A company requires to implement an appraisel system to hourly paid employees in a multi union site, all monthly paid staff participate in appraisel system with no problems, but hourly paid are very suspicious about appraisels in general, even although the appraisel system is not linked to pay. The unions will not even discuss the issue - any ideas.
Janice Douglas
One Response
Suspicious Unions
Janice, without knowing the arrangements the company has with the unions I can only be general in my comments, but I too have been in your position!
Without the support of the workforce (and implicitly the unions too) the appraisal system will be a waste of time, money and effort, and could just further antagonise the work force.
You need to be very clear about the purpose of the appraisal. In a previous role I put togther an appraisal process, including grievance and disciplinary processes that clearly presented the appraisal system as a means for training and developing employees, NOT to act as a stick to beat them with.
We went out to the work force and through a series of presentations and consultation sessions we introduced the system to them, told them why we wanted a new system, and asked for their input, comments, and issues. We dealt with these openly and honestly, and took on board some of their points, making the system very much theirs. Union members and officials were invited to these meetings too, and we also invited the area union representatives to the management meetings we had when setting up the new system.
We then provided training to all line managers in how to appraise people effectively. This was also coupled with general management skills refresher training. We invited the union representatives in the company to attend the training along with other managers.
We also trained the workers in how best to use the appraisal system to achieve their own development goals.
It did take effort, but we ended up with zero resistance (well, nearly!) from the workforce, NO resistance from the unions, and an appraisal system that people began to take seriously for the first time in years.