Working Hard for the Money- Part 2

Thanks to our friends at CBC Hamilton for linking to this article. 


You may recall that The Hamilltonian did a story on performance plans/contracts for city staff. Specifically, we set out to find out if city employees who appeared on the 2011 Sunshine List (which shows employees who make $100,000.00 per year or greater), had an evaluated performance plan/contract in place. You can review the details of this story by clicking here.

What we discovered is that there is no way, at present, for the city to assure itself and Hamiltonians, at a summary statistical level, as to how many people receiving $100,000.00 or greater per year, are performing to standard and/or have a finalized performance appraisal/contract in place. Further we discovered that when looking at all city employees for the years 2008 to 2010, the stats for each year fell below a 50% completion rate.  While the completion rate trajectory was moving  year over year in the right direction, even the best of the three years, had only a 42% completion rate for performance appraisals/contracts.

We thus decided to follow up with City Manager Chris Murray.  Here is our Q/A with Chris:

Q. Can you advise what plans, if any, exist to increase the number of performance plans that are in place for city staff? If there are such plans, what is the target, the timeframe to achieve the target and how will Hamiltonians be assured that these plans are meaningful and provide for good performance monitoring/measurement?

A. From my perspective, one of the biggest differences I have noticed over the last 4 years is recognition that the following are critical to the City's overall Success: 

• Managing talent 
• Strategic workforce planning 
• Enhancing employee engagement 
• Improving leadership development 

Performance Management is a key component/driver of all of the above. Corporately my focus and that of SMT is on:

1. Building a Strong Foundation for Performance Management at the City by:

A) Re-designing our Performance Management System (This includes the process overall and supporting tools/documents). This is currently underway and I hope to have this new document and system in place by the fall.

Overall, Performance Management at the City of Hamilton needs to be treated as an opportunity to advance our organization to the next level of performance. If we are to distinguish ourselves, in terms of our sustainability and service, it will be because we recognized, believed in, and supported the human talent within the City of Hamilton.

B) Creating Alignment in our People Systems. We are in the process of defining the City's core competencies (skills, knowledge and behaviours) that help characterize success. These Core Competencies will then be used and integrated in Recruitment and Selection, Performance Management Training and Development, Career Development, Compensation and Incentives, Succession Planning etc.

2. Building an understanding in Performance Management at both the Individual and Organizational levels by:

A) Raising Awareness of the Purpose for Managing Performance at the City.

We need to minimize the belief/understanding that performance management is done to: 

• Trigger someone's merit increase 
• Manage problems 
• Be compliant with a policy 

We need to emphasize instead that performance management is done to: 

• Align work with our goals 
• Elevate our collective capability 
• Focus on the future talent growth 

B) Providing tools for Managers/Supervisors: 

• To accurately assess performance, coach and give feedback 　 
• To build meaningful relationships with employees that are based on mutual trust and respect 
• To create development opportunities and plans 
• To hold difficult conversations with employees 

3. Build accountability by enhanced tracking, reporting and metrics. This is a key aspect of our plan, accountability.

A) Corporate Performance Appraisal Tracking of Completion Rates - progress has been made year over year.

In order for the City of Hamilton to be successful, every Manager/Supervisor must demonstrate leadership by holding themselves and each other accountable to developing and investing in their people through the performance management process. Managers/Supervisors are being held accountable in their PA's for managing the performance and development of their direct reports by following the performance management process and regularly communicating the strategic direction.

In 2011 in partnership with HR and our Organizational Development Division, Departments have now adopted their own internal tracking systems and process that allow for more accurate reporting.

Lastly, I know you noted in your last post, our organization is moving in the right direction with respect to our performance appraisal completion rates, however for me, we need to do more and this is an important focus for senior management team (SMT) and Council, and has been identified as a specific action within our 2012 - 2015 Strategic Plan.

I expect that our completion rate will increase this year and my goal is to ensure it increases significantly. Throughout the rest of 2012, I will continue to ask SMT and staff for updates on this matter and will ensure I am communicating its importance.

Chris Murray

Thanks Chris!
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