could be to record critical incidents! They play a significant role in an employees0 tenure and must be reported and addressed immediately so that nothing is a surprise in the actual evaluation! As was stated before, eeping good records can turn out to be good insurance for a company, and recording all critical incidents will ensure this to happen! 4astly, employees should be given a written record of critical incidents and of their evaluation reports! 1valuations should be done completely independent of any previous evaluations! 5eeping and providing records will ensure fairness and ob#ectivity! "ollowing these steps in the evaluation process will ensure the fair and consistent assessment of all employees! 3oing so will provide management necessary information for decisions about rewards or promotions for high(performing employees, or if necessary, the termination of employees with low performance!