Performance Management System (PMS)

Annual Appraisal Policy cum SOP

1. Objective:-

The objective of Performance Management System (PMS) is to review individual performance,

facilitate employees’ career development, training needs, increments, promotions, and managing
poor performance & disciplinarily actions accordingly.

2. Applicability:-

This policy is applicable to following category of employees of The Express Group.

a. Contract
b. Appointment

Wage board employees, retainers and consultants are not covered in this policy.

3. Eligibility & Cuff Off date:-

A). Contract & Appointment category employees, who joined on or before 30th September of the
review cycle, are eligible for the current annual appraisal review.

4. Review Period:-

The review period/cycle is the period for which the individual performance will be evaluated in the
performance review. The review cycle is financial year i.e. from April to March. Increment and
promotions will be affected from 1st July.

5. Performance Ratings:-

The performance ratings are achievement based and four scaled i.e. Outstanding, Exceeds
Expectation, Meets Expectation and Below Expectation.

Outstanding (OU)
 Exceed requirements significantly and consistently in all critical work aspects.
 Exemplary performance in all aspects of the job. Shows tremendous initiative and is very pro-
active.
 Significant contribution to organizational results, beyond the scope of immediate role
 Is dependable without supervision

Exceeds Expectation (EE)
 Performs the allotted responsibilities, also often achieves and even exceeds the expected
standards.
 Displays a high level of job related skills, abilities, initiative and productivity, exceeding
performance requirements in some areas.

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  Exhibits a fair amount of self-reliance and can be depended on for results with minimum
supervision.

Meets Expectation (ME)
 Consistently meets standards and established performance expectations in important areas of
the job.
 Work output achieves desired or required outcomes or expectations.
 Some knowledge / skill areas still need improvement in order to exceed expected standards of
performance.

Below Expectation (BE)
 Achievement consistently falls below expectations in many areas of the job; substantial
improvement critical.
 Has not fully achieved the objectives despite resources being made available.
 Needs to be pushed constantly.

6. Performance Review Form:-

There are 7 sections in the performance review form, below is the description of each section:

• Section A : Goal Vs Achievement

The Appraisee will list out the goals for the performance review period and actual
performance. Appraisee will do self assessment by assigning ratings corresponding to the
listed goals. During the review discussion, the Appraiser will record his observations and
ratings on the listed goals and add additional points. Additional documents can be attached, if
necessary.

• Section B : Critical Incidents

The Appraisee will list out the critical incidents to validate the self assessment scores of
‘Outstanding’ against Goals in Section A.

• Section C : Strengths and Improvements Area

During the review discussion the Appraiser will define the areas of strength and improvement
for the Appraisee and will list out in this section.

• Section D : Goals for Next Year

The Appraisee will list out in consultation with his Appraiser the goals (KRAs) and milestones
for the next year.

• Section E : Development Needs

The Appraisee will list out in consultation with his Appraiser the development & training
needs for the next year.

• Section F : Appraisee and Appraiser Comments

Post the review discussion, the Appraisee and Appraiser need to provide their comments and
signatures.

• Section G : Reviewer Rating and Comments

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 Reviewer will assign final rating and provide comments and signature. The Reviewer should,
in so far as possible, assign rating and give comments after a discussion with the Appraisee
and Appraiser on past performance and future planning.

7. Performance Review Process:-

The performance review gets complete in following 4 steps -

i. Performance Review Form Distribution: - Performance appraisal form soft copy will be
mailed to all eligible employees and hard copy will be given to those, who do not have email
id access.

ii. Self Assessment by Appraisee:- After receiving the appraisal form from HR, the appraisee will
fill the required details in the form and will do the self-assessment by assigning the ratings to
the each KRAs for the assessment period. Post self-assessment appraisee will submit the form
to HR or His/her supervisor.

iii. Appraisal Discussion with Appraiser:- Post self-assessment and Appraiser will discuss
performance of the review period and will assign the appropriate ratings on each KRAs and
will also discuss developmental areas of the appraisee. Appraiser will also discussion and
define the KRAs for next financial year.

iv. Performance Review by Reviewer/HOD:- Once appraisee and appraiser have mentioned
their comments on the appraisal, the form will come to reviewer for his review and
recommendations. Reviewer will give the final rating and his comments. The form will be
handed over to HR for further processing.

