Frequently Asked Questions
For guidance specific to Mason Korea, please visit the Mason Korea Performance Evaluations FAQ.
General/Non-Supervisory
Goals of the midcycle check include:
- Fostering an open, honest and constructive dialogue
- Providing a space and opportunity for ongoing feedback and reflection about past efforts
- Discussions about current priorities
- Planning and goal adjustment
- Focus on ongoing performance, professional and personal well-being, and growth
A/P faculty and classified staff and their supervisors are encouraged to participate in the midcycle performance check-in process, but it is optional for most employees at this time. This check-in is required if there is a need to address any performance-related concerns or for new employees who did not participate in the last annual evaluation process. Additional information can be found on the midcycle check-in guidance page.
The new evaluation process includes a section called Growth Capabilities. In the Development summary, employees will identify performance and professional development objectives and goals for the next year. The supervisor should then work with employees to provide development opportunities while aligning goals to business unit or institutional needs.
Evaluations of classified staff and a/p faculty are completed online through LEAPS. For those who requested an exception from leaps@gmu.edu and have been exempted from this process, electronic forms may be submitted. Performance evaluation forms can be found on the Forms page.
Performance evaluations for administrative/professional faculty and classified staff must be submitted to HR and completed in MasonLEAPS by April 30, 2025. Please see Performance Evaluation Announcements and Guidance for more information.
As of 2023, annual evaluation timelines have been realigned to a new evaluation cycle of April 1 – March 31.
Self-evaluations are required for Classified Staff and A/P Faculty. The self-evaluation step is critical to start the evaluation process workflow and provide a foundation for the supervisor’s review. It allows you the opportunity to document your accomplishments and strengths, address any concerns and challenges you may have that relate to the job, and to highlight any obstacle you overcame to improve your performance.
You must have an annual performance evaluation on file for the current performance cycle if you are:
- Administrative/Professional Faculty hired by December 31 of the prior year; or
- Classified Staff hired by December 31 of the prior year.
If an employee is still under their probation period during the annual evaluation process, supervisors must complete the evaluation in MasonLEAPS. Please note: The Progress Review Form should be used for the 3-, 6- and 11-month progress review.
Instructional/Research Faculty evaluations are not coordinated by HR. Please contact your academic unit for guidance in accordance with the Faculty Handbook.
No, performance evaluations are not submitted to HR for these employee classes.
If there was a recent evaluation completed and it is within the evaluation cutoff period, then an additional evaluation is not required.
If an employee moves into a new position or department at any point during the performance cycle, a performance evaluation is required from the new department if the previous department did not complete an evaluation.
The position held when the evaluation process begins is the one for which an employee should be evaluated. If an employee recently moved into a new position, their supervisor should consult with the prior supervisor to obtain and document performance information during the supervisor review process.
- If the employee is Classified Staff AND under a probationary period, the new department should submit either the progress review form, one of the standard evaluation forms, or an evaluation in MasonLEAPS.
- If the employee is A/P faculty or Classified Staff NOT under a probationary period, the new department should submit one of the standard evaluation forms if an evaluation was not submitted by the previous supervisor.
If a supervisor returns from leave during the evaluation process, they should not participate in the process if the co-planner has already conducted the review. If the supervisor co-planner is also the reviewer, they can still be the reviewer or a reviewer co-planner can be appointed.
If there is no supervisor present when the evaluation is due, the reviewer (or whomever the reviewer appoints as a co-planner) should conduct the evaluation on behalf of the supervisor.
Please contact the Performance Management team at leaps@gmu.edu. We're happy to help!
Please work directly with your supervisor or your department’s HR liaison to get a copy of your Employee Work Profile (EWP) or position description.
MasonLEAPS receives organizational structure information of an employee's primary position from Banner, HR's information system. Any updates in Banner will update the performance management system the next day. If a supervisor or reporting staff is incorrect, please work with your department's HR liaison to request an update in Banner.
If you disagree with an evaluation rating or comments and cannot resolve the disagreement with your supervisor, you should add comments during the evaluation employee sign-off step to explain your disagreement and provide clear examples for not agreeing with the feedback received.
Classified employees may appeal to the reviewer within 10 workdays of receiving the evaluation. The reviewer will provide a response within 5 workdays. The reviewer can uphold, revise, or rewrite the evaluation. An employee may also file a grievance if they feel the evaluation is arbitrary or capricious.
Admin/Professional Faculty may appeal to the reviewer in writing within 10 workdays of receiving the evaluation. The reviewer has 10 workdays to review the appeal, meet with the employee, and provide a written response to let it stand or be revised as the reviewer, in their sole discretion, determines to be appropriate. The performance evaluation cannot be the subject of a grievance.
Please contact emprel@gmu.edu for additional guidance.
