What is a behaviorally anchored rating scale?

The BARS method aims to quantify role-specific employee behaviors and appraise employee performance. It does this by combining narratives with critical incidents and then assigning them to a points scale, usually vertical, with points ranging from one to five.

Developed in response to other appraisal methods that apply generic behavioral measurables across a wide job range, the BARS rating scale helps reduce subjectivity for improved accuracy.

When using a behaviorally anchored rating scale, each point corresponds to a specific behavior statement, with low numbers representing unsatisfactory behavior and high numbers denoting exceptional performance.

For example, poor performance for a salesperson might include poor eye contact, no conversational initiative and failure to answer sales calls. In contrast, the opposite end may note increased engagement with customers, good rapport-building and consistent follow-up.

How do employers use behaviorally anchored ratings scales?

Most employers, businesses and human resource departments use behaviorally anchored rating scales throughout the employee lifecycle. These methods help keep employees aligned with business goals and the needs of their roles. This means outlining specific examples of behavior types you desire so you can grade employees against those standards.

For instance, you want customer service representatives to exhibit polite behavior and go out of their way to address customers’ concerns. The BARS rating scale lets you use metrics, such as how quickly they answer calls, the way they greet customers and the words they use during calls, to outline areas for improvement.

The BARS rating scale and employee lifecycle stages

The BARS rating scale proves especially helpful in certain employee lifecycle stages. Consider these uses and how they can help you with worker management throughout your organization.

Recruiting new talent

Throughout the hiring process, record how candidates respond to questions and their actions during skill assessment tests to see if they meet your criteria. Using the BARS rating scale this way lets you focus on interviewing those who score well.

However, you do need a system in place to assess the correct behaviors. For example, it may be a good idea to use a different behaviorally anchored rating scale for grading salespeople and accountants.

Evaluating employee performance

Use the BARS rating scale to review how managerial and non-managerial employees balance their duties. By providing reference points and accountability for performance, feedback, and evaluation, these ratings highlight company-wide trends, making it easier to notice both positive movement and areas for improvement.

Once you identify behaviors you want to address, notify team leads and management staff to pay more attention. When leaders know where to focus, they can provide guidance and resources that improve the entire team or department’s effectiveness.

Providing targeted training

Knowing which behaviors employees should focus on helps trainers guide individual training and learning programs. In addition to asking staff to look out for specific behavior patterns, provide company-wide training to target the behaviors you wish to encourage.

These concepts also help with onboarding efforts, ensuring new hires start their jobs with the training they need. Targeted training also gives employees objectives to meet that can help them stand out and advance within your organization.

Improving company culture

You can foster a positive, inclusive work environment when employees feel rewarded and inspired. Ensure employees have a clear picture of your company culture, and use BARS rating scales to identify and promote company values and policies with annual trainings.

Deciding who to promote when positions open

Behaviorally anchored rating scales provide quantitative goals and paths for employees looking to grow in your organization. Likewise, identifying desired behaviors among existing employees helps you with succession planning for higher-level roles.

When you promote from within, this move leaves a gap that needs filling. Determining who takes that position often proves easier when you know which employee meets the criteria.

Whether you fill the position via outside hiring or internal promotion, the BARS rating scale can help find the best fit. The quantifiable scale may helps you identify candidates who learn quickly, fit well with company culture and display solid leadership skills, regardless of tenure or current role.

How does a BARS rating scale work?

A BARS rating scale offers a higher degree of accuracy for performance appraisals. Make the most of this method by developing specific behavior statements and scales. Each one should include various performance standards to promote appraisal accuracy.

How to use BARS

First, identify the important tasks and associated behaviors for the respective role. Sometimes called the critical incident technique (CIT), this task describes desirable and undesirable behaviors.

Next, convert these behaviors into statements of example behavior based on the data you collect. Then, consult with HR and management to create unbiased performance measurables.

Lastly, apply these performance dimensions to a scale with between five and 10 points. The results comprise the BARS to use for that specific role.

