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Supervisors critique evaluation process and seek changes to improve department morale
Summary
After a contentious evaluation cycle, Washington County supervisors told the Personnel Committee they want to shift annual department-head reviews from a "check-box" report-card to a goal-driven, collaborative process with periodic check-ins to improve morale and clarity.
Supervisors spent an extended portion of the April 9 Personnel Committee meeting reviewing the countyevaluation practices, saying the recent process left department heads and some supervisors dissatisfied.
Multiple committee members criticized the current "check-mark" approach as overly reductive and potentially damaging to morale. They recommended that evaluations instead focus on two dimensions—accomplishments and expectations—use goal-setting developed collaboratively with department heads, and include mid-year or committee-level check-ins so evaluations are a process rather than a single adversarial event. Supervisors suggested that committee chairs work with department heads to set measurable objectives and that staff return with a draft revised evaluation procedure for Committee review.
Committee members also discussed how staffing, budget constraints and recent county changes have complicated goal achievement and that evaluations should account for those contextual factors rather than only assigning static ratings.
Next steps: committee asked Melissa (staff) and supporting staff to compile suggestions and draft a revised process to present to personnel at a future meeting.
