Businesses tend to conduct sessions pertaining to employee evaluation at least once a year or on a quarterly basis. This type of evaluation involves reviewing an employee’s work duties and assessing them with their ways of working and the company’s expectations.

Evaluation results play an essential role in deciding the bonus or appraisal of an employee. By evaluating employees regularly, employees can easily understand what the company expects from them. The evaluation results also play a key role in improving communication and transparency between management and employees. It is a great way to give employees the recognition they deserve for their contribution to the company.

It’s also helpful to have specific performance review comments in your back pocket to provide constructive feedback.

 

How to Evaluate Employees?

For effective employee performance management, companies must execute a standard framework that can efficiently outline what an employee is expected to deliver in a specific role. Furthermore, the same standard framework should apply to other employees who are working in the same role.

Take a look at this following methods to evaluate your employees effectively:

1. Start by Setting Performance Standards

By setting up clear performance standards right at the beginning, employees will have a clearer idea about what is expected of them. You have to make sure that the same set of standards also apply to each employee in that role. All the performance standards you set should be achievable and aligned to the employee’s job description.

 2. Make Sure You Set Specific Goals

Always try to be specific about the goals you set for the employees. While performance standards can be generic and apply to multiple workers at a time, having specific, achievable goals for each employee can increase productivity. Try to frame goals around the individual employee’s strengths and weaknesses, which can help them improve their work and skills and learn something new. Take a one-on-one with each employee and set sound goals that are in line with their job description.

3. Don’t Forget to Take Notes

Track your employees’ performance and achievements throughout the year. Be sure to have a performance file for each employee in your performance management software. Maintain clear and concise records of their accomplishments or any incidents that may have occurred. Keep a habit of providing immediate feedback to the employees when they make a mistake or their work stands out. You don’t have to wait at the end of the quarter or year to review your employee’s performance and give constructive feedback so they can immediately work on their improvements.

4. Stay Prepared

When the time comes to evaluate your employee’s performance, you need to be prepared way ahead of the time. Carefully review all the points you have documented before you step in for the employee review meeting. Remember that you need to focus more on positive elements rather than negative ones when it comes to performance evaluation. If you want to provide negative feedback to the employee, wrap it up in the form of helpful advice and ask the employee to implement it in the future to improve their performance.

If an employee’s performance is filled with negative incidents, there wouldn’t be scope for the review meeting in the first place.

5. Don’t Lie and Be Specific

No evaluation is complete without criticism. While you have to focus on highlighting positive instances, you can’t completely rule out on criticism that can turn into constructive feedback.

When you are putting forth your criticism, always be honest and to the point. Don’t beat around the bush to confuse the worker. Don’t ever try to downplay or sugar coat your words because that may lead to miscommunication.

Try to give clear examples that can turn helpful and be very specific on the advice that your worker can use to improve their performance in the future.

 

6. Don’t Ever Compare Your Employees

The whole point of employee evaluation is to review each employee’s performance against the standard metrics that you set for the company.

At this stage, comparing your employees’ performance to another employee is not going to be helpful. Such an act would only promote resentment and an unhealthy work atmosphere.

Your main concern here is to circle your words only towards evaluation instead of talking about how other workers achieve the company’s goals and targets.

7. Evaluate the Work, Not the Worker

Managers tend to miss out on this point often. The evaluation must focus on how the employee has performed the job, instead of what kind of personality they exhibit. When you critically comment on an employee’s personality traits, they may resent the gesture or worse, even feel attacked. This can result in a hostile conversation.

For instance, instead of giving feedback on an employee’s emotional traits or maturity, you can put forth points that can make them more productive. You can do this by giving specific examples that the employee has exhibited at the workplace and then demonstrate these characteristics. Never try to make a personal criticism, and be sure that you are always tying it with work.

8. Don’t Forget to Have a Conversation with Workers

An evaluation meeting shouldn’t be a one-sided conversation where only the manager offers feedback and the employee has to listen. A productive employee evaluation meeting must have an insightful conversation between the boss and the worker.

As a manager, you must listen to your employees’ issues and concerns and understand how they want to grow in the company.

You will also have to understand how you and the company can help the worker meet their goals. Ask the worker to present a self-evaluation form that showcases how they think they have performed at work for the quarter or year. A performance review must also allow the worker to review the workplace culture, the upper management, and their career goals.

9. Be Specific with Your Questions

You can have productive conversations during evaluation by presenting them with specific questions related to their work.

Take a look at these questions you can ask your employees to start a healthy conversation and receive insightful feedback:

• What do you want to achieve in the organization this year?
• What kind of resources or support do you require from the team or department to attain your goals?
• Do you have any big challenges while working to meet your goals?
• How frequently do you want to receive feedback?
• Is there a way that I can be a better manager to you?
• Are there any new skills that you would like to develop this year? What kind of training would you need to develop those skills?

10. Give Consistent Feedback

As mentioned earlier, the yearly evaluation or appraisal meeting shouldn’t be the only time to give your feedback. Employee evaluation has to be an ongoing process, which should take place throughout the year. Providing regular feedback and checking on seeing how employees are working toward their yearly goals can improve your employees’ morale and keep them on track in the organization.

Conclusion

An employee evaluation can improve the individual’s performance and enrich the company’s culture.

The management system can help employees understand what’s expected of them and allows managers to understand an employee’s strengths and goals. It helps improve the worker’s performance in the future and gives them objective reviews based on standard metrics.