General
Circular No. 001274
To: Heads of State Agencies and Human
Resource
Directors
Subject: Performance Planning And Review Training
Issue
Date: February 28, 1997
As you
know from General Circulars 1260 and 1268, we are
implementing
a new Performance Planning and Review System for
all
classified state employees on July 1, 1997 if the Civil
Service
Commission approves the proposed rules on May 7, 1997.
This
means that all supervisors, managers, and administrators
in your
agency who supervise classified state employees must be
trained
in the new system before July 1, 1997.
This
General Circular will cover three (3) points:
1. The
training which will occur in May and June 1997.
2. When
planning sessions and ratings under the new Performance
Planning
and Review System must take place.
3.
Using a system other than the 1997 Civil Service Performance
Planning
and Review System.
I. Performance Planning and Review Training.
Perhaps
the most important component of the new system is
training.
The Department of State Civil Service is committed to
providing
training for all persons who supervise classified
state
employees. Every supervisor must be
trained before July
1,
1997. All Performance Planning and
Review Training will be
scheduled
through the Comprehensive Public Training Program
except
for those agencies who will schedule and train their own
employees.
Your CPTP Coordinator will be receiving a schedule
in the
very near future.
Some
state agencies have decided to train their own supervisors
rather
than have Civil Service train them.
These agencies will
schedule
their own training. Civil Service will,
however,
train
the trainers for these agencies in special "Train the
Trainer"
sessions. Your Human Resource Director has more
information
on this.
After
July 1, 1997, Performance Planning and Review Training
will be
offered regularly through the Comprehensive Public
Training
Program; every new supervisor must take this course
immediately
after being hired, promoted, or permanently placed
in a
supervisory position.
II.General
Circular on Transition to Performance Planning &
Review
System.
Subsequent
to this General Circular, we will issue a General
Circular
with information concerning the transition to the
Performance
Planning and Review System. For the
interim we are
providing
the following information on transition which will be
governed
by Civil Service Rule 10.15 if it is adopted on May 7,
1997.
PERFORMANCE
PLANNING & REVIEW TRANSITION CHART FOR CLASSIFIED
EMPLOYEES
EMPLOYED BEFORE JULY 1, 1997
NOTE:
If the proposed rules are adopted, the first official
ratings
with the new Performance Planning and Review System
will
not be issued before November 17, 1997 and must occur
within
the forty-five calendar days before an employee's
anniversary
date in 1998. Planning sessions may
occur anytime
after
the rating supervisor has received the Performance
Planning
and Review Training and according to the following
transition
chart:
(Have)
Planning Session (for employees
with)1998
Anniversary
Date
No
later than 07/31/97
01/01/98 - 01/31/98 &
07/01/98 - 07/31/98
No
later than 08/31/97 02/01/98 - 02/28/98 &
08/01/98 - 08/31/98
No
later than 09/30/97
03/01/98 - 03/31/98 &
09/01/98 - 09/30/98
No
later than 10/31/97 04/01/98 - 04/30/98 &
10/01/98 - 10/31/98
No
later than 11/30/97
05/01/98 - 05/31/98 &
11/01/98 - 11/30/98
No
later than 12/31/97 06/01/98
- 06/30/98 &
12/01/98 - 12/31/98
PERFORMANCE
PLANNING & REVIEW FOR CLASSIFIED EMPLOYEES HIRED
JULY 1,
1997 OR LATER WHO HAVE NO PREVIOUSLY
ESTABLISHED
ANNIVERSARY
DATES
Any
person hired on July 1, 1997 or later, who has no
previously
established and active anniversary date under Civil
Service
Rules, shall have a planning session conducted by his
rating
supervisor within thirty (30) calendar days after his
appointment.
A new
classified employee (as defined in Rules 6.14 and 8.27)
shall
be first officially evaluated under the Performance
Planning
and Review System no sooner than forty-five (45)
calendar
days before his first eligibility date (anniversary
date). Thereafter, provided his anniversary date
remains
unchanged
in accordance with other Civil Service Rules, he
shall
be officially evaluated no sooner than forty-five (45)
calendar
days before his anniversary date.
NOTE:
The first official planning sessions for all classified
employees
shall occur anytime after the rating supervisor has
received
the Performance Planning and Review Training.
If the
proposed
rules are adopted, classified employees shall receive
their
first ratings on the new Performance Planning and Review
System
prior to their anniversary dates in 1998 (refer to
proposed
new Rule 10.6 in General Circular 1268).
III.
Using Any System Other Than the 1997 Civil Service
Performance
Planning and Review System.
If an
appointing authority wishes to use any system other than
the
Performance Planning and Review System, its system must
comply
with the Rules that will be considered by the Commission
on May
7, 1997, and its rating form must be approved by the
Director
of Civil Service no later than May 23, 1997.
We
strongly
encourage agencies to contact us immediately if you
intend
to use a performance appraisal system other than the
1997
Civil Service Performance Planning and Review System.
If you
have any questions concerning this General Circular,
please
contact Anne Soileau at 504-342-8272 or Terry Gomez at
504-342-8274.
Sincerely,
Allen
H. Reynolds
Acting
Director