How to Keep Staff Performance at a Peak Year-Round

Our firm manages 15 co-ops and condos throughout the New York metropolitan area. We’ve noticed that overall staff performance tends to improve each year around Thanksgiving, as employees anticipate the customary holiday tips from both residents and their employer. Performance always seems to continue at a higher level through New Year’s Day, and then it slides back to “the norm.” At one particular Manhattan co-op we manage, the difference in staff performance was so obvious that the board of directors asked us what we could do about it.

Our mission was to keep the building staff motivated year-round so that residents did not experience a decline in performance after the holiday season. We implemented a quarterly staff evaluation program with the participation of the board. This started by taking the amount of the annual holiday bonus and dividing it into quarters. Every three months, each employee would receive up to one quarter of what would otherwise be an annual holiday bonus – based on an evaluation of his or her performance during that quarter.

To implement this program, management created a list of evaluation criteria for each employee, and we assigned a maximum score for each. The board determined the bonus amounts, and management explained the program to each staff member.

The criteria are specific to each employee’s job responsibilities. Each category is weighted with a maximum score, and each board member provides his or her feedback by giving either the maximum score or a lower-than-maximum score. Sample criteria, along with maximum scores for each, include:

        * Taking initiative to do more than the minimum required (20).

        * Presentation/appearance/interactions with shareholders (15).

        * Communication/interactions with management/board (10).

         * Building appearance/attention to detail (10).

Management sends the evaluations by email to board members, who simply hit “reply” and enter their scores next to the maximum in each category. If the employee has taken great initiative during that particular quarter he will receive a “20,” the maximum score for that category. If he was lacking in that area, he might receive an 18, or a 15, etc. 

Management then takes all of the board members’ evaluations and loads the scores into an Excel spreadsheet. Management also participates in the quarterly evaluation and has specific “management-tailored” questions to rate. Therefore, management’s responses also affect the employee’s overall quarterly bonus, and the building staffers know this. If an employee receives anything less than the maximum, his or her quarterly bonus will be reduced accordingly. Frequently, each quarter yields a different outcome. The employee can ask management why he or she received a lower amount than the previous quarter. The bonus will never exceed the maximum amount that the employee can receive per quarter. 

While this quarterly evaluation process is a lot of work, this service is included in our management contract with this particular co-op. If we were to implement this at another location, we likely would charge an administration fee. At this co-op there has been a building-wide consensus that staff performance improved throughout the year once the program was implemented. So the program has accomplished its goal. With happier shareholders – and happier building staff members who get consistent feedback on their job performance – the building is easier to manage, and the board participates more directly in the whole process.

Deborah Fromberg is director of co-op and condo management at David Associates.