Establishing Employee Objectives

Objectives for employees should be based on performance measurements. These indicators tell you whether the employee performed the 

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The establishment of objectives is critical to the success of MBO. The objectives must be challenging but attainable. They should be expressed in terms that are objective and measurable and should be written in clear, concise, unambiguous language. Table 10-6 presents examples of how some poorly stated objectives for pharmacists might be better stated. It is important that the objectives be derived through collaboration and consent of the employee. In this respect, the objectives and action plan can serve as a basis for regular discussions between the manager and the employee. 

The third step in determining the direction of your safety program is to map out your route by establishing program objectives. To do this, you first need to know where you are take a close look at the current state of your safety program and your workplace. What more is needed to protect your employees safety [2] ... 

The next step is to establish performance objectives for all employees with assigned safety responsibilities. These objectives must be realistic, understandable, measurable, and achievable. It is your job as a manager to clearly establish who is responsible for performing specific tasks. Evaluate your assignments of responsibility to make sure that they specify who does what and how they do it, and that they are realistic and reasonably attainable. When objectives are unclear, they can be misunderstood. In this case, it will be hard to determine whose performance is lacking— the manager or the employee [1]. 

If safer and better job methods can be used, list each new step, such as describing a new method for disposing of materials. As in establishing training objectives, list exactly what the employee needs to know to perform the job using a new method. Do not make general statements about the procedure, such as Be careful. Be as specific as you can in your recommendations. 

Organizational policy should define training programs for all levels of management and employees. Objectives should be established and then reviewed aimually. The following are essential features of a training program ... 

The standard requires a process for the motivation of employees to achieve quality objectives and make continuous improvements to be established. 

The main objective of stage 3 is to establish whether your employee target group already possesses the competencies and experience required for business goal achievement. Even if you are fairly sure that it does not, you should conduct a thorough analysis in order to identify the exact elements on which it requires development and the extent of the support needed. 

A performance-based system-rather than a list of reactive chemicals -is suggested as another alternative for extending regulatory coverage of reactive hazards. Such a system would consider the risk of reactive chemicals, site-specific (extrinsic) factors such as siting and proximity, and conditions that create potentially reactive situations. Objective criteria such as the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes, accident history, or number of employees could be used to establish coverage. 

Establishing clear and precisely defined statements of objectives for the work to be done by an employee. 

The FLSA, also sometimes referred to as the Wage and Hour Law, is enforced by the U.S. DOL. Its primary objective is to eliminate detrimental working conditions and to establish protections for employees regarding minimum wage, child labor, and overtime provisions. In addition, the regulations identify and exclude certain workers (exempt) from FLSA coverage. 

Once work standards have been established, they can serve as one element in an employee-performance-evaluation scheme. An advantage of computer technology is the ability to have instantaneous information on individual employee performance in terms of the rate of output. This serves as one objective measure of how hard employees are working. But managers have to understand that this is just one element of employee performance and emphasis on quantity can have an adverse effect on the quality of work. Therefore, a balanced performance-evaluation system will include quality considerations as well. These are not as easy to obtain and are not as instantaneously available as are quantity measures. However, managers must resist the temptation to emphasize quantity measures just because they are readily available. A key consideration in any employee evaluation program is the issue of fairness, just as in workload determination. 

Above all, safety and health professionals want to instill a sense of pride and ownership in the safety and health function at all levels within the organizations. Motivated, empowered employees can change the thinking as well as the culture within the workplace and create a working environment that is truly beneficial to all and far beyond the boundaries initiated within the safety and health function. With the safety and health professional as the coach, the team will only progress as far as the coach trains, motivates, and prepares the players. Once equipped with the skills, abilities, and motivation by the coach, the players play the game and utilize these skills and abilities to achieve the established objectives. 

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