Collective Member Review Policy

Purpose

The HR committee realizes that feedback is an integral part of making sure individuals in the collective are working in line with the mission and principles of Free Geek and therefore doing useful work. Many collective members have said that they would greatly appreciate such feedback. The committee therefore has decided to implement collective member reviews. The purpose of collective member reviews is to:

• Help collective members align themselves with the expectations that are placed on them,
• Assist collective members to acheive the self- and group-given goals for their positions,
• Give a forum for feedback on individual collective members, and
• Where appropriate, assist the collective in deciding whether to accept a probationary worker into the group.

If a member of the collective has difficulties with another, she should speak to the individual in person first if at all possible. The review should not, in most cases, serve as the first notification of problems.

The review should be a forum in which the person being reviewed is recognized for his or her successes as well as offered guidance from the rest of the collective on how to do things differently for the betterment of the organization. It's the responsibility of the review panel to take into account time constraints, skill level, interests, etc. when suggesting improvements. The review panel should work together with the reviewee to create a practical, reachable set of goals for him. These goals should be as specific as possible and should include the reviewee's own goals as well as those from the rest of the collective.

Procedure

General

• Collective members are given yearly reviews
• All collective/probationary members must fill out review forms for each other collective/probationary member.
• The HR committee can call for a review at any time
• Anyone can come to the HR committee and suggest a review of any collective member (even for themselves).
• If an HR committee member has a review called for her by another collective member, she may not participate in choosing the review panel
• HR committee nominates 2-3 people to comprise the Review Panel and the staff collective OKs it.
• After the review panel has been chosen, it conducts the rest of the review, incuding handing out forms, tallying them, performing the sit-down review with the reviewee, recording new goals that have been set, and other exciting and intriguing tasks. To see the full breakdown of the responsibilities of the review panel, see the page on that subject.
• After the review has been completed, the review panel will report to staff at the next staff collective meeting. If the reviewee is a probationary member, the staff will then decide whether to accept them into the collective, ask them to leave, or keep them as a probationary member.

Probationary Members of the Collective

When we hire someone into the collective, they are a 'Probationary Collective Member' for a little while. This initial 3 months will help the collective get to know the probationary member a little better. Then, at 3 months, they'll receive a review. When the review panel reports on the review at the next staff meeting, the staff collective will decide whether to:

• Let the probationary member into the collective,
• Terminate the probationary member, or
• Give the probationary member a 3-month extension to work out issues that arose in the review.

If the collective decides to extend the probationary period, another review will be given 3 months later, or approximately 6 months from the original date of hire. The review panel will again report to the collective, which will decide whether to:

• Let the probationary member into the collective or
• Terminate them.

       +when an individual enters the collective:
            -one year review from time of their initial hire

Confirmation process (can happen after three and six month review):

            - The entire collective hears HR review report
            - the reviewii must leave the room after HR review report, so
            staff               can talk about them unhindered
            - The whole staff must consent on letting the probationary
            person into the collective...               ... or, the whole staff must consent to the person being
              kicked out...               ... or, some grey region inbetween

Q: If we fire someone after 3 or 6 month review do we keep them on

 for transition?

 A: Overall we can't expect that people should
 be allowed to (or want to) stay on, though on a case by case
 basis that might work in some situations.

Q: Do we allow members in with stand-asides or do we require
 unanimity?

 A: This question needs to be decided by staff after a
 discussion. People should begin the discussion on the HR list
 right away so we can present options to the staff.  Requiring
 unanimity effectively turns stand-asides into blocks. If you're
 going to block, then block. Also, the larger the collective
 gets, the harder unanimity will be to reach. Should this be
 handled differently at a 3 month review that could feed into a
 6 month review?