Employees are constantly evaluated, but do they even know that they are? Chances are if you work in a drug and alcohol treatment center, you are familiar with both ’90-day’ and ‘annual’ evaluations. While some agencies have done away with 90-day evaluations, we intend to share about them. Here, we will discuss some of the trends we have witnessed within the drug and alcohol treatment world.
90 DAY EVALUATIONS
The first 90 days is generally considered an introductory, or probationary, period. What does that mean? Well, it is a period for both the employer and employee to determine whether the relationship shall be prosperous for each side. In other words, is the company a good fit to the employee and vice versa. While we believe this sounds good in theory, is it accurate? How much time is being spent on the front-end to ensure the applicant that is hired is qualified and understands the position? Better yet, who is explaining what the experience is truly like? Who is a part of the hiring process? Who is sharing the expectations of the job? We could drastically increase the list of questions, but we believe you understand the point.
The truth is, the answer to these questions (and many more) will vary based on the company. We often see the hiring agency so desperate to fill a ‘hole’ in their schedule that they hire very quickly. Too quickly. Conversely, the employee may also be in a delicate situation to accept any job, regardless of interest. Notwithstanding those two very common themes, it is important to evaluate the employee objectively. Does the perspective employee fit well with the rest of the team? Does employee feel good about joining the agency? Who knows. How you evaluate the employee is equally important. Chances are, you are using a template for this process. Regardless of the template’s adequacy, tracking and documenting feedback is essential.
ANNUAL EVALUATIONS
Similar to 90 day evaluations, annual evaluations show an even greater inadequacy within the substance use disorder treatment employment world. For starters, a large amount of time passes between the 90 day and annual evaluation (9 months to be precise). While some company’s do a great job at this, a large portion do not have adequate technology to help them. For example, you may not be clearly documenting supervision information, unless a corrective action plan is put in place. Other than those instances, praises are also not as well documented. Therefore, the supervisor must simply rely on memory. That is Scary. Not only is it scary, but misleading. In other words, there is a lot of missing, and extremely valuable, data left out of the evaluation process. This not only negatively impacts an employee, but also hinders the agency as well as the manager. Data is paramount.
WHAT IS THE SOLUTIONS
A technology like Plaitoe can help solve your problems with documentation your supervision. Your company, supervisors, managers and employees deserve the data to give them dedicated feedback. Stop relying on the memory of your staff. Instead, use Plaitoe’s supervision log. Document the positive employee experiences as well as the areas that are a cause for improvement. Give your team the tools to succeed, but more importantly, to help others succeed.
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