Manager bias happens under the following scenarios:
§ When the employee appraisal cycle happens once or twice a year, Manager tends to remember only the last few months/weeks (e.g. 2 months) of performance. They tend to forget the performance in the beginning of the year/cycle. In this case, generally the feedback will reflect only the recent performance.
§ There may be a chance of managers during an appraisal period. If the first manager's feedback is not captured in a formal way, second manager can reflect only/her experience with the employee.
§ There are managers who are very strict and who are lenient. So, same amount of productivity of an employee can be rated as excellent by one manager and moderate by another manager.
§ If the manager and employee don't get along well, there may be a chance for manager’s bias.
Q. How does Synergita address these issues?
Ø Continuous feedback:
Synergita has a concept of continuous feedback. Anyone can provide feedback to anyone (peers can provide feedback on an individual, managers can provide feedback, mentor can provide feedback).
These feedbacks can be:
· Appreciations/rewards
· Critical inputs
· Complaints
Feedback can be given at any moment/any day. And HR or department heads can have visibility. If there is a scenario where a manager rates a team member as "low performer", but if there are several positive feedback about the team member throughout the year in the form of appreciation or rewards, HR can easily figure it out. Then, HR can get in and resolve if there are any conflicts.
Ø 360 degree feedback:
Synergita has a concept of 360 degree feedback. You can use this either as a part of your appraisal cycle (or) as a stand -alone exercise. People can get peer feedback and do a perception analysis. If 360 degree feedback is used as a part of appraisal cycle, manager gets to see other's feedback/rating before he/ she provides own feedback and rating. This will again reduce any bias.
Ø Employee specific review plans:
Synergita advocates the concept of more regular, periodic feedback cycles. Typically, once in a quarter to reduce bias, recent issues etc. Administering such feedback cycles is easy. HR need not spend lot of time. Managers can also create their own employee specific review plans. This will bring in better trust between managers, team member and will increase the overall collaboration.
Ø Consistency of rating a team-member by different managers:
HR can publish the rating guidelines. Managers can refer to these guidelines while providing the rating. This will help in improving the consistency among multiple managers.
