Ken Kumph, owner of Premier Builders, was disturbed by the subjectivity in his company's yearly employee review process. “We'd sit down and talk using boiler plate questions,” he says, which would “prompt discussion about things like reliability and quality. And [employees would] get a raise based on my feelings about them. I wasn't being very effective.”
About a year ago, after working with a business coach, Kumph, whose $4 million company employs 21 people, and his team came up with four skills and responsibilities grids, one each for field employees; management; office administrators; and the cabinet division.
Kumph uses these to chart the rise in an employee's skill level. “I can show employees what skills and responsibilities they need to build on and try to lead them on the path they want to go down,” says Kumph. And employees can see where they fall short, what they need to work on, and create goals.
For example, the carpenter skills grid has categories labeled green, basic, intermediate, advance, expert, and master level. Carpenter responsibilities are divided into six levels, ranging from level A's simple factors an employee should have mastered, such as safety, attendance, and paperwork, to level F, which includes supervision, customer interaction, and management.
Kumph then uses the information to plot a salary rise that's based on concrete details.