Yes. There have been instances where the performance management system does not always function as intended and data may be lost. Therefore, it is strongly encouraged for the self-review to be saved so the data is captured and retained.
Once your supervisor completes and submits your review in the system, it goes to the indirect manager (typically your supervisor’s supervisor) for review, additional comments, and approval. After that step is completed, your supervisor should provide you with a copy of your review prior to your review meeting. After that meeting takes place, your supervisor will sign the review in the system, which then makes it visible for your final review and electronic signature. You will be able to print a copy of your review at that time.
Please contact leaps@gmu.edu for assistance.
Interim evaluations should be documented and maintained by the receiving agency, meaning that your prior supervisor should have completed an evaluation and forwarded a copy to your supervisor at Mason. Because Mason follows a different classified evaluation cycle than most state agencies, this may result in a classified employee having more than one evaluation in a calendar year.
The self-evaluation is required, although it may not be completed if an employee is on leave during the evaluation process. If an employee is unable to participate in completing the self-evaluation or fails to do so, your supervisor will complete the evaluation of your performance without your input.
Self-evaluations automatically move forward to the supervisor review after the self-evaluation deadline has passed. This allows supervisors to start the review since they also have a deadline to submit the evaluation to their reviewer. If you still need to complete your self-review, you will need to ask your supervisor to re-open the self-review step. Supervisors can view this tutorial video (How to Re-Open a Step)if they are not sure how to re-open a step in MasonLEAPS.
If any step of the evaluation (self-eval, supervisor evaluation, reviewer review, supervisor sign-off, or employee sign-off) is not completed, the evaluation status will be listed as incomplete. The self-eval step will be marked as incomplete if an employee answers all the required questions but does not submit the self-evaluation and lets it auto-advance to the supervisor on the due date.
For Supervisors and Managers
A supervisor can reopen an evaluation for an employee for any reason, including but not limited to the following reasons: the employee was out of the office during the self-evaluation period, failed to complete their evaluation on time, or would like to add more information to their evaluation.
To learn how to reopen a step, watch this tutorial video.
If a supervisor or reviewer reopens the self-evaluation or supervisor review, they will need to opt to clos their step to assign a new due date. Please be advised that once a step has been reopened while the next step is available, the supervisor/reviewer will not receive a notification that the reopened evaluation has been submitted.
It is an annual performance summary so the focus should include the entire year’s performance. Please take the opportunity to contact the previous manager and obtain feedback. If the previous manager is no longer with Mason, refer to the indirect manager who has knowledge of the employee’s performance. Include their input in your evaluation – do not use the co-planner function for this purpose.
Contact leaps@gmu.edu.
All annual performance evaluations must be completed using the electronic LEAPS system unless an exception is approved by the Performance Management team. The Progress Review Form should be used for the 3-, 6- and 11-month progress reviews unless the annual evaluation process is underway. Please contact leaps@gmu.edu if you have questions about which process to follow.
Edits to the ratings and comment sections can only be made prior to the employee sign-off. Once the employee signs the evaluation, no changes can be made. The reviewer or the HR Performance Management team (leaps@gmu.edu) can assist to reopen steps.
Each section must include a comment to explain and support the rating for that section. Be specific in your comments and be sure to link behaviors to results.
No. The system generates generic emails that cannot be customized to leave situations. Emails sent by the HR Performance Management team (leaps@gmu.edu) are sent without regard for current leave status since the team does not track individual employee status.
Obtain feedback from the previous manager or indirect manager when possible.
Supervisor training is not yet mandatory but there are ongoing discussions about requiring supervisor training in the near future. Supervisors, especially those who are new, are strongly encouraged to attend the following trainings: Performance Management and Evaluation for A/P Faculty and Classified Staff, and/or Supervisor Boot Camp.
Yes. The Impact Award is a form of recognition at Mason, while the Acknowledgment form is required by the state for classified staff who receive an “extraordinary contributor” rating, which is Mason’s equivalent to an “outstanding” rating. Additionally, the Acknowledgment form is required to be submitted to Human Resources by March 1st or the employee is ineligible for an overall “Outstanding” rating on their performance evaluation.
The LEAPS evaluation system receives information from Banner, our HR Information System. When Banner identifies that your position has subordinate positions, meaning there are positions that report to yours, then Banner identifies your position as supervisory. When evaluations are launched, the system assigns the supervisor evaluation, which includes additional rated performance capabilities, based on your position/role as a supervisor.
Please note, only the employee's primary position is fed from Banner to Mason LEAPS. If a supervisor's only subordinate position is not the employee's primary position, Mason LEAPS will not identify them as a supervisor.
The Job Knowledge and Performance capability is an appropriate place to document performance concerns and achievements. The Organizational Citizenship capability is the appropriate place to discuss and document workplace behaviors.
