Hiring and performance appraisal processes at the Veterans Affairs

Employee Selection

In this report, the hiring and performance appraisal process at the Veteran\'s Affairs (VA) will be examined.. They will be described, and then analyzed. At the basic level, the VA is a heavily formal and bureaucratic organization and its human resources processes reflect this. This paper describes the strengths and weaknesses of the VA\'s approach to human resources, which have remained little changed in the past couple of decades, even while there have been significant changes to the way that human resources functions in other organizations.

This paper will examine the methods that the VA uses in its human resources practices, and evaluate them against established best practices. The VA has a highly formalized procedure for hiring, selection and for performance appraisals. There are some benefits to having such a formal process, but there are also drawbacks as well.

Analysis and Diagnosis

In hiring, the VA begins with a fairly transparent hiring process, the details of which appear on the organization\'s website. The VA has different programs for different types of applicants -- students, veterans, etc. The merits of this are worthy of consideration. Many organizations give preferential treatment to certain groups, so ethically there does not appear to be any issue with this. However, there is the risk that by focusing hiring on specific groups the VA might not be able to attract the best people. A more open, non-biased hiring process usually ends up broadening the applicant pool. The VA willingly shrinks the size of its applicant pool. That said, by its very mandate there is at the least a good rationale for hiring veterans, as it is veterans who are best qualified to understand the unique needs that their fellow veterans have. A specific section of hiring for students is in line with best practices across a wide variety of organizations, particularly with internships and positions reserved for new graduates.

There has been some anecdotal evidence of problems regarding the hiring process at the VA, in particular specific instances of favoritism (Ybarra, 2014). However, unless there is evidence that these issues are widespread, these are not significant; an organization the size of the VA will usually have a few examples of poor hiring and selection instances. Whether the organization has institutionalized poor practices is a more important consideration.

One of the issues that has been identified with respect to the VA\'s hiring practices is that they are overly bureaucratic (Robeznieks, 2015). There is a significant amount of paperwork attached to hiring, in particular gaining approvals for positions, for salaries, and the lack of flexibility in bargaining that hiring managers have. The VA does not have a great employer brand, either. The combination of these factors makes it difficult to attract the best talent, because there is a sense in the workforce that an overly bureaucratic government agency is not a great place to work, and especially when they see this in action. So while the VA has some good attributes to its hiring program, it appears to lag in other areas, and this can create difficulties in recruiting.

Less is known about the selection process, save for the occasional anecdote about cronyism or nepotism. The reality is that there is some smoke, but no evidence of fire per se. The VA may have an issue with its selection practices, but it is not sufficiently transparent in that regard to truly make a determination about its practices. There would certainly be ethical issues if evidence of systemic favoritism could be identified, and those ethical issues would need to be addressed.

The VA is also subject to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and this creates an obligation to ensure that the organization does not discriminate in hiring. The result is that there should be a diverse workforce. There is no evidence to suggest that there are any Title VII issues with respect to the VA -- the organization appears to be fulfilling its Title VII obligations just fine.

Performance Appraisal

The performance appraisal process at the VA begins with the different job categories. Positions at the VA are placed into classifications, dividing employees and managers, for example. Within these different classifications, there are a range of positions, and each position is clearly defined. As there are clear definitions of roles within the VA, performance appraisal is made easier because both manager and employee understand the expectations that come with each role.

For many employee positions, the VA workers are unionized. While the VA determines what each job description is, the union has some say into the performance appraisal process, in particular acting as an advocate for workers who feel that the performance appraisal process has been unfair. The basic principle is that positions need to be accurately described, which is a best practice, and an antecedent to good performance appraisal practice. Indeed, employees cannot be given other duties beyond those that are described in the description of their position.

The performance appraisal guidelines for the VA are quite bureaucratic, and there are formal appeals rather than informal. The supervisor, human resource staff contribute to the appeals process. In some cases, an audit might be required. If an employee receives a poor appraisal, the employee would be subject to remedial training and unions have input into this process -- the objective is not to punish the employee for poor performance but to improve the ability of the employee to perform.

The first part of performance appraisal -- having clear standards by which the employee is to be held -- shows evidence that the VA has a best practices approach. Indeed, their approach is at the extreme end of being bureaucratic in nature, where there are strict job descriptions on which performance expectations are based. The goals of the appraisal are clear, and articulated, so that all stakeholders (managers, employees, the union) are aware prior to the appraisal the basis on which the appraisal will be conducted.

What is less certain is whether there is a link between the activities being evaluated in the performance appraisals and the strategic objectives of the organization. The activities measured relate to the jobs that are being done, but the VA\'s own instructions on performance appraisal do not make this link -- there may be a gap between the manager responsible for defining a job and the one responsible for evaluating performance.

It is interesting to note that the approach the VA uses emphasizes training for employees if they fail to achieve their objectives, but not training for those who are conducting the appraisals. This can lead to poorly-applied techniques and practices from managers. As a result, the VA has a formal appeals process, to ensure that if there are errors in applying techniques for performance appraisal, the manager in question and the human resources department, can make that determination and remedy for the employee.

The relative strength of the VA\'s performance appraisal process is that it relies on clearly-defined job descriptions, and the use of metrics. There may be issues in terms of safeguards to ensure that the system works to its best, but ultimately the appeals process provides at least one key safeguard. The focus is also not punitive, which is a positive, and training is provided for employees who do not excel in their performance appraisal.

Conclusions

The VA has a highly-formalized process for its human resources functions. While there are benefits to this, it can also become overly bureaucratic. The organization seeks to attract the best talent, but in many cases the best talent seeks out more flexible environments. That said, the VA needs people who can work in a bureaucratic organization, and so having a hiring process that reflects that is not the worst thing. The clearly-defined roles are a benefit to the performance appraisal process, but that process bogs down in terms of training for the managers who must make the performance appraisal. An improvement can be made here -- the VA needs to ensure that its managers are well-trained, and receive regular remedial training, on performance appraisal. Job design is also important here -- there should be more clarity of how each role contributes to the organization\'s overall excellence. There is some anecdotal evidence of things like positions being created for friends and family, and while no serious determination of policy can be made on random one-off anecdotes, the performance appraisal process should be one of the things that serves as a safeguard against this.

Reflections

One of the things that I\'ve noticed in examining the VA is how formal their processes are. There seems a lack of flexibility, and in that sense a lack of modernity to their approach. Maybe it is just because they are a governmental organization, or because they are unionized, but the high level of formality is a bit anachronistic in the 21st century. There are benefits -- it works well as a basis for a strong performance appraisal process, for example -- but it also limits the organization in terms of recruiting, selection, and ensuring that all roles within the organization directly support the VA\'s strategic mission.