Making 30, 60, and 90 Day Reviews Less Overwhelming

by | Jun 26, 2018 | Human Resources

By Brandon Hess, CVPM, CCFP

Can you remember starting your most recent job? The way you felt walking through that strange door for the first time? Meeting all those new people? For some of you reading, just thinking about that may have increased your heart rate and gave you a little anxiety. Is that the feeling you want your new hires to have when they reflect back on their first few days? Hopefully, the answer is a resounding “no”. The best way to assure that does not happen is to have a solid onboarding plan, consisting of many conversations and check-ins.

When I ask managers and owners if they complete 30, 60, and 90 day reviews, the answer is generally “I’m lucky to get annual reviews completed”. Fair enough. However, feedback during the first few months of employment is just as important as annual reviews. The key to accomplishing this, in my mind, is the same as things such as inventory management; make it simple. First, let’s get a few things out of the way:

  1. Don’t take 30/60/90 literal. The goal is consistent, timely feedback. Feeling like there is a strict schedule can be stress-inducing.
  2. Don’t feel the need to have an extensive formal review each time. We will discuss this more later in the blog.
  3. It’s not all on you. Engage your staff, and solicit feedback from the new employee.
  4. Don’t wait 30 days to give the new hire feedback, or check in with them. For the first week, you should verbally check in with them a few times. This doesn’t have to be documented, but it will mean a lot to the employee.
  5. This documented review process is essential if you have to defend an unemployment claim.

30-Day

It’s getting close to the new employee’s 30th day, or maybe it’s day 45 and you’re running late; it’s OK! What is the goal of the 30-day review? The goal is to start a documented coaching trail. An employee is not going to know how they are doing unless they hear from you. At this point in employment, you will not get a ton of feedback from other employees. Chances are, if anything was going really wrong, you would have heard from some of the staff. I like to think of this review as an opportunity to check where the new hire is in their training program, and how they feel things are going. I like to send them a self-review, asking questions such as:

  • How do you feel your first 30 days have gone? Why?
  • Do you feel that your training process has gone smoothly? Why or why not?
  • Do you feel you have been given the tools to be successful with ABC Animal Hospital?
  • What are 3 things that the practice can do to make your training process better?

Lastly, if you have assigned the new hire to a mentor, you should ask feedback from the mentor. Do not feel the need to solicit feedback from multiple employees, as there will be little feedback at this point. Additionally, do not feel pressured to make this conversation as long as an annual review. Have a productive conversation and set 2-3 goals for the next 30 days. Make sure these goals are outlined in the documented review, so you can evaluate them at the 60-day period.

60-Day

At this point in the employee’s employment, you should have a good idea of if they are a good fit for the practice. Have they worked towards their goals? Are there any consistent issues that have come up? How is their attendance? This is the point where you really need to be thinking about if the employee is going to be a long-term fit. If they are heading in the wrong direction, this is your last opportunity to have a productive, documented conversation. It’s important to outline how they have or have not met the goals previously set, and what needs to be done in the next 30 days to meet those goals. At this stage, as you did in the 30-day review, you should ask for feedback from the employee, along with those that have been training them. Some questions to the employee may be:

  • Has the practice provided you the tools you need to meet the goals previously set?
  • What are 3 things that you feel you have been doing really well?
  • What are 3 things that you feel you could improve upon?

90-Day

For this point in the employee’s timeline with the practice, their co-workers should have some valuable feedback for you. I suggest approaching this as a “mini annual review”. For annual reviews, I like the 360-degree approach. For this, the employee evaluates themselves, and at least one person in each position that they engage with evaluates them (ex. DVM, receptionist, technician, supervisor etc.). This documented conversation should last more than the previous two, and less leniency should be provided. You have now had two formal performance conversations with them, and it should be clear as to what is expected.

The key to completing these essential conversations with your staff members is to make them less overwhelming, for you. While they tend not to be the most fun to complete, they are essential for the successful onboarding of your team members. Having a poor review process will impact the culture of your practice negatively.