A Simple Guide to Effectively Evaluating Employees

Posted on 10/22/20 By Lorman Team

The words "employee evaluation" tend to instill a sense of dread — and not only for the employee.

Employees who feel burned out may approach their evaluation in a hostile and confrontational way, when the truth is that an effective performance evaluation should benefit all parties by identifying a worker's support need and helping them play to their strengths.

Tips for Effective Employee Evaluations 

Here are some things to consider when evaluating your employees:

1. Annual Is Not Enough

The traditional annual review is ineffective for two main reasons. First, once a year is simply not often enough. Second, if the only time reviews happen is related to pay raises, then the tension is raised for everyone concerned. An employee who feels money is on the line is less likely to cooperate.

Reviews should be quarterly, but you should also check in with employees frequently. Areas in need of improvement should be brought up right away before things slide too far, and everyone works better with regular praise. 

Feedback should be a normal part of your interaction with your employees, which also makes reviews less intimidating. Supervisors need to learn how to measure employee performance over time and use the proper tools to do so.

2. Set Goals and Expectations

Employees should know what you expect of them and should be encouraged to set their own goals. This should be done during onboarding and annually thereafter.

It's important that you know your employees' personal ambitions so you can direct them in ways that support both your business and their career. There is no point guiding an employee towards a promotion you know they are not remotely interested in.

By discussing their goals and expectations as well as yours, you turn the evaluation from a scary review into something beneficial to both parties. Make sure that you ask the right employee evaluation questions so you know exactly what your team wants. 

3. Focus on Training

Outside of some extreme situations, employee performance reviews should not result in punishment. You are not the bad guy, and unless your employee is simply not doing their job or engaging in illegal or unethical behavior, the point of the review is to make them a better employee — not threaten them.

Instead, you should be compiling goals and expectations with the results of both periodic reviews and ongoing management to come up with a professional development plan for each employee. Include the results of that training in their next evaluation to ensure employees stay accountable. It can also help both you and the employee gain a better understanding of the employee's learning style.

Training should not just be focused on areas that need improvement, but should also tie into the employee's goals and the direction they intend to go in the future.

Additionally, training for supervisors is vital. Giving a proper employee performance evaluation is a skill, and one not all supervisors possess.

Ditching the Traditional Performance Review

Many modern businesses are doing away with the annual performance reviews. Performance reviews often do not motivate or benefit the employee. 

But what should replace the traditional performance review so you can continue to motivate and monitor employee performance?

Our course, Ditching the Traditional Performance Review, helps practitioners understand why traditional performance reviews fail to provide employee or employers with helpful information and feedback on performance.

This course provides you with a framework of tools and processes that you can use in place of the performance review in order to motivate employees and gain useful information about employees' performance for managers and the company.

Course Agenda: 

• Why Traditional Performance Reviews Fail Employees and Employers
• Alternative Methods to Monitor and Communicate About Employees' Performance
• Creating a Performance Management System