Employee Appraisals: Writing Employee Performance Reviews

This article on how to write employee appraisals will help you complete the review process properly. The simple idea of writting reviews will keep a new manager up at night. Experienced leaders dread the lenghty process. The main problem is that these leaders are making the process harder than it has to be.

When rushed and incorrectly done most employee appraisals lack effectiveness. A good employee evaluation needs to motivate with development. Employee performance development can be viewed in either for advancement or for improvement.

Here you will find performance management tools and techniques. Examples of phrases for performance reviews. Also ways to issue evaluations that motivate employees.

Employee Appraisals or better yet employee reviews are one of those tasks that every manager hate. We understand that it is part of our job description and its importance like taxes. The problem with employee reviews is that they take a lot of time to do correctly. The process of review writting adds another task to an already hetic business schedule.

Opinions vary on how to go about completing the employee review process. Many managers take reviews home with them. The purpose here is to complete them faster with less interruptions. While others simply cutback back work related tasks by delagating and complete evaluations in the office. These managers like to keep work and home life seperate. It really comes down to personal prefrence.

Perfomance and attendence issues for example can be resolved with well written reviews. A good review can reward performance with a roadmap for promotions. They also can help get an employee back on track. The whole process lends itself to the opportunity for employee motivation. The bottom line is this, a well written balanced employee review will build you a strong workforce.

All reviews must have positive and negative facts. The positive facts are usally employee strengths, while negatives are uaslly weaknesess or issues. To effectively use negatives facts, make sure you spin them into growth opportunities.

There are many tools that you can use to prepare employee appraisals. Keep in mind that specfic tools that track and measure vary from company to company. The most common tools are attendence and punctuality policies, productivity performance reports, customer service surveys, sales reports, previous reviews, etc. Even position descriptions and individual development palns can be used. In short any tool or method that tracks and measures.

There are a variety of software programs that will help you with evalulations. One of the best ones currently on the market is called ManagerAssistant. It is an all in one complete workforce manangement system. You will be able to track employees, goals, training, security, attendence, recruitment, perfromance, incidents and reviews. The ManagerAssistant it is diffently one performance management software solution that is worth a look. They also have a free demo on there website the ManagerAssistant.com.

One of the best techniques to writting employee apprasisals is to do them over time. Many people suggest doing them over several weeks. This approach will let you get them done in a timely fashion. At the same time will not put to much strain on your jobs daily routine.

I agree with doing them over time, but not over several weeks. For the best results and effectiveness do them over several months. Thats right! I said several months. Now I'll explain why this works.

There are many positives to writting evaluations over several months. First it will force you to focus on your employees on a regular basis. Many managers often get caught up in their own jobs and forget about following up on employees. Focusing on employees will improve communication and relationships with your workforce.

This technique will provide you an oppportunity to spend more one on one time with each individaul. This will allow you to gain critical insight for there professional goals like advancement or pay scale desires. You can even discuss concerns you may have or issues that the employee may want to work on. Using this technique allows you to make notes and track each employee throughout the year. If you follow this process the yearly reviews actaully write them self.

Before you think about going down this road you mat want to determine if theres a clear path of communication. Communication is vital in this technique. There may be roadblocks between you and your employees that you weren't aware of. Here is more information on what blocks the communication process.

Other things like building teamwork will become easier it also will help you build long lasting employee motivation. It is really amazing the results you can get from your workers when you make them feel like they are important. This technique I have used for a long time and it has simplified my daily routine.

Cateagories to cover on reviews vary from comapnay to company. But there are some that should be a main stay on all evaluations. The range of topics will vary depending on the employees job description and title. The following list covers a wide range of job titiles.

# 1. Work Ethic

# 2. Customer Service

# 3. Team Oriented

# 4. Job Knowledge

# 5. Performance & Productivity

# 6. Time and Task Management

# 7. Execution to Expectations

# 8. Communications

# 9. Worked Performed By Those Supervised

# 10. Problem Solving

# 11. Coaching And Development

One subject thats not listed above and one that I always cover is how an employee handles and manages stress. Once you understand stres management in the workplace you can tie it to any of the above 11 subjective aras. Stress management is often overlooked by many. Many leaders and managers alike don't understand the importance and power of managing stress. Read more here on the importance of stress management in the workplace.

Positive Sample Pharses for Employee Appraisals

"When a difficult message must be conveyed in a clear and consistent manner, I always turn to Tricia to handle it. Tricia is very good at imparting message."

"Though at times I may find it difficult to communicate with some types of people, Bob seems to have a natural gift of communication."

"Jane is very good at crafting a message that is not only well understood, but promotes healthy conversation and debate with the staff. Jane handles each of these situations with ease."

"Harry is very good at communicating. I think back to several situations this year that needed a delicate understanding and Harry handled each one well."

Negative Sample Pharses for Employee Apprasials

"Despite other areas of strength for Ben, communication continues to be substandard. Ben consistently fails to properly notify team members about impending changes or other required information."

"Jack needs to share department and corporate goals in a more timely and complete manner. Jack’s employees do not understand what the company is doing."

"Greg is not adept at documenting verbal communication. Over the next 90 days, Greg should work on this skill."

"Holly frequently provides mixed messages to people on her team."

The overall purpose of employee appraisals is not just to review your performance over the last year. It goes much deeper than that. Employee evalautions must not only have measureable objectives about how you performed. There needs to be objectives that cover areas to improve on, expanding job growth opportunities and advancement potental.

Create a list of 12 objectives: 6 objectives from the employees last review and 6 new objectives to work on in the next year. Make sure when you write your objectives that they can be measured and track. Check out this article for more information on writting measureable objectives.

The main problem here is that some people are good with talking to others, while others struggle. If you fall into that category dont worry about it. There is a roadmap that you can follow.

Makes sure you give everyone equal time to discuss the their employee appraisals. Take your time, dont rush and explain all the points with examples. If you have done a through review then you should have nothing to worry about. There should be no surprises in the eyes of your employees. They should have a good idea of how the review will be.

Keep in mind that you still should prepare yourself for an employee in denial. Make sure you know the personality traits of your employees. Doing the prep work adhead of time will make the process so much easier. You will also be able to navigate any turbulent times.

Ready for more information on employee appraisals and a more indepth knowledge on performance management. Also learn how it can build long lasting employee motivation. Then checkout this must read article on "What Is Performance Manangement".

Return From Employee Appraisals to The Employee Motivation Skills Homepage