These are the maintenance functions of human resource management: measuring how well staff perform, rewarding them fairly, and keeping good nurses in the organization.

Performance appraisal is the systematic evaluation of an employee's job performance against set standards over a defined period. Its purposes:

• Developmental — give feedback, identify strengths and learning needs, plan training and careers
• Administrative — support decisions on promotion, pay increases, bonuses, transfer, retention, and discipline
• Organizational — validate selection tools, improve job design, link individual work to unit goals

Appraisal evaluates job-related performance — not private life or personal habits unrelated to work. It works best when standards are clear in advance (from the job description), the process is continuous rather than once a year, and results are used for several purposes, not only for pay.

Compensation is everything an employee receives in exchange for work.

Intrinsic rewards are generally stronger long-term motivators (Herzberg's motivators), while pay mainly prevents dissatisfaction — but inadequate pay is a major driver of turnover.

Retention is keeping competent staff. Turnover is the rate at which staff leave; it is costly (recruitment, orientation, overtime, lost expertise) and harms continuity and safety.

Appraisal methods

Common rater errors

Preventing errors: clear behavioral standards, rater training, ongoing documentation (critical incidents) throughout the period, multiple raters, and forced distribution or BARS where appropriate.

The appraisal interview: prepare in advance; hold it privately; start with the employee's self-assessment; discuss specific behaviors with examples, not personality; balance strengths and areas for improvement; set goals together; document; if the employee becomes defensive, stay calm, listen, and continue the conversation constructively. The purpose is development, not punishment.

Pay systems

Equity: internal equity = fair pay relationships among jobs in the organization (achieved through job evaluation); external competitiveness = pay comparable with the labor market (achieved through salary surveys); individual equity = fair differences among people in the same job. Performance-based pay succeeds only if the criteria are objective, transparent, and fairly applied. Team-based incentives encourage cooperation.

Government sector. Government nurses are paid under the Salary Standardization Law. The current schedule under the Salary Standardization Law of 2019 (RA 11466) was updated by Executive Order No. 64, s. 2024 (signed August 2, 2024), which raises pay in four tranches effective January 1 of 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027, and grants a medical allowance of not more than ₱7,000 a year from fiscal year 2025 for health maintenance organization-type benefits. RA 9173 Section 32 sets the minimum base pay of nurses in public health institutions at Salary Grade 15. In Ang Nars Party-List v. Executive Secretary (G.R. No. 215746, October 8, 2019), the Supreme Court upheld this minimum against a conflicting executive order; the Department of Budget and Management then upgraded Nurse I to Salary Grade 15 (Budget Circular No. 2020-4) and, after revisions, set Nurse II at Salary Grade 16 (Budget Circular No. 2021-2).

Performance of government employees is managed through the Civil Service Commission's Strategic Performance Management System (SPMS), which links individual performance to organizational performance using individual performance commitment and review forms; ratings also feed into the government's Performance-Based Bonus.

Magna Carta of Public Health Workers (RA 7305) — key benefits: security of tenure; hours not exceeding 8 per day or 40 per week; overtime and rest-day compensation; night-shift differential of 10%; hazard allowance for work in difficult or hazardous conditions; subsistence allowance; longevity pay of 5% of monthly basic pay for every 5 years of continuous service; laundry allowance for those required to wear uniforms; remote assignment allowance; free compulsory medical examination on entry and annually; and freedom from discrimination.

Private sector (Labor Code and related laws): overtime at regular wage plus at least 25%; night shift differential of not less than 10% for work between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.; 5 days of service incentive leave with pay after one year of service; and 13th-month pay paid not later than December 24 (PD 851).

Retention strategies: a structured orientation, preceptorship, and first-year mentoring; manageable workloads and safe staffing; fair and competitive pay; flexible scheduling and self-scheduling; clinical ladders and education support; recognition programs; shared governance and participation in decisions; supportive leadership; fair, timely feedback; stress-management and wellness support. When a valued nurse announces an intention to resign, the manager's first step is a private conversation to find the real reasons (workload, conflict, lack of growth, family or migration plans), then address what can be addressed. Exit interviews and turnover data guide unit-level improvements. Migration of Filipino nurses abroad makes retention a national concern.

