Check out the view from a 360-degree performance feedback system

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Many employers struggle with the risks and efficacy of employee performance evaluations. In some cases, there’s so much room for subjectivity that conflicts arise. In others, the entire process gets short shrift as supervisors are too busy to fully commit to it.

One solution that many organizations have considered is 360-degree feedback. Under this model, an employee is evaluated by not only his or her supervisor, but also direct reports (if applicable) and peers — sometimes even vendors or customers. If you’ve been looking for a more expansive view of your workforce, you might want to check it out.

Limits of tradition

First, consider the limitations of the traditional supervisor-only evaluation — particularly for employees who work in teams or who have subordinates of their own. In this environment, direct supervisors often:

  • Find it hard to give critical feedback to employees they’ve become close to over the years,
  • Hold biases that unduly influence their assessments one way or another, and
  • Don’t fully understand how colleagues, subordinates and others may perceive the employee.

As a result, good employees may not receive the full credit they deserve for their work. Or, perhaps worse, bad employees may fly under the radar for long periods.

Cautious climb

A 360-degree feedback system can help you overcome those obstacles. The process may fill in the gaps between what a supervisor sees and what an employee does. It can reveal important interactions that either strengthen or weaken the worker’s case for a positive performance evaluation.

Undertake the climb toward 360-degree feedback carefully, however. It’s typically prudent to integrate it slowly in conjunction with an ongoing development process. For example, you may want to first use 360-feedback to only pinpoint areas where an employee might benefit from additional training. Why? Doing so allows you to gain confidence in your ability to evaluate the feedback you get from the process.

With some experience, you should be able to sidestep comments that amount to complaints from disgruntled subordinates or colleagues. Also, employees are more likely to buy into the process if they know that you’re giving it a trial run. Keep in mind, too, that people ideally need at least six months of working with a person to be able to make valid evaluations.

Pilot project

If your organization is large enough, you might consider starting off with a 360-degree-feedback pilot project in one department or division before launching the program companywide. Again, the view can be spectacular, but you’ll need to exercise patience in getting there. Contact us for more information or additional ideas.

 

Payroll matters: 2018 withholding tables are a-changin’

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For employers, managing payroll smoothly and properly is a delicate, critical matter. There may be no quicker way to turn a happy employee into a disgruntled one than by mishandling his or her paycheck.

This year, employers have an additional challenge to contend with in this area. When Congress passed and the President signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) late last year, it meant the IRS withholding tables would have to be updated. And now they have been.

Incorporate the changes

As you’re no doubt aware, the withholding tables enable employers (or their payroll services) to determine the amount to withhold from employees’ paychecks in light of their wages, marital status and number of withholding allowances.

The revised tables reflect the TCJA’s increase to the standard deduction, suspension of personal exemptions, and changes in tax rates and brackets. The new withholding tables are also designed to work with the Forms W-4 that employers already have on file for their employees. In other words, your employees don’t need to complete any new forms or take any other action now.

Employers, on the other hand, must move to incorporate the new tables into their payroll systems as soon as possible — and no later than February 15, 2018. (Continue to use the 2017 withholding tables until you adopt the new figures.)

Communicate with employees

As you adopt the new withholding tables, it’s a good idea to also communicate the changes and their implications to your employees.

The IRS expects that many working taxpayers will see increases in their paychecks after the new tables are instituted in February. But it’s possible that some of your employees could find themselves unexpectedly hit with bigger income tax bills when it comes time to file their 2018 tax returns. This is because the TCJA eliminates or restricts many popular tax breaks a lot of taxpayers have claimed on their returns in past years. In some cases, lower rates and a higher standard deduction won’t make up for the diminished breaks.

Make sure your employees are aware that it’s their responsibility to alert you, their employer, of any adjustments they’d like to make to avoid under- or overwitholding of taxes from their paychecks. You might point out that the IRS is updating its withholding calculator (available at irs.gov) to assist taxpayers in reviewing their situations. The agency expects the new calculator to be available by the end of February and reflect changes in available itemized deductions, as well as several other important tax-related points.

Rise to the challenge

Getting payroll right matters — significantly. Although the TCJA brought some potentially beneficial tax-saving opportunities for employers, it also ushered in some challenges. Please contact our firm for more information.

The IRS urges prompt action for some filers

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Taxpayers who have expired Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) and who need to file tax returns this season must act fast to renew their ITINs, as the renewal applications can take up to 11 weeks to process. ITINs are used by those who have federal tax obligations but don’t qualify for a Social Security Number. Among the numbers that expired in 2017 are those with middle digits of 70, 71, 72, and 80 or ITINs that haven’t been used on a return in the past three years. Learn more at http://bit.ly/2ErXe0i