The Importance of the BARS Scale in Employee Evaluation

As an effective business leader, it’s important to have accurate and fair processes for employee evaluation. One of these methods is the Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales, or BARS, approach. The BARS is a vertical scale that grades employee performance against desired standards. The rating scale goes from poor (lowest score) to good (highest score) and often uses a five-point scale.  Instead of relying on traditional quantitative ratings alone, the BARS uses qualified ratings and narratives to offer employees a more comprehensive, inclusive, and valuable feedback system.

Read on to learn more about BARS, including its key components, advantages and limitations, and how to implement the BARS approach successfully within your organization.

Understanding the BARS scale: An in-depth overview

The BARS approach can help you better understand your company’s culture and identify areas where you may want to improve specific processes. When using a BARS, human resources professionals or other evaluators assign specific tasks to each rating on the scale to reflect desired behaviors or performance. This method typically provides a more accurate assessment because it helps identify unique behaviors tailored to specific roles rather than applying the same ratings to everyone in a company.

For example, imagine you’re evaluating your sales team. To assess one dimension of employee performance, you might use a BARS to measure customer interaction skills. On the scale, a one, or “poor,” behavior might be a salesperson who regularly avoids engaging with customers who walk through the door. A five, or “excellent,” behavior on that same scale might be a salesperson who meets new customers with a friendly greeting and has consistent follow-up interactions. 

BARS gives you a much better view of where your employees excel and where they might benefit from additional training. It also helps to remove subjectivity so that evaluations are less biased and more accurate since they focus on specific behaviors.

Read more: Training Needs Analysis: A Tool to Drive Team Performance

Key components of the BARS scale

The key components of the BARS scale take time and effort to put together, but the end result is a useful tool that provides value to both human resources teams and employees. When creating a BARS scale, consider these components:

Criteria for evaluation: Breaking down the parameters

The first key component of the BARS is the criteria for evaluation. Think about the specific role you are evaluating and what tasks, behaviors, or processes are vital. This process is sometimes called the critical incident technique (CIT), which defines both wanted and unwanted behaviors. Once you’ve defined a role's foundational behaviors or requirements, you outline the expected standards of employee behavior along the one to five ratings using descriptive anchors.

Behavioral anchors: Interpreting performance levels

Behavioral anchors are the specific behaviors employees need to exhibit to meet each performance level. These behaviors should be specific and observable and include only relevant behaviors that you can objectively quantify. 

For example, you may have identified “customer engagement” as a foundation behavior for a role during the CIT. Next, you’ll take that foundational behavior and break it down into specific behaviors to map along the scale. It might look like this:

• Level one: Rarely greets customers as they walk through the door, rarely offers assistance, rarely asks follow-up questions

• Level two: Sometimes greets customers as they enter, sometimes offers to help, sometimes asks follow-up questions

• Level three: Usually greets customers as they enter, usually offers assistance, usually asks follow-up questions

• Level four: Almost always greets customers, almost always offers assistance, almost always asks follow-up questions

• Level five: Always greets customers, offers assistance before customers need to ask, asks follow-up questions, and says goodbye

You can customize your behavioral anchors as needed, including the number of anchors. For example, while many organizations choose a five-point scale, you could also implement seven- or nine-point rating scales for more fine-tuned performance measurement.

The role of competencies in BARS scale assessments

Competencies play a vital role in BARS assessments because they provide structure to the evaluation. You can design competencies to go beyond traditional job functions and cover broad aspects of employee performance, including interpersonal communication, motivation, management skills, professional development efforts, and more. 

By rating behaviors on a scale of one to five, human resources professionals and other managers can identify where an employee's strengths and needs. 

Read more: What Is Professional Development and What Are The Benefits?

Advantages and limitations of the BARS scale in employee evaluation

When deciding whether the BARS approach is right for your team, consider both the advantages and limitations of this method. Some of the benefits of the BARS include:

• Easy to use: Employee evaluation is simplified by using clearly defined performance metrics, creating a straightforward and time-efficient model. 

• Reduces bias: The evaluations tend to be unbiased since they are based on specific, quantifiable metrics. This creates a more objective comparison between employees. 

• Defines employee expectations: The BARS helps to define desired behaviors for roles, which increases clarity and can improve employee productivity and workplace culture. 

• Guides employee growth: Because the BARS maps to specific roles and people, the evaluations are tailored to an employee’s unique professional journey and can guide learning and development efforts.

While you can find many benefits to the BARS, you should consider several limitations when deciding if it’s a valuable addition to your organization’s toolkit. Some drawbacks of the BARS include:

• May be resource-intensive: If there is a high volume of roles within the company with little overlap, creating individualized evaluations can be expensive and time-consuming. 

• Requires measurable behaviors: Some desired behaviors, such as creativity, might be too abstract to create a measurable scale.

• May have limited scope: For roles that require consistent upskilling, the BARS might be less useful since the skills are constantly changing.

Implementing the BARS scale in corporate settings

Implementing an effective BARS takes time and dedication, but many organizations find the work worthwhile. To implement the BARS in corporate settings, you’ll need to consider several important factors, such as:

Training managers for BARS scale implementation

To successfully integrate the BARS, you’ll need to train managers and other professionals to use this rating system in their daily tasks. Teach them how to use the scale, which skills to monitor, and how to provide input or feedback. Consider hiring consultants to support your team through creation and implementation.

Overcoming implementation challenges

Many employees resist change, especially if they’re used to different performance evaluation methods. You can overcome these implementation challenges through effective communication with your team. Give your employees a schedule for the rollout and a channel for questions, feedback, and general assistance. Use surveys to stay aware of how your employees are handling the change. Most importantly, stay positive and flexible with the rollout. Implementing something on this scale often takes longer than expected, even up to two and a half years.

Leveraging technology for BARS scale evaluation

Technology such as performance management software helps track metrics, evaluations, and employee progress. These technologies offer the ability to consistently update the BARS as your company evolves, which can be a great way to stay up-to-date with industry trends and changing market demands.

Getting started with Coursera

The BARS scale is an evaluation tool that maps specific behaviors against a rating system, removing bias and offering clarity and efficiency for employee reviews. The BARS helps support your business as you identify places where an employee might benefit from additional training or encouragement to develop skills further. 

Explore the courses and certificates offered on Coursera for Business, which supports your team with a wide range of skills development opportunities. On Coursera for Business, employees can explore exciting business certificates in project management, business intelligence, e-commerce, and more.

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