The Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Human Resources Division (HRD) has implemented technology for a new employee evaluation system and the state's first pay-for-performance program for 3,000 state managers.

The SuccessFactors-based system allows the Commonwealth to align the organization's management goals with the overall goals of the administration as well as recognize and reward higher-performing managers more generously than those who are just meeting job requirements.

The Commonwealth's Human Resources Division developed and began implementing this revised performance evaluation process in an effort to reduce the costs of managing the state's workforce.

HRD's goal was to achieve measurable progress in halting the ratings "creep" the Commonwealth had been experiencing in recent years, where the vast majority of managers were rated above average. In addition, HRD wanted to move away from a system that treated all managers the same in terms of wage increases and did not allow for any recognition of those who went above and beyond what was expected in their position.

The Commonwealth has also trained employees on preparing performance management evaluations, tailored management appraisals to actual job and outcomes, and streamlined the performance evaluation form and process.

"Commonwealth managers are now more motivated to deliver that discretionary level of effort as their pay is based on performance and salary quartile rather than the traditional across-the-board step increases which were awarded under the previous system," said Ruth Bramson, Chief Human Resources Officer, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. KW