Performance Period

RF Annual Performance Review

The Research Foundation鈥檚 formal was designed to foster communication between employees and their supervisors, recognize individual accomplishments, and enhance employee development. As such, it is highly recommended that supervisors engage in an annual performance review with their employees. This discussion should be a conversation-based meeting on how the employee is performing in the main aspects of their position. Your meeting should focus on things such as job knowledge, customer service, teamwork, dependability, productivity, integrity/ethics, etc.

The research shows a direct correlation between employee success and ongoing supervisor engagement. The Research Foundation Office of Human Resources supports this process by providing an easy-to-use Annual Performance Review Form. This document will allow you and your employee to create actionable benchmarks to support growth and development while addressing any potential performance concerns. This form can be used as often as one would like throughout the year, however, it should be used at least annually to document your employee's progress towards an established set of job-related expectations. These open and honest conversations will pave the way for your employee鈥檚 success!

Additionally, The Research Foundation for SUNY (RF) develops a one-year, corporate-wide salary program designed to help Principal Investigators and managers remain competitive in the marketplace. Part of this plan outlines the RF鈥檚 commitment to pay for performance, thus, salary increases should reward employees for increased productivity and meritorious performance. In order to equitably evaluate your employees, it is required that annual written performance reviews are completed for administrative employees and it is highly recommended for all sponsored programs employees. In both cases, the final annual written performance review shall be shared with RFHR for the employees' personnel records. 

In order to be eligible for the merit portion of the corporate salary plan, employees must have at least 6 months of active employment at the time of the implementation of the increase. All active employees are eligible for the Across-the-Board increase as long as they were on payroll before 6/30. Salary increases covered under this plan may be made effective either on July 1, on the employee's anniversary date, or on the project anniversary date. Use of a different date, when required for budgetary reasons, must be documented and kept on file at the operating location.  Those employees on an approved leave of absence will be eligible for the across-the-board (ATB), and there is the possibility of a discretionary increase upon their return to work.

Note: Should you need any support in preparing for a Performance Review please do not hesitate to reach out to the RF Office of Human Resources. We are prepared to share best practices around the conversation itself and how to best document your meeting. Furthermore, please share your final Annual Performance Review Form with our office to be placed in the employee personnel files.


Process Overview:

  • Supervisor completes Section I (performance factors), Section II (performance summary) and Section III (professional development opportunities).
      • Note: the supervisor should be reviewing the employee's job description while completing the evaluation form. They should also be looking to update/edit the job description as needed.
      • Resources: RF employees can log into and search for 鈥減erformance reviews鈥 or 鈥減erformance appraisals." A host of on-demand resources are at your fingertips. 
  • Supervisor sends their employee the working Annual Performance Review Form. 
  • Employee will review the form and complete Section III (performance development opportunities). Employee can also add comments at the end of the form or on a separate word document.
  • Employee will share the completed form with the supervisor (to include any supporting documents/comments).
  • The supervisor should then schedule a time to meet with the employee to review the final document. This should be an in-person meeting (if manageable) in order to get the most out of your time.
  • Once the meeting is completed, the employee and/or supervisor may want to update the form's contents.
  • The last step is for the employee and supervisor to sign the form. This would close out the process and the finalized Annual Performance Review should be sent to rfhr@binghamton.edu to be added to the employee personnel file.


Note: The timing of the RF Annual Performance Review should coincide with how your area plans to implement an approved Corporate Salary Plan. Traditionally, the Annual Corporate Salary plan is implemented at campuses on July 1st of each year. If your area follows this traditional timeline, you will want to ensure that you complete your Annual Performance Review in advance of July 1st in order to have a basis for that year's salary plan implementation. If your area follows a different timeline when implementing the Corporate Salary Plan (ie: anniversary dates of employees), you will want to ensure that the Annual Performance Review is completed in advance of that timeline.