EVALUATION PROCEDURE

2009 APPRAISAL EXERCISE
APPLICATION OF THE NEW COMMON APPRAISAL STANDARDS

Reference period: 1 January to 31 December 2008

This administrative notice concerns the new common appraisal standards that will be used for the appraisal of officials and temporary staff for the 2009 appraisal exercise.

As a reminder, the common appraisal standards seek to harmonise staff appraisals within a Directorate-General, to facilitate the dialogue between the reporting officer and the jobholder to ensure that appraisals are comparable across all Directorates-General.

The Directorate-General for Personnel and Administration has revised the common appraisal standards following consultation with the various departments and the Joint Appraisal and Promotion Monitoring Committee.

WHAT HAS CHANGED?

The new appraisal standards are annexed to this document. The major changes from the previous standards are:

• Simplification of the approach
  
  The proposed standards reflect the performance level expected of all officials/temporary staff at the Commission. This means that there is only one description per standard.
  
  The reporting officer and the countersigning officer will be responsible for determining whether the jobholder has met, exceeded or failed to reach the level described and will decide accordingly on the appraisal to be given.
   
• Introduction of common standards for efficiency
  
  Pursuant to Article 43 of the Staff Regulations, staff reports must focus on three headings: efficiency, abilities and conduct in the service. Until now, the common appraisal standards covered "abilities" and "conduct in the service" only.
  
  Efficiency should continue to be evaluated, primarily according to the objectives defined for the reference period and the corresponding evaluation criteria. However, in order to achieve a harmonised approach, common standards have been introduced that should enable the reporting officer to evaluate not only whether the objectives were achieved but also the manner in which they were achieved.
   
• Introduction of specific standards for management posts
  
  Each of the three headings – efficiency, abilities, conduct in the service – now has specific standards for appraising officials/temporary staff in management posts. These additional standards target characteristics specific to these posts.

WHEN DO THE NEW COMMON APPRAISAL STANDARDS TAKE EFFECT?

The new common appraisal standards will apply to the reference period 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2008. Consequently, they will be used for the 2009 appraisal exercise for officials and temporary staff.

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Annex: New common appraisal standards