8. Ratings Normalization:-

The normalization of ratings will take place post receiving all the forms from reviewers in following
steps-

i. After receiving all the forms from reviewers/HODs, HR will prepare department wise bell
curve of ratings.
ii. HR will compare the formed bell curved with the management approved bell curve for the
current appraisal cycle.
iii. HR will send excel containing all the appraised employees’ ratings and formed bell curve to
concern HOD, if the formed bell curve deviates from the approved/standard distribution
curve, asking for normalization of ratings.
iv. In last HR will take management’s approval on the final ratings and will freeze approved
ratings for further processing.

9. Promotions:-

HR will capture all promotion recommendations by reviewer from the appraisal forms of individual
appraisees and will check the eligibility of the promotions basis the following promotion terms.
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 • Employee should be rated as EE or OU.
• Employee should have been promoted last year.
• Those who have not completed one year of services in the organization will not be promoted.
• Total promotion cases should not exceed 10% of appraised departmental head count.

HR will prepare a list of promotion cases from recommendations received through forms/mails and
will send the same with HR remarks to respective HOD for final validation. Post receiving the final
promotion list from HODs. A consolidated list of PAN India promotion cases will be sent to
management for final approval.

10. Correction Cases:-

All the salary recommendation/correction cases also will be captured from the appraisal forms.
Terms of salary corrections are mentioned below;

• Employee should be rated as EE or OU this year.

• Employees, who are critical for the company and difficult to find a replacement.
• Employees, who are being prepared future leaders.
• The maximum correction amount for department should not exceed correction budget
defined by Management for year.

A consolidated list will be sent to management for approval and approved cases will be considered
for salary correction.

11. Increment Finalization:-

Standard Increment % - Rating wise and salary slab wise standard increment rate % will be frozen as
per the management sanctioned budget/average increment %.

Final Approval – Appraisal master file containing employee wise increments, promotion, correction
and final CTC details and department wise summary will be prepared for management approval. Post
approval this file will be used for increment letter printing and payroll inputs.

12. Increment Letters :–

After management’s approval on the final appraisal file, HR will prepare new salary breakup and
increment letters and will hand over to the respective HODs before the July month’s payroll so that
employees can get their increment letters before the salary disbursement.

13. Payroll Inputs:-

HR will prepare payroll inputs and will send to payroll department for processing. The file will contain
following information.
• Employee wise incremented CTC’s monthly breakup
• Employee wise revised designations

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 14. BE & BE-R cases:-

All BE cases will be divided in two parts BE & BE-R with HOD’s help.

BE Cases – Employees, who have been rated as BE and there is no scope for the improvement, their
exit will be planned.

BE-R Cases - BE-R employees are the border line cases, their HODs feel that they may improve. They
are called BE retained cases. These employees will be put on 4 months performance improvement
plan (PIP). On completion of 4 months their performance will be evaluated and next course of action
will be decided accordingly. PIP policy needs to be referred for more details on PIP.

15. Increment Letters Receiving:-

Collection of the company copy of the increment letters from PAN India employees will be the last
activity of the annual performance appraisal. HR will collect increment letter’s receiving by August
and will file these in respective employee’s files.

16. Disclaimer & Exceptions:-

This policy is the property of The Express Group. The company has full rights to amend, abolish,
withdraw, delete & add any points in the PMS policy and policy itself. Any exception to the policy will
require HR Head and CEO’s approval.

Other Important Points:-

• Pencil is not to be used in filling the performance review form. Pen must be used.
• Performance review should be carried out in an open, fair, frank and orderly manner and be
seen as a positive experience for the appraisee, as well as for appraiser and reviewer.
• If an employee worked under the supervision of more than one manager, feedback should be
sought and consolidated from multiple sources and ratings will be prorated in accordance
with time spent with each manager. Review rating will be considered as final rating.
• Pro-rated performance appraisal will be done for employees joining midyear.
• All the BE cases should be supported with facts/data. Additional sheet can be attached with
performance appraisal form.
• Employees, Appraisers, Reviews/HOD and HR are responsible for the completion of the
performance appraisal within giving timelines.
• Employees can discuss the appraisal output with his supervisor/HOD/Editor or HR only.
• HR is the custodian of the performance review policy.

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