Discipline (progressive): counseling → oral warning → written warning → suspension → dismissal. Focus on the behavior, not the person; investigate carefully but act promptly; keep it confidential and consistent; observe due process. In the private sector, dismissal follows the two-notice rule: a first written notice stating the specific charges, a real opportunity to be heard (hearing or conference, with evidence and representation), and then a second written notice of the decision.

• Nurse manager: set clear standards; document performance throughout the period; conduct fair, private, two-way appraisal interviews; link results to development plans; apply pay and benefit rules consistently; monitor turnover and act on causes.
• Staff nurse: know the standards and one's own objectives; complete self-appraisal honestly; seek feedback; participate in peer review.
• Chief nurse: advocate for competitive compensation, safe staffing, and career ladders; build retention programs; ensure due process in discipline.

• Salary floor: RA 9173 Section 32 (Salary Grade 15 minimum in public health institutions).
• Incentives: RA 9173 Section 34 directs the Board of Nursing, with the DOH and others, to establish an incentive and benefit system (such as free hospital care for nurses and dependents and scholarship grants) and requires hospitals to maintain the DOH nurse-patient ratio.
• Benefits: RA 7305 (public health workers) and the Labor Code and PD 851 (private sector).
• Non-discrimination: appraisal and pay must not be based on sex, religion, or other irrelevant traits; the Labor Code prohibits paying women less for work of equal value (Article 133, formerly Article 135).
• Confidentiality: appraisal records are personal information under the Data Privacy Act of 2012 (RA 10173).
• Ethics: fair, transparent reward decisions reflect justice; favoritism damages trust and commitment.

Case 1 — Recency error. A head nurse rates a nurse "unsatisfactory" because of one late endorsement last week, ignoring eleven months of excellent work. Error: recency. Correct approach: keep critical-incident notes all year and rate the whole period.

Case 2 — Joint objectives. A nurse and her manager agree that she will complete chemotherapy safety training and audit 20 charts by June. Method: MBO.

Case 3 — Resigning nurse. A skilled nurse says she plans to resign. First action: meet privately to explore her reasons before offering solutions. Why: retention efforts fail if they target the wrong cause.

Case 4 — Night differential. A private hospital nurse works 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. She is entitled to a night shift differential of at least 10% of her regular wage for those hours.

• Using appraisal only to decide pay.
• Mixing up halo (one good trait inflates all) with leniency (everyone rated high).
• Treating forced distribution as the cause of leniency — it prevents it.
• Stopping an appraisal interview when the nurse becomes defensive.
• Assuming intrinsic rewards are irrelevant to retention, or that pay alone fixes turnover.
• Citing the wrong basis: internal equity comes from job evaluation; external competitiveness comes from salary surveys.
• Omitting due process in discipline.

• Appraisal purposes: developmental, administrative, organizational; evaluate job performance only.
• MBO = jointly set measurable objectives; BARS = rating scale plus critical incidents; 360-degree = multiple sources.
• Errors: halo, horn, central tendency, leniency/strictness, recency, stereotyping; prevent with training and continuous documentation.
• Forced distribution counters leniency and central tendency.
• Compensation: direct pay, indirect benefits, intrinsic rewards.
• Internal equity = job evaluation; external competitiveness = salary survey.
• Government nurses: SSL (RA 11466) updated by EO 64 s. 2024 (tranches 2024–2027); Nurse I = Salary Grade 15 (RA 9173 Section 32; Supreme Court 2019).
• RA 7305: 10% night differential, longevity pay 5% per 5 years, hazard, subsistence, and laundry allowances, free annual medical examination.
• Private: overtime +25%, night differential ≥ 10%, 5-day service incentive leave, 13th-month pay by December 24.
• Retention: orientation, mentoring, safe staffing, fair pay, flexibility, growth, recognition; first explore why a nurse wants to leave.
• Discipline is progressive, confidential, consistent, and follows due process.