Time to hit reset on remote workers' expectations

Finally, the time has arrived when most or all of your employees may safely resume on-site work. After discovering how effectively many of them can work remotely, however, some of you are rethinking your workforce management strategies and allowing more flexibility for employees to work from home (1) part of each week, (2) all the time, or (3) simply as business obligations allow. Being intentional about setting shared expectations can help your employees make more informed choices about whether to take advantage of the flexible work options and avoid unpleasant surprises at evaluation time.

'Do the best you can' during pandemic

As you look back and evaluate employee job performance in 2020, you may recognize some of your top talent simply wasn't in a position to put forth full and best efforts toward their work responsibilities, given the unexpected personal commitments created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the extenuating circumstances, some employers have departed from traditional performance management principles and gone to some form of a "pass" or "pass-plus" rating scheme to recognize those who went above and beyond to meet business needs without penalizing those who were simply less able to do so.