Mid-year reviews of personnel to make sure they are on track

As of 2004, MetLife’s law department, which had 200 lawyers at the time, conducted formal mid-year performance evaluations. It required all employees and managers to acknowledge, in writing, that they had reviewed all the employee’s goals and discussed the employees’ performance against important competencies (See my post of Aug. 16, 2006 on core competencies.).

In the words of the law department administrator at the time, quoted in Rees Morrison, Law Department Administrators: Lessons from Leaders (Hildebrandt Inst. 2004) at 21, “As we all know, lawyers are not always the best managers so having a formal mid-year review process ensures that these discussions are taking place” (See my post of Nov. 6, 2006 on the time demands of mid-year reviews.).