How to Get the Most Out of Performance Appraisals

Many businesses implement formal performance appraisal procedures, to provide a mechanism, often every 6 months, to sit down with their employees and have a full and frank discussion about their performance and what they should try to improve on going forwards.

However, the key to your business getting the most out of its appraisal system is for there to be no surprises at the meeting.  Formal performance appraisal meetings should be interspersed with informal chats and feedback so that it comes as no surprise to the employee, when they sit down for a formal appraisal meeting, what they have done well and what they need to improve on.  This will enable you to get the most out of formal performance appraisals because it will keep your employees informed of your expectations in terms of their performance.

Another top tip is to make sure you are completely honest and avoid the temptation to be too nice.  It is often much easier to be positive and focus only on an employee’s strengths rather than being honest and also discussing an employee’s areas of weakness.  You should ensure that your line managers are fully trained on how to give constructive and honest feedback.  It is really difficult to justify taking formal action against an employee for poor performance if there is no paper trail in place of the concerns previously being raised with the employee.

If you need any assistance with implementing a formal appraisal process or managing an employee who is falling below the expected level of performance then please contact a member of our team.