Douglas County School District is the third-largest school district in the state of Colorado, serving more than 50,000 students. In an effort to make the school district’s employee review process more meaningful, and drive accountability for performance, the HR team overhauled its talent management process, and automated its program with Halogen Software. With this new talent management process in place, the school district is now more accountable to its key stakeholders:
- Employee & Supervisors - Improved performance accountability and review consistency across the large school district.
- Students & Parents – Receive a top notch educational experience with the Board of Education’s focus on employee engagement, clear communication and coaching support for its employees.
- Board of Education - The district is now is able to meet state requirements for 100% completion of reviews.
- Taxpayers – the district will realize a savings exceeding $10,000 a year alone in the elimination of paper processing.
Profile
Douglas County School District is the third-largest school district in the state of Colorado, serving more than 50,000 K-12 students at more than 70 schools. The District covers over 900 square miles, employs over 6,500 employees, and its student population is one of the fastest growing in the nation.
Ensuring Fair and Consistent Evaluations
When Brian Ewert joined Douglas County School District’s HR team three years ago, he was tasked with working closely with the employee unions to completely revamp how employees were being assessed. This collaboration was part of the district’s initiative to create a culture that was more accountable to its stakeholders.
“As professionals, our employees expect to receive feedback on their performance, but we had a very outdated approach to meeting that expectation,� explained Brian Ewert, Director of HR, Douglas County School District. “We worked closely with union and district officials to set up a new system of professional indicators that would be used to assess all employees. Once we had this new framework in place, we recognized that continuing to use a paper-based process for 6,500 employees would be inconsistent and inefficient.�
With employees dispersed across the county, and appraisals being executed by supervisors in the field, HR needed to ensure the new system enabled consistency, and helped provide a focus on clear communication and coaching. “Appraisals tended to be highly subjective depending on which administrator was completing them. But in some cases, appraisal scores were linked to salary increases, and with multiple locations across many, many miles, consistency was a top priority for us. We wanted all our staff to get value from the performance management process.� stated Ewert.
Meeting State Regulations and Saving Taxpayer Dollars
While consistent evaluation standards were vital, so was on-time appraisal completion. The Board of Education requirement mandates a 100 percent completion rate for school district appraisals. “With our old system, the completion rate was a guessing game, and we knew it certainly wasn’t 100%, since some appraisals would be lost or never completed,� said Ewert.
In addition to being compliant with Board of Education policy a reduction in costs associated with the previous paper-based system was a priority. “We started tracking exactly how much this process was costing us, and we found that for HR alone, it was costing $10,000 to process all the appraisals each cycle. After we began some basic calculations it became obvious that our evaluation process could and should do a lot more for our organization�
Flexibility Critical to Address Complex Requirements
After executing a thorough cost analysis, the HR team was able get internal buy-in for a new approach to employee performance appraisals. Ewert and his team researched available options and quickly identified requirements for a system that would be highly flexible, and able to handle the size and complexity of the school district structure. With that in mind, a request for proposal was issued to talent management vendors.
Ewert’s team received a number of responses, and was able to quickly narrow the field. “When we sat down to review the responses from vendors, it was clear that with many systems we’d have to change our existing process, which just wasn’t an option. We’d gone into this search thinking that our HRIS vendor – Oracle – would be a good fit for us, since it would just be an add-on. But it couldn’t provide the flexibility or feature set that we required. We didn’t want the system to drive our process. We wanted our process to be able to drive the system.�
With two vendors in contention, Halogen and SuccessFactors, Ewert and his colleague Linda Shamlin, HR Information Systems Specialist, did a complete review of the solutions from an HR and IT perspective. They worked with key school district stakeholders including executive leadership and the purchasing department. “We selected Halogen ultimately, because unlike with the other vendors, we would be able to host the system internally and it would easily accommodate our existing processes. Our experience with Halogen has been outstanding. All areas of the company are customer focused, and everyone is professional and highly responsive.�
Driving More Accountability for Stakeholders
Since implementing the Halogen system, Douglas County School District has been able to drive greater accountability into the system. Additionally, the school district has positioned itself as a leader in the field of education. Other districts from across the state are actively watching Douglas County’s experience as they consider automating their key talent management functions.
Since implementing the Halogen system, the HR team has been able to independently adapt it to meet their unique organizational needs and processes, including some innovative uses. “I think we’ve done some things with Halogen that most organizations haven’t even considered – it can go above and beyond a review process. Once we realized how flexible and agile Halogen’s offering is, we got creative. For example, we were easily able to build a mentor/protégé process for our new assistant principals and principals, and we have also created a payroll audit system to maintain the accuracy of our records,� outlined Ewert.
Clear, Consistent Feedback Benefits Employees, Students and Parents
For the school district, the renewed focus on accountability has been well-received by supervisors, now that they have a clearly defined process and expectations to follow. “Now that we have metrics, we’re able to demonstrate that we are focused on constantly improving the process, Supervisors understand that this is a benefit to them and the teachers they work with. Everyone has the same deadlines and expectations, which makes life easier for all of us,� said Ewert.
Consistent talent management practices are benefiting all areas of the school district. The process enables supervisors at Douglas County School District to focus on coaching throughout the appraisal cycle. “This endeavor is about a lot more than using a system or completing a form. The true benefit comes by creating a culture where there’s a dialogue between supervisors and employees. Goals and priorities for the year can be laid out, and tracked as the year goes on. Supervisors have information at their fingertips, and are in a better position to focus on coaching. Employees in turn, feel valued and benefit greatly from that face time. We expect the end result to be higher levels of employee engagement. That has an unmistakable benefit to everyone involved in our school district right down to our students and parents,� stated Ewert.
Meeting State Regulatory Requirements
Whereas previously the school district couldn’t accurately assess if it was meeting the 100 percent completion mandate from the Board of Education, it is now readily visible and reportable with Halogen in place.
“We definitely tried to meet this requirement, but it was time consuming and challenging,� explained Shamlin. “With our new system we know exactly what our completion rate is, and who may have outstanding appraisals. We are able to report to our stakeholders with greater accuracy, while ensuring that supervisors are held accountable for fulfilling this responsibility.�
Cost Savings Benefit Taxpayers
“The education market operates with finite budgets and is funded by taxpayer money, so talent management is an area that cannot be overlooked,� explained Ewert. “Our experience with Halogen is reinforcing the value of moving to a Web-based talent management system. When you combine improved coaching and accountability with the all of the time and money we’re saving, it makes good sense for everyone – from the administrators, to our employees, to the taxpayer. We will realize a minimum savings of $10,000 each cycle by eliminating the paper appraisals, and I’m sure it’s much more than that given supervisors and HR are also saving valuable time.�
Looking Ahead
Ewert and his team are pleased with how far they’ve come with this new approach to talent management and look forward to driving further benefits. Above all else, they understand the true benefits of driving a new level of accountability with all of their stakeholders and how that benefits their students.
“As a school district, our focus is on delivering an outstanding educational experience to our students and fostering their growth,� said Ewert. “Revolutionizing our talent management process has become integral to delivering on that promise. Teachers and administrators now have a clear picture of their goals, areas for development, and how their performance benefits our students.�
