PERs : All issues questions...2003-2019

[211RadOp]

Hi all

I need some help here, everyone always wants to write good assessments on their troops but from time to time there are those who unfortunately need to have a evaluation done that is negative.  There are tons of sites out there in Cyberland that tell you how to blow sunshine up someone’s hind end that reflect good job performance. But I have been looking to find a site that gives me (the author of a poor evaluation report) good phrases on writing negative assessments, or at least a list of phrases that can be used to write a negative evaluation.

If any know of a site please forward the link to me...

Tanks   

Another thing you might want to do is remove your work address as your subordinate may be a member here and you may not want him to know in advance.

 

[Jimmy SG]

I have just been tasked to write my very first PDR. I have read what is available on the site. I am planning on looking back on my old PDR's and using the word picture book. I also have his "Brag Sheet", and was wondering if anyone had some other advice for me. Thanx.

 

[George Wallace]

You have about got it.  Not much more to it.  Remember, this is only a PDR, and you should fill all the boxes, with strong, weak, and ways to improve.  It is from these PDR files that you will later write the PER, and it is documentation of whether or not your subordinate has taken creative criticism and improved or was an insubordinate arse and ignored advice.  The proof will lie in the pudding, as he will have signed it before you give him a copy and file the original in his UER/Pers File.

If you have to do Page 1, make sure you have the correct job discription for the person. 

 

[BernDawg]

Something we do in our unit that not all units do is to put the appropriate AF or PF number in front of the statements.  It makes for a clear understanding of what you are addressing the comments to.  It's also very handy when you go to do the PER and then apply the AF and PF's to the master document.  Make sure you have the current version of CFPAS too it just got updated today here and it looks better than before.  The promotion reccomendation is automatic based on the dot allocation.  Very handy.  Most importantly... Don't sweat it, take your time and be honest with the member and yourself.

Cheers
Bern

 

[Big Foot]

I just had to write my first 6 PDRs ever a couple weeks back and as the others have said, don't sweat it. Use the brag sheet, use what you saw of the person and put together what you feel is an accurate assessment of the individual. Thats all you can do, really.

 

[Good2Golf]

Also consider making a separate e-mail folder for each of your subordinates; drop anything relating to them in the folder.  It helps focus on the member come PER time.

G2G

 

[BernDawg]

Awesome idea.  I'm all over that. 

 

[riggermade]

Just one note about PDR's don't be afraid to put down weak points.  In my experience alot of people don't like to bring up shortcomings but if you don't the soldier is not going to correct his behaviour and then apperently there is a whole Army of soldiers with no weak points but lots of positive.  Makes it hard to explain to a soldier why his PER is not what he expected after reading his/her PDR's

 

[navymich]

I found it interesting to find out on my recent ILQ when we were discussing PDRs and PERs, that the Navy is the only one that keeps divisional notes.  I've never known any different then keeping them, and find that it makes it that much easier to write the PDRs and PERs when you have the information, good and bad, right at your fingertips.

 

[Armymedic]

A good start is having 3 strengths and 3 areas for improvement. Try to have atleast one example of what they did.

The PDR is written honestly, and with practice, you can write your statements so that they can be copied and pasted right into the PER blocks. If you go off the 16 or so performace points and 6 potential points, even if your troop is getting a Mastered PER again this yr, it'll be easy to find 3 areas they need to improve in.

 

[Roy Harding]

Just one note about PDR's don't be afraid to put down weak points.  In my experience alot of people don't like to bring up shortcomings but if you don't the soldier is not going to correct his behaviour and then apperently there is a whole Army of soldiers with no weak points but lots of positive.  Makes it hard to explain to a soldier why his PER is not what he expected after reading his/her PDR's

Although no longer in, when I WAS, I made it a habit to emphasize shortcomings on the PDRs, and strengths on the PERs.  Seems to have worked well.  (Of course I am speaking of that mythical beast - the "average soldier", if someone is constantly outstanding, or constantly a thud*, this doesn't apply).

My logic was that the PDR was a formal method of me telling the troops what they needed to work on, and the PER was a formal way of me telling the world how great my troops were (and, had they addressed those weaknesses mentioned on PDRs, those areas would be strengths by the time a PER was written).

An overriding concern is that a soldier should NEVER formally hear of his weakness(es) for the first time on a PER - that portion should not be a surprise to him, as you have kept him informed throughout the year by means of the PDR.

