Earlier I was watching Fox’s “Family Guy”, which is perhaps the most random television show I’ve seen. That’s another story, though.
In one scene, the central character “Peter”, misses out on the employee of the month award. Instead it goes to a disabled ward of the state who, it seems, has won it many many times. Peter seems a little dismayed. It’s an interesting statement on performance management in the real world.
Employee of the month programs are a bad idea. There’s quite a few reasons why, and I’m just going to touch on two. Objectivity and equity are vital to any performance management system. Unfortunately, most employee of the month programs lack both.
They generally lack clearly defined criteria, so employees don’t really know what performance looks like. If they don’t know, it’s difficult to achieve. Consequently, managers aren’t always objective in deciding who should be the employee of the month.
Another painful part of of employee of the month programs is their equity in general. In cases where there are clearly defined criteria, and multiple employees achieve those criteria, isn’t it unfair to reward only one employee?
To finish up, I have a general dislike of employee programs. They all tend to have a contrived feel. In fact, one CEO has named himself employee of the month 175 times, and I’m not entirely sure that’s a joke. What’s your experience with employee of the month programs?