Guide to Performance Appraisal

Conduct performance reviews to help your employees reach their potential

By LaRita Heet

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Employee evaluations are a vital tool to tracking employees’ work. Reviewing your employees and conducting employee performance appraisals is an ongoing task. Conducting a fair and accurate employee performance review begins with tracking employee behaviors and patterns – good and bad. The way in which a performance appraisal is delivered has a direct effect on how the employee takes your feedback; as such, your employee evaluations should be tactful, accurate and objective.

Here are the top considerations for employee performance appraisals:

Create a performance review policy designed to motivate your employees and keep them on the right track.
Employee performance appraisals are the perfect opportunity to set and assess the employee’s workplace goals.
Employee evaluations allow you to reward good behavior and develop a performance improvement plan for those who need it.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find employee performance review services and vendors

Go to the pros to find employee performance review services. Human resource consultants or performance appraisal vendors can help you establish a reliable process for employee evaluations.

I recommend: More than 400 organizations in 15 countries rely on the employee performance review experts at Promantek for customized employee performance appraisals with great features, such as year-round employee evaluations notes and employee performance plans. HRN Performance Pro is a flexible, user-friendly online program for employee reviews developed especially for small and mid-sized business by HR professionals.

Gather information for employee performance appraisals with 360-degree employee reviews

A recent trend in performance appraisals is the 360-degree employee review, in which input from the employee's coworkers, the employee himself and other relevant sources are all taken into account for an all-around employee evaluation.

I recommend: The confidential, ongoing employee performance reviews at Checkpoint Peer Review cover 70 job skills, eight major skill clusters and 18 skill groups. Find 360 management software solutions at Business.com. SuccessFactor’s Performance Reviews: Manager’s Edition helps the small business owner write professional performance reviews.

Use employee performance management software for employee reviews

Help your employees design and reach professional goals that are in keeping with company goals using software for employee reviews.

I recommend: Halogen’s eAppraisal helps you align, track and measure employee performance goals and complete training and development plans. StepStone Performance Management software helps with performance appraisals and goal setting for individual employees and teams. Appraisal Smart, which offers web-based performance appraisal software, also offers a detailed tutorial for conducting constructive and successful employee performance appraisals.

Have the proper forms for conducting employee reviews

Keep written records of employee performance reviews. You may need to refer back to those records to evaluate an employee's progress, or you may need them for legal purposes.

I recommend: Performance-Appraisal-Form.com takes the hassle out of creating performance appraisal forms by offering 10 different types of forms written by HR execs.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

During a performance appraisal, it is your job to fairly assess a person's workplace behaviors - not the person.
Performance appraisals should be delivered in a calm, unhurried atmosphere so both you and your employee can focus on the employee review.
Be specific in employee reviews. Instead of saying, "Your cash drawer is always off," try, "Last week, your cash drawer was off by more than $10.00 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday." That's objective fact - not a subjective criticism.
Performance appraisals are not a substitute for spontaneous, positive feedback or kudos. Don't wait until employee reviews are scheduled six months after the fact to applaud an employee's quick-thinking or to address a problem.
Find an employee performance review solution that you can customize to fit your needs.
Put the formal employee performance review in writing, and ask the employee to sign it once the performance appraisal has been completed.

The official source of Performance Appraisal is the Performance Appraisal page at Business.com

Related Resources from Business.com

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