For the originator of this thread:  I feel your pain.  Accurately and fairly critiquing your fellow man is an acquired skill.  It gets easier as you do it more.  The posters above have made many excellent suggestions.  Consider them all.  Then use those that work for you.

Good luck to you.  You'll do fine - your concern over doing it right, as evidenced by starting this thread, indicates the right mindset.

 

[Jimmy SG]

That is great. Thank-you for your help.

 

[Good2Golf]

Although no longer in, when I WAS, I made it a habit to emphasize shortcomings on the PDRs, and strengths on the PERs.  Seems to have worked well.  (Of course I am speaking of that mythical beast - the "average soldier", if someone is constantly outstanding, or constantly a thud*, this doesn't apply).

My logic was that the PDR was a formal method of me telling the troops what they needed to work on, and the PER was a formal way of me telling the world how great my troops were (and, had they addressed those weaknesses mentioned on PDRs, those areas would be strengths by the time a PER was written).

An overriding concern is that a soldier should NEVER formally hear of his weakness(es) for the first time on a PER - that portion should not be a surprise to him, as you have kept him informed throughout the year by means of the PDR.

For the originator of this thread:  I feel your pain.  Accurately and fairly critiquing your fellow man is an acquired skill.  It gets easier as you do it more.  The posters above have made many excellent suggestions.  Consider them all.  Then use those that work for you.

Good luck to you.  You'll do fine - your concern over doing it right, as evidenced by starting this thread, indicates the right mindset.

+1

Good words, Roy!

G2G

 

[justmyalias]

Greetings, instead of starting a new thread., I'm going to bump this old, but good one.

I have a few questions ref PDR&PERs.

-What is the appropriate action if you find a PER (a page thereof, or the whole thing) left in the communal printer bin?
-What if you don't like what you read on your PER/PDR are you obligated to sign it?  Can you challenge it?  Do you 'Redress' it?
-Can you receive a WORSE PER than a previous one which was outstanding?

I would appreciate specific refs (as my still young'ish self) to orders or what not to the tune of these questions.

Shucks...wish things were more anonymous online...but I guess you guys know what the hell of a predicament I'm in.  If anyone wants to lend a helping hand privately I'd appreciate this also.  pm and I'll get back .

 

[George Wallace]

Greetings, instead of starting a new thread., I'm going to bump this old, but good one.

I have a few questions ref PDR&PERs.

-What is the appropriate action if you find a PER (a page thereof, or the whole thing) left in the communal printer bin?

First, what is your definition of a "communal printer"?  Where is said printer located?  Were you standing at it when the Print Job started, and is the originator walking towards you?

That should never happen, and if it does, the person who printed it should be nearby looking for it.  If you do find part or complete PER in a communal printer, you should bring it to the person who printed it off immediately. 

-What if you don't like what you read on your PER/PDR are you obligated to sign it?  Can you challenge it?  Do you 'Redress' it?

You can try to refuse to sign it, but you had better have legitimate and documented reasons not to.  You can challenge any PER by using the Redress of Grievance process.

-Can you receive a WORSE PER than a previous one which was outstanding?

Simple answer is "YES".  Remember that old saying:  "When you are on Top, there is only one direction you can go.....Down."  Yes, you can get a PER the next year that is not as GOOD as your previous years.  Each annual assessment of your job performance is supposed to be unbiased and not an "accumulation" or "progression" of previous PERs.  Your supervisor, if not the same as last year, should have no idea of what your last PER was.

 

[BernDawg]

Not signing a PER does nothing.  It will get submitted with an annotation on it "Member refused to sign".  Signing it just means that you have acknowledged reading it and being briefed on it.  If you are unhappy about it redress it immediately.  Have all your ducks in order and back up your redress points with facts, figures, statements and concrete examples of your performance the preceding year

 

[MJP]

Simple answer is "YES".  Remember that old saying:  "When you are on Top, there is only one direction you can go.....Down."  Yes, you can get a PER the next year that is not as GOOD as your previous years.  Each annual assessment of your job performance is supposed to be unbiased and not an "accumulation" or "progression" of previous PERs.  Your supervisor, if not the same as last year, should have no idea of what your last PER was.

