Creating the perfect employee evaluation means taking many things into consideration, including how all participants are feeling about the process. In fact, you’ve probably noticed many people getting nervous before a review meeting, because it’s a pretty common reaction.
With the right approach, you can create a smooth process and make the most of this important one-on-one meeting. After all, employee reviews are meant to promote learning, communication and understanding.
A well-thought, carefully prepared employee evaluation should be an event to look forward to! Keep reading to learn how to create reviews that centre on the employee experience, minimize anxiety and help you gather the insights you need to make good decisions.
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1. What Is an Employee Evaluation?
2. Types of Employee Evaluations
3. Best Practices for an Employee Evaluation: Tips for Managers
4. Best Practices for HR When It Comes to Employee Evaluations
5. Create the perfect employee evaluation with Primalogik
What Is an Employee Evaluation?
An employee evaluation is a formal check-in that happens periodically. Often called an appraisal or review, it follows a standardized process. Managers across an organization should use the same evaluation process and schedule for fairness. This could mean delivering reviews quarterly, mid-year, or according to your organisation’s specific needs or schedule.
How is an employee evaluation used?
First and foremost, an employee evaluation helps you evaluate progress toward specific goals. Second, it can help with decisions about promotions and raises. That’s why having a standardized process is so important. It helps leaders and HR make fair and accurate decisions.
It’s also why many employees find the process stressful. The better designed your employee evaluation, the less your staff will worry about appraisals.
How do employees benefit from evaluations?
Evaluations show employees where to focus their efforts. They also provide a thorough review of progress in critical areas. Plus, they help managers decide what types of training to provide. Employees can then plan and engage in learning opportunities in important areas for growth. Lastly, they’ll have the satisfaction of knowing where they’re excelling.
Types of Employee Evaluations
Now, let’s explore several methods of evaluating employees. Common types of rating scales will follow. The method of evaluation shows whose perspective you’re gaining. The rating scale tells you how that person evaluates the employee.
Employee Evaluation Methods
The following are five popular types of employee evaluations. Each has potential benefits. You may even use more than one in a single performance review.
Self-assessment
An employee can complete a self-assessment before the formal evaluation. This can serve two purposes. First, it can illuminate any strengths or challenges the manager hasn’t noticed. Second, it can highlight the employee’s level of self-awareness.
Comparing it against the manager’s evaluation shows whether the employee knows where to improve. Primalogik offers a free guide to mastering the self-evaluation process.
Team assessment
The team evaluation assesses a team’s overall success. It pinpoints areas for improvement as well. Team members also evaluate individual peers’ performance. The manager then gathers feedback for each individual from these reviews.
Employee review
This is the most common type of employee evaluation. It involves doing an individual employee assessment by their manager to note various elements of the employee’s performance throughout the review period. The manager writes a formal evaluation and discusses it with the employee. The two types of reviews discussed above can complement the manager’s evaluation.
Leadership assessment
A leadership assessment assesses an individual’s skills as a leader. It considers competencies like strategic thinking and the ability to motivate people. The leader assessment often includes reviews by employees as well as senior leaders. Soliciting input from direct reports helps reveal how effectively this individual can lead.
Meanwhile, senior leaders can evaluate outcomes—another piece of the puzzle. This process can assist in promoting leaders to suitable positions.
360-degree assessment
In this evaluation method, a broad range of people evaluate an employee. The 360 degree feedback process shouldn’t be used to directly evaluate performance. Instead, it should be used strictly for developmental purposes.
Steer clear of scheduling 360-degree feedback sessions when managers are conducting formal performance reviews. This prevents employees from linking the two and avoids inadvertently swaying manager evaluations. However, holding a 360 earlier in the review cycle can pinpoint development areas that managers can then track.
Employee Evaluation Rating Scales
When putting together an employee evaluation, you have several types of rating scales to choose from. Each of the scales discussed below is an accepted method of evaluating employees. They can be used with any of the assessments described above.
Regardless of the scale you choose, be sure to provide clear directions on how to use it.
Five-point scales are common. However, managers often focus on the centre of the scale in a well-known bias known as central tendency bias (Source: International Journal of Organizational Leadership). Using a scale with 4 or 6 levels can decrease that tendency. After all, they offer no “middle” option.
Graphic rating scale
With this scale, the reviewer ranks the employee’s performance on a continuum. The scale usually includes numerous questions on topics like teamwork and communication. Ratings may include numbers (1 to 5) or descriptive words (“unsatisfactory” to “excellent”).
It’s a simple type of scale that often has a strong visual element. For instance, it could include a numbered bar where the manager marks the appropriate spot. It could also include a row of boxes, allowing the manager to check the right one.
Management by objectives (MBO)
This technique focuses on evaluating measurable results. It’s not just a rating system but a performance management method. MBO begins with setting objectives at the start of the appraisal period. Each evaluation question pertains to one of those objectives.
The manager typically uses a numbered scale to rate employees’ ability to meet goals. It’s often simple to complete because the answers are based on clear evidence. MBO can be especially helpful for jobs without set routines. Examples include many project leadership and management positions.
Behaviourally anchored rating scale (BARS)
The format of the BARS scale assists reviewers in making accurate ratings. Each point on the scale presents a statement portraying a level of competence. This provides more clarity for reviewers than a number alone. For example, here is a set of answers from a sample BARS question:
How effectively does the employee communicate with clients?
- Makes little to no effort to communicate with clients.