Examples

Let’s look at performance dimensions for a nurse. In this case, the BARS measures the performance dimension for conflict management skills:

• One/Unsatisfactory. Displays frustration and impatience with difficult patients and usually requires assistance from other staff.
• Two/Needs Improvement. Sometimes displays frustration with difficult patients but can usually manage conflicts without assistance.
• Three/Satisfactory. Interacts with patients in an empathetic manner without indications of impatience or frustration.
• Four/Exceeds Expectations. Shows empathy toward patients, never displays frustration and supports other nurses and doctors in managing difficult patients.
• Five/Excellent. Shows empathy toward patients and families to help relieve fears or concerns and regularly provides useful assistance to doctors and nurses with difficult patients.

Note that these highly specific statements only include relevant behavior. Rather than simply saying the employee displays negative or positive behavior, outline exactly what those behaviors look like in action. Detailed behavior statements reduce subjectivity during BARS appraisals.

Advantages and disadvantages of using the BARS method

As with anything else, using behaviorally anchored rating scales has its pros and cons. Let’s explore the advantages and disadvantages of this method.

Benefits of using the BARS rating scale

Customizable metrics make BARS a great way to optimize hiring and promotions because you can select the traits you need specifically for each role. Let’s look at some other key benefits of using BARS in your business:

• Unbiased reviews. Because this method uses specific metrics and behaviors, it can help you avoid unconscious biases.
• Clear-cut standards. Well-defined expectations and standards ensure your staff knows exactly what they need to do to improve their future scores and your employee retention.
• Easy evaluations. Simplified ratings make it easier for managers to perform employee evaluations, allowing them to focus more on organizational objectives.

Disadvantages of behaviorally anchored rating scales

The behaviorally anchored rating scale method can provide many advantages to your business if used correctly. It can help improve employee performance and retention and promote a positive organizational culture, but it can also have disadvantages in certain cases:

• Cost and time. Developing and implementing BARS may be timely and costly, especially if you need to consult an outside expert. Creating the scales yourself takes time away from other HR tasks.
• Hard to manage. Large organizations with numerous positions may struggle to manage BARS as it requires outlining skill sets and behaviors for each role.
• Changing standards. The constant evolution of the workplace means your BARS needs to change too. As your company sets new goals, you may need to update the scales you use.

How to create your own behaviorally anchored rating scale

Don’t expect a quick turnaround if you develop your BARS—it takes time. In fact, most companies invest one to two years developing their scales before implementation because they must decide what’s important to each role.

1. Start with the right management team

First, consult with HR staff, department managers and outside experts before developing your BARS rating scale. By allowing people in each department to have a say in employee evaluations, you can identify challenges across the organization. Team leaders, or people managers, also have more direct contact with employees and can provide valuable feedback.

While bringing in outside help may incur more expense, using consultants well-versed in creating BARS for businesses usually guides the conversation and helps your team refine the behavioral metrics they set.

2. Decide which behaviors to score

Next, divide the behaviors you plan to evaluate into two categories—effective and ineffective. Most scales use examples that show an ineffective behavior related to a specific situation in contrast to the desired effective response.

For instance, your BARS may have “needs constant supervision” as the ineffective category and ”completes tasks independently, self-starting” as the effective category.

3. Create a rating scale

When you create your scale, decide on the grading range. Most companies use scales with between five to 10 grades. On a rating scale between one and five, a score of one indicates the behavior doesn’t meet company standards, while a score of two requires improvement.

Employees with a three meet your standards, while higher scorers go above and beyond. When you use BARS for internal promotions, higher scores also identify individuals ready to take on more responsibilities.

4. Finalize the scale and implementation

Once you develop all the behavioral statements for your scales, make final edits for clarity and professionalism. Focus on spelling and grammar, transparent grading metrics and overall understandability. Consider whether you included enough behaviors to target or if you created a scale that others may consider burdensome for employee evaluation purposes.

BARS with numerous behaviors to observe may prove difficult to manage, but those with too few may leave out desired attributes. During your final review, prioritize behaviors as absolute deal-breakers and eliminate the irrelevant ones.

Large companies have used behaviorally anchored rating scales effectively for many years due to the unbiased feedback they provide.

Useful for recruiting new talent and promoting from within, this method takes time and investment but can pay dividends for your bottom line and company culture. You can support company growth and employee advancement by creating a BARS rating scale that identifies untapped leaders and how they may fit into business succession plans.