Only if your supervisor did their job and wrote you up accordingly in your 3 quarterly PDRs can they really justify taking you down from lets say a mastered to a skilled.  If the member hasn't been told what to improve then how can he improve.  Believe me saying "well I told him to get his act together" don't fly   You must have documented proof and the best way is the PDRs.  To just arbitrarily take someone down is grounds for redress and they will win unless you can prove they were counselled in-depth at some time in the reporting period.

Justmyalias...you alluded to just one part of a PER which you said is outstanding.  Are you referring to the whole PER in that you were MOI(Mastered, Oustanding and Immediate) or just it was very good in general? 

For those that don't know there are a few parts to a PER, but the main ones are your;

                                                     

• Performance which can range from Unsatisfactory to Mastered,
• Potential to promotion to the next rank level which ranges from Low to Outstanding
• Promotion recommendation.  Three parts to that; one developing means exactly that you are developing the skills required to work at the next rank level, second is ready which means really you can work at that rank level and should be considered for promotion in competition with your peers.  Immediate means while you have proven yourself more than capable of working and should be promoted ahead of your peers

Now that is a generalization across the board.  Really it boils down to when your trade or regimental merit board sit that everything is worth points and ready is worth less than immediate and so on and so on.

You can be mastered in your trade but have an average or low potential to be promoted depending on a variety of factors.

 

[AmmoTech90]

Simple answer is "YES".  Remember that old saying:  "When you are on Top, there is only one direction you can go.....Down."  Yes, you can get a PER the next year that is not as GOOD as your previous years.  Each annual assessment of your job performance is supposed to be unbiased and not an "accumulation" or "progression" of previous PERs.  Your supervisor, if not the same as last year, should have no idea of what your last PER was.

Just to add to George and MJP's points with regard to dropping your PER rating.  What you get on your PER should be no surprise if the PDR process has been done correctly.  You should get a PER that matches the feedback you have been getting through PDRs.  Depending on your performance between your last PDR and your PER it may be adjusted up or down.  What this means if the last your last PER was mastered but your PDRs that were written to support it were banal and uninspiring, and your current PDRs are similiarly weak but match your current (lower) PER you dont have a case.

What this means is it is in your interest that your PDRs writeups are at a similiar level to your PER.  You have a lot of input to the PDR process.  Question them, document the fact you are following the points for improvement.  If there are no points for improvement, ask for some, even one, and work on it.  Everyone can get better.

 

[ZipperHead]

I'd like to throw in a few points here, and bear in mind the system changes all the time, so my advice might be somewhat dated, but:

1) Before one puts in a Redress of Grievance, ensure you read the process. Completely. Jumping to filing a Redress without going through the COMPLETE process is like going straight to the Ombudsman because you think think someone harassed you, kinda-sorta. There is a step called "mediation" (if my memory serves correctly) which is the lowest level action that should be taken, and then if you aren't satisfied, bring it to the next level. I find people are too quick to jump right to the highest possible resolution, not realizing that there are alternative steps that could result in the same outcome, without the administrative nightmare that higher level actions create. And so it goes for harassment complaints, discrimination, etc, etc......

2) Keep in mind that just because you redress something, it doesn't mean that your PER will improve. In fact, it can go down, if the people start investigating your performance, and all the documentation shows that you should be lower than it [the PER] currently shows (i.e whomever was writing your PER screwed up on more than a few counts, not including the parts that you weren't thrilled about). Has this ever happened? Unlikely, but it is a possibility.

I know that there are enough barrack block lawyers around that will tell you that it is your 'right' to redress a PER that you are not satisfied with (Lord knows I should have redressed a few.....), and some of the BS policies or directions that I have heard about within units ("Everyones scores WILL be higher than they were last year!!!!", "Only RMS clerks can have "Mastered" for Administration on their PER's.....") don't help people's understanding of the process. Reading the Documentation (handbook, word picture book, etc) helps. CFPAS 2007 for home available here: http://www.forces.gc.ca/cfpas/engraph/CFPAS_Download_e.asp. There are too many crap PDR/PER's written because people don't take the time to learn/understand what is expected of them as a) the one writing the assessment, and b) the one being assessed.

Allan

 

[MJP]

There are too many crap PDR/PER's written because people don't take the time to learn/understand what is expected of them as a) the one writing the assessment, and b) the one being assessed.

Allan

+1 Allan  Well said.