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What is An Employee Performance Review?

As human resources professionals, executives, and managers in a business environment, it is part of your responsibility to manage employee’s training, compensation, and development. As such, you directly impact the careers of many people, as well as the success of your organization.

One of the greatest tools at your disposal to help you with this job function is the employee performance review, a formal assessment in which managers evaluate how an employee has been performing, set goals, offer feedback, and identify areas of both strength and weakness.

Benefits of Employee Performance Reviews

The employee performance review is a powerful tool that has many notable strengths and benefits for the employee, the manager, and the company. These include, among others:

• Clearly communicating expectations of the employee’s role and performance
• Assuring that the employees working for your organization are providing value to the company and meeting expectations
• Identifying areas of performance that require additional training and supervision
• Helping give the employee feedback and direction that aid in self-improvement, self-management, and future performance
• Gathering information crucial to determining compensation and promotion
• Identifying employees who are under-performing and whose positions need to be re-evaluated
• Recording and tracking the development of employees within the organization
• Giving employees the opportunity to be heard and engage in a dialogue about their position, performance, and experience

How to Conduct an Employee Performance Review

Most employee performance reviews are done on a yearly basis for the entire company at once, around the time that decisions about raises, promotions, and bonuses are made. In order for a performance review to be as successful as possible, there are several important things to keep in mind.

Be Prepared

Both a manager and employee should come into the performance review prepared, with clear ideas about what they will say. Managers should have their employee review form filled out ahead of time, while employees should come in with a self-evaluation completed and any materials they want to review prepared. This will save time, keep the meeting on track, and ensure that all important points are discussed.

Solicit Feedback

As a performance reviewer, if you are unsure of how to respond to any metric on your employee evaluation form, it is important to do your due diligence and gather the relevant information by soliciting feedback about your employee from other people that they work with. In fact, this is a useful step in any case, as it will reduce bias and ensure a higher understanding throughout the performance review process.

Be Clear

Because employee performance reviews usually only happen on a yearly basis, it’s important that both parties walk away from the meeting with a complete, clear understanding of what has been discussed, especially insofar as it impacts compensation and promotion. As a reviewer, it is your responsibility to speak concisely and precisely so that there are no misconceptions about your appraisal or expectations for the future. Use specific examples to illustrate your points so there is no room for misunderstanding.

Listen

Just as much as it is your job to make sure your employee understands what you are saying, it is equally your responsibility to have a dialogue with your employees, really listening to them. It’s important that you understand their perspective, their opinion on their own performance, and their goals moving forward. After all, employee performance evaluations aren’t just opportunities for you to lecture or provide your own opinion. Ask questions, listen closely, and make sure you allow your employee’s voice to be heard and thoughts to be taken into consideration.

Provide Employees with a Copy of Their Performance Evaluation Form

One last important point not to forget is to make sure your employee leaves the meeting with a copy of their own employee review form. They will be able to reference it as a way to understand the feedback they received and what is expected of them in the future.