Several resources are available online to assist with setting goals, documenting work efforts and accomplishments to assist with the annual self-evaluation, and facilitating 1:1 conversations between a supervisor and staff.
If an employee is on leave when their evaluation is due, the department should submit an evaluation without the employee's signature. This can act as a placeholder until the employee returns from leave. Please note on the evaluation that the employee is on leave and another signed version will be submitted upon the employee's return.
Individual consultations may be scheduled by contacting the Employee Relations team at emprel@gmu.edu or 703-993-3878. General questions about the performance management process and evaluation form may be submitted to the Performance Management team at leaps@gmu.edu.
Employees should be evaluated on the position they hold when evaluations launched. For example, if an employee moved to a new role (or new classification) in December and evaluations opened in February, the employee should be evaluated on their current position from December through the end of March (the current evaluation cycle). Since the employee is new in the role, their rating for Job Knowledge and Performance may appropriately be “developing/fair” since they’ve had limited time performing new responsibilities.
The current supervisor can have conversations with the prior supervisor about the employee’s work contributions, but the Job Knowledge and Performance capability should evaluate the current role. Where this may differ is the rating for Organizational Citizenship. Since that rated area includes workplace behaviors such as professional conduct and service to the university community, this rating may be informed by the prior supervisor’s comments since the employee is not new to Mason and they may have relationships and service to the university that continue in the new role.
Supervisors need to consult with Employee Relations when they are considering an “unsatisfactory” rating for any classified staff or a/p faculty. Generally, an “unsatisfactory” or “below contributor” rating cannot be given without a prior conversation with and documentation provided to the employee in question. Some circumstances may require an overall rating of “developing/fair” for an underperformer during the evaluation process which, for classified staff, may be followed by a probationary progress review with a “below contributor” rating. Please contact Employee Relations at emprel@gmu.edu for further guidance.
Supervisory and Non-supervisor interim evaluation forms are available for a/p faculty who did not participate in the annual evaluation process and for whom you may want or need to document their performance. For classified staff, the probationary progress review form should be used to document and provide comments on overall progress. Please be aware that an “unsatisfactory” rating is the same as a “below contributor” rating, and an employee rated “below contributor” due to current performance is not eligible for a salary increase.
A supervisor should meet with the probationary (classified) employee approximately 3 weeks prior the completion of their probationary period and provide a progress review to notify them, in writing, when the 12-month probationary period has been completed satisfactorily. If an employee works beyond the 12-month period without being notified (1) of satisfactory completion or (2) that the probationary period was extended, the employee will be regarded as having successfully completed the probationary requirement.
Goals of the midcycle check include:
- Fostering an open, honest and constructive dialogue
- Providing a space and opportunity for ongoing feedback and reflection about past efforts
- Discussions about current priorities
- Planning and goal adjustment
- Focus on ongoing performance, professional and personal well-being, and growth
Though this process is optional for most A/P faculty and classified staff, supervisors are encouraged to use this opportunity to provide coaching and feedback on current work progress and to establish, reset, or realign expectations, goals, and objectives. This check-in is required if there is a need to address any performance-related concerns or for new employees who did not participate in the last annual evaluation process. Additional information can be found on the midcycle check-in guidance page.
Pay-for-Performance
Pay-for-performance, or outcomes-based pay, refers to a compensation philosophy where employees are rewarded for achieving goals or objectives, based on measurable outcomes and outstanding contributions which have a significant and positive impact on the business unit or that may materially advance the mission of the institution. An outcomes-based pay model creates accountability for goal achievement at all levels.
Every employee has the ability to achieve great things from their role and position within Mason. Each individual’s contributions will be different, and the expectations and goals should be discussed and documented with their individual supervisor. Evaluations will take into account how an individual performed against their given roles and responsibilities and the contributions made towards their unit and Mason.
Across the Board (ATB) increases: Overall ratings of “developing/fair,” “successful,” "high-performing," and “outstanding” are eligible for an ATB increase. Employees with an overall rating of “unsuccessful” are not eligible for any increase.
Pay-for-performance increases: Overall ratings of “successful,” "high-performing," and “outstanding” may be eligible for an outcomes-based performance increase, determined by business unit leadership, which is in addition to an ATB increase.
Eligibility for salary increases may vary based on state requirements from year to year. Generally, an employee must receive the state equivalent of a “contributor” rating on their most recent evaluation to be eligible for an annual salary increase. An overall rating of “developing/fair” is equivalent to the state “contributor” rating, so most employees who receive this rating are eligible for an increase. However, if, for example, a classified staff on probation receives a probationary progress review with a “below contributor” rating after the annual review was conducted, the staff will not be eligible for an increase.