A guide to conducting performance reviews Minnesota

On the scale of "fun" restaurant tasks,conducting employee performance reviews likely falls somewhere between calling a plumber and attending a bad staff party. Participants on both sides of the table are likely to approach the grading process feeling some trepidation, with each side wondering about the other's satisfaction with and commitment to the work being done.

It's easy to push reviews to the back burner, but the sooner they are conducted, the sooner managers can effect changes in employees' behavior and ensure that staff members remain happy and dedicated to their jobs-and less turnover means a boost to the bottom line. The National Restaurant Association (NRA) notes that keys to conducting successful employee reviews include setting specific, measurable goals and allowing employees to suggest ideas that would help improve their performance.

Ask and Receive

At Chicago-based Morton's, The Steakhouse, hourly employees receive an evaluation upon their completion of a 90-day training program. After that, they are reviewed annually. Managers, however, receive a mid-year and an annual review that encompasses feedback from everyone from general-manager "coaches" to broiler chefs.

"All of our managers are used to giving and getting feedback on a regular basis," says Steve Baker, Morton's director of training.

The steakhouse chain's turnover rates are a testament in part to the success of its employee review program: The current turnover rate is 16.3% for managers and 29.8% for hourly employees. This compares with an average restaurant turnover rate of 29% for managers and 107% for hourly employees, according to 2006 data announced at the People Report Best Practices Conference in November 2006. Morton's won People Report's 2006 Best Practices Award in the fine-dining/high-volume segment.

Morton's is working to improve its performance-review program by allowing more time for employee feedback during regular preshift meetings. "Preshift meeting language can be a little too one-sided or one-way," Baker says. Making sure that feedback is a part of all meetings, including these daily gatherings, is part of Morton's commitment to listening to all employees and maintaining good communication throughout the operation.

"What's important is that reviews are not a one-sided proposition," Baker says. Beyond that, he says, setting a professional tone for the review and making employees comfortable from the beginning are critical. "There are so many types of personalities that the person doing the review has to take that into consideration and maybe adjust their approach," he says.

Furthermore, Baker suggests, ask employees open-ended questions about their performance, such as "How do you see yourself in terms of your communication skills?" When a self-evaluation is part of the review process, inquire about employees' reasoning behind their self-ratings. "For example, [managers can ask] 'What specifically were you thinking when you gave yourself that score?'" Baker says. This will contribute to a more-productive review that doesn't result in both parties leaving the room with several questions unanswered or comments unstated.

Do/Don't

DO: "Accumulate evidence" of commendable and improvable behaviors, advises Michael C. Sturman, Cornell associate professor of human resources management. If an employee isn't communicating as well as he or she should be, make sure there are to-the-date examples to back up the assertion.

DO: Conduct the review in a quiet location.

DO: Ask for feedback and solicit self-evaluations.

DO: Clarify for yourself and employees the expectations associated with a particular position, and identify the ways in which a great performance differs from a good performance and an average performance.

DO: Write down what is discussed during the face-to-face review.

DON'T: Wait until two weeks before reviews are due to update employees' performance records.

DON'T: Answer a phone call during the review.

DON'T: Allow differences in personality to interfere with the objective review of a person's performance. Is the employee reaching his or her goals, performing at the top of his or her ability and meeting company standards?

DON'T: Restrict questions of the employee to an end-of-the-meeting, "Do you have any questions?"

Go Long (And Short)

Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Domino's Pizza knows its customers' demands, and it strives to meet these by communicating to employees a list of specific expectations and priorities. "One Brand, One System, One Team" is the motto for the 8,000-unit chain, which employs more than 140,000 people worldwide.

"We break our review process down by store hourly, store management and office salaried," says Kristina Clarke, Domino's program leader of organizational development. Hourly employees and store managers complete a formal self-appraisal and receive a performance review each February; at that time, they also work with a team leader to come up with personal objectives for the year.

Team leaders track employees' progress and adjust objectives as necessary at a semiannual review. This year, to promote retention and employee development, Domino's incorporated career-development discussions into the mid-year reviews. Employees fill out an online performance appraisal and identify their short- and long-term career goals so that the company can monitor employees' growth and evaluate the effectiveness of the review process itself.

A management-development paid training program allows promotion-seeking staff members to work with a general manager to learn shift- and business-management skills. Additionally, in the Domino's Pizza Prep School, new office employees learn store-operations practices.

Teach the Teachers

Managers at the more than 160 Jason's Deli locations receive targeted employee-review training, says Joe Loyd, human resources director for the Beaumont, Texas-based company's northern region. Jason's introduced performance-review workshops for all managers last year as part of an overhaul of the company's employee-evaluation process.

"A lot of companies believe that 'Well, he or she is a supervisor, they should know how to do a performance review,'" Loyd says. Jason's Deli, winner of People Report's Best Practices Award in the fast-casual/family-dining segment for 2006, found that that was decidedly not the case, however, and that discovery helped prompt the workshops' creation.

The interactive performance-review workshops take place at Jason's Deli regional headquarter locations. "We do role-playing," Loyd says. "We give them a brief synopsis of an employee or a junior manager's work record with a few details in it and ask them to go out as a group and spend 20 minutes to come up with a review."

One thing managers learn at the workshops is how performance documentation can help employees understand their manager's perspective. When employees receive comments on specific actions and behaviors, they are better able to recognize what they should do to either maintain or improve their performance.

"It's easier to go back [to employees] with specifics rather than with random thoughts," Loyd says. "[Managers] realize, 'Oh my gosh, if I can take them back to this day, if we can recreate that situation, then it's easier for us to talk about it.'"

Employees receive their written evaluation a week before they have their in-person review. This gives everyone "time to think through the things they're going to sit down and talk about," Loyd says.

Contact writer at christine.lafave@reedbusiness.com