TAP stands for Talent Advancement Program. TAP is Brandeis’ commitment to fostering a culture of engagement and to supporting staff professional development and career growth at the university. It emphasizes a continuous and collaborative performance management process between managers and staff. A goal of TAP is to enable frequent and ongoing development conversations throughout the year about performance objectives, achieving career goals, and making sure duties and competencies are aligned to job descriptions.
Mid-year and year-end reviews are required for all staff. We strongly encourage staff to have an open dialogue with their managers throughout the year so that a mid-year review is an opportunity for managers to evaluate and discuss with staff about their half-year performance and progress of objectives for the year.
If either the employee or their manager is absent during the mid-year review period or year-end review period, if possible, the review should take place when the employee or manager returns to work. In some cases, however, when a supervisor is out on leave and the employee is being supervised by an interim manager, the review may be completed by the interim manager. Additionally, in other cases, when an employee is out of work and returns during a time when the review period is closed, it may be necessary to have the evaluation take place during the next review period.
As a staff member, it is important you make sure to be in contact with both your Manager and your Senior HR Business Partner to ensure there is follow-up.
If you are a manager and doing the manager review, make sure to also contact the staff member(s) for whom you are doing the review.
Reach out to your department’s Human Resources Business Partner.
No. Managers have the responsibility to complete their staff’s performance reviews in time and conduct regular performance discussions with their staff.
Staff and managers will enter and track their mid-year and annual performance reviews in Workday, Brandeis’ system of record for HR data.
Employees should request their own Job Profiles from their managers.
An employee can access their completed mid-year review from the performance section of their Workday profile. For step-by-step instructions on accessing your mid-year review, please refer to Locate Your Mid-Year Review in Workday (pdf).
Review your job description with your manager. Ensure your objectives or goals align with your job description as well as with the strategic initiatives of the university. Reviewing your job description ensures your annual review evaluation is tied to the responsibilities of your job description and position. Complete a self-evaluation to see how you are aligning with the goals you’ve previously set (or to determine new goals).
Yes! Work with your manager to set attainable objectives that can enhance your career development and fulfil your job description. For guidance on setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Bound) Goals, please refer to the TAP SMART Goals Worksheet (pdf).
Achieving or making progress towards the objectives you’ve set will be part of your annual performance review, so it’s important that you’re creating realistic objectives. Your goals or objectives should align with your job description but also provide an opportunity for you to grow in your position and learn a new skill. For guidence, please refer to the TAP SMART Goals Worksheet (pdf).
Your mid-year review will be part of your annual review as it will help your manager determine if you are meeting the expectations of your job.
No. Managers have the responsibility to complete their staff’s performance reviews in time and conduct regular performance discussions with their staff.
No. Mid-year reviews can have an impact on your annual review, though, which does tie to your merit increase going forward.
We will share this information when it becomes available.
Last year was the first year that we built merit increases into Workday and individual managers were responsible for entering their staff member’s increases into Workday. These increases were ultimately approved by senior leadership. We learned through experience that last year’s merit timeframe was much too tight to provide meaningful reporting, analytics and guidance to managers and senior leaders as merit increases were determined. This year’s schedule intentionally builds in time for merit increase review by divisional managers and senior leaders. Additionally, a staff member’s performance in the Year-End/Annual Review process should inform the amount of their increase. This is why it is important to complete Year-End/Annual reviews earlier this year.
Six months is the minimum amount of time to meaningfully assess a staff member’s performance. That is consistent with past practice. However, based on both managers’ feedback and best practice, the merit eligibility date was moved to April 1 to give managers flexibility if appropriate.
No. This year, unlike in prior years, the Year-End/Annual Performance Review is incorporated into Workday, as are merit increases. Because a staff member’s performance should inform any merit action, and because we need sufficient time to assist managers and senior leaders in assigning and approving merit increases, we cannot grant extensions for the completion of TAP Year-End/Annual Performance Reviews.
No, not at this time. However, managers will be required to complete the annual performance reviews for their staff. Their unit leader will be receiving status reports during the review period and be expected to reinforce this message in cases of noncompliance.
This year, the ratings will not be “hardwired” to increase percentages. However, a staff member’s rating should inform their merit increase. HR will provide general guidelines on pay increase allocations by rating.
Please feel free to contact your HR business partner. For help with Workday or technical questions, you can send a request or question to help@brandeis.edu.