- Replies to clients when they reach out but not in a timely manner.
- Responds to clients within a reasonable timeframe and effectively addresses their questions.
- Proactively reaches out to clients, building strong relationships.
BARS scales can take more time to develop with the level of detail involved.
Forced choice
Forced choice rating scales ask managers to compare employees against each other. For each criterium on the scale, they rank employees in order of performance. However, this type of scale tends to undermine culture and camaraderie. Plus, it forces employees to make distinctions where no difference may exist. Most experts today advise avoiding forced choice rankings.
Whichever type of assessment you choose, make sure employees understand the criteria. They need to know how the rating scale works to benefit from it, so that you have useful information to discuss in the one-on-one meeting that follows.
Coach managers on using the following best practices in the employee evaluation. This will help them build stronger bonds with employees built on trust.
Best Practices for an Employee Evaluation: Tips for Managers
Let’s walk through the most crucial “dos” and “don’ts” of employee evaluations. Most of them pertain to the supervisor’s role in conducting the evaluation. We have a couple for HR managers as well. Following these tips will let you squeeze maximum value from your evaluations.
Tips on Giving Feedback
Do provide frequent feedback outside of the formal evaluation. Ongoing feedback is far more beneficial than sporadic feedback. It helps employees gauge their progress. It often helps them modify their actions in real-time.
Don’t offer vague feedback. Instead, focus on specific behaviours. This is easiest to do when giving real-time feedback.
Tips on Using Metrics
Do determine metrics of success. Then, compare the achievement of these metrics between review periods. This will clearly illustrate progress.
Don’t compare the employee against coworkers in the evaluation. As a manager, you may need to evaluate who is excelling and who is struggling. However, those comparisons shouldn’t form part of the review.
Tips on Keeping Records of Employee Evaluations
Do document your one-on-one meetings and keep a manager journal. You can do this in physical form or electronically. Professional employee performance review software can be used to keep all your notes tidy and organized. Take notes that demonstrate progress toward goals and hurdles employees face.
Don’t rely only on your memory. That’s a sure way to succumb to issues like recency bias! This means weighting more recent events more heavily. You may want to check out our article on other ways to avoid bias in performance reviews.
Tips on Giving Effective and Appropriate Feedback
Do share constructive criticism frankly. If you sugarcoat the truth too much, it will be obvious. Learn standard review phrases before going into your meeting, so you are prepared to communicate effectively and respectfully.
Don’t look at only extreme examples (good or bad) of certain behaviours. According to research by Stephanie Flanagan of Penn State University, they may not represent the whole story. A good performance tracking system can help you see the bigger picture.
Tips on Asking Questions
Do bring check-in questions to your meeting. Robert Half shares several:
- “What’s been your greatest work accomplishment here, and what do you hope to accomplish over the coming year?”
- “Do you have everything you need to perform your job?”
- “Where do you feel you need to improve in your role?”
- “Are you comfortable with our organizational culture, and are there areas you think need to change?”
Don’t wing it. And don’t make the evaluation meeting a monologue. Asking good questions should spark fruitful conversation.
Tips on Helping Employees Prepare
Do help employees to prepare. Send a summary of what you’ll be discussing, and encourage them to learn what to say in a performance review. Encourage them to reflect on their greatest challenges and strengths. Prompt them to think about future goals as well. When they come prepared, you’ll have a more productive two-way conversation.
Don’t catch them off guard. Employees should never feel blindsided by criticism in the review.
H3 Tips on Sharing More Details
Do explain how their efforts fit into the big picture. Connect the dots between their progress and the company’s achievements.
Don’t only offer generic statements. Be specific about how their problem-solving helped the company. Or, share how outlining the departmental budget impacted the bottom line.
Best Practices for HR When It Comes to Employee Evaluations
HR also plays an important role in doing employee evaluations right. It’s especially important to get involved if you think the review process needs to be upgraded. Coaching managers to perform the process correctly, consolidating insights afterwards, and other key tactics are key to making evaluations work.
Tips for Using Rating Scales
Do compare the rating styles of different managers to detect any bias that exists. Further, consider differences between managers’ rating styles. Are some more lenient, giving more favourable reviews to all employees? Are others much stricter? Coach managers on how to use the rating scale following the same criteria. This will help ensure all employees receive fair evaluations and equal opportunities. A good employee review tool will help you do all of this.
Don’t avoid training managers on how to avoid bias — or confront it. Everyone is subject to bias, no matter how well-intended.
Tips for Presenting Observations
Do give managers a clear framework for presenting observations. Penn State Human Resources advises using this format:
- State previously defined expectations about a specific skill or task.
- Define observations you’ve made about how the employee handles it.
- Share your assessment of what those observations mean.
- Explain the consequences (good or bad).
Following this framework will ensure no crucial steps are left out. For example, managers won’t forget to clarify expectations or state specific examples of behaviours.
Don’t be hands-off after giving managers a framework and evaluation form. Check in with them consistently to provide guidance.
Create the perfect employee evaluation with Primalogik
Yes, employee evaluations pose some challenges. But the benefits far outweigh the inconvenience, which is why they are used in many companies around the world.
Remember, a professional employee performance review software can help you organize and implement every stage of the review process. From personalized questions to embedded goal-tracking, the Primalogik online reviews software has everything you need to create the perfect employee evaluation. Try a free demo to learn how our performance management software can take your processes to the next level!