Performance evaluations of employees are an important human resources management function. Evaluations drive accountability, professional development, and align employees’ work with mobile organizational priorities. When thinking about performance evaluations, HR practitioners want to use a process that helps provide clarification on expectations, uses the process to help employees develop, and drives employee engagement. As an HR practitioner you want to create the process, implement process, and make sure that there is fairness, consistency and that the process is helpful in some way. This article will present a few best practices for HR practitioners in managing employee performance evaluations in the workplace that can help promote desired outcomes.
Set Clear Goals
Develop specific performance evaluation process goals that employees will understand for their work lives in relation to organizational goals and objectives. The performance evaluation process goals may include reviewing employee job performance, assessing if employees have developed skills or need additional skills, setting or reviewing employee career development plans, etc. For example, a goal could be 100% of employees receive feedback related to their employee key performance indicators (KPIs) like achieving a sales target, or completing job orders, projects, etc. Using SMART criteria to set expectations can be helpful. For example, developing or improving customer service satisfaction scores by 10% in six months. A person with SMART goals can reasonably explain to team members what is to be accomplished and when. If HR set requirements or goals for their organization’s developing, then HR can expect managers and directors to communicate to their respective team members about organizational evaluation requirements with accountability.
Establish a Structured Process
To promote consistency, think through a standardized review process. This should combine both quantitative measures like sales and task completion rates, with qualitative measures like teamwork demonstrated and exhibiting initiative, for a comprehensive evaluation of performance. There should also be a rating scale tied to specified competencies such as communication, problem-solving, etc. Once the process has been developed, schedule the reviews at the regular intervals—an annual comprehensive review and quarterly check-ins—so the employee is receiving adequate ongoing feedback. Employees, typically, should always have a self-assessment tool to complete, likewise, their manager should always assess the employee so that both parties come in prepared. Use HR software like BambooHR or Workday to schedule and store documentation, to reduce administrative burden.
Prepare Managers for Successful Reviews
Another facet to the performance review structure is the training of managers to deliver fair and constructive reviews. Managers need to be trained in offering constructive balanced feedback, establishing employee work goals, and dealing with underperformers. Managers can be trained in these areas through workshops that share many of the techniques like the “sandwich” method (good feedback, bad feedback, good reinforcement) so the employee is not demotivated. Managers should also be trained in not letting a recent occurrence (recency) or the halo effect (overrating because of that one area an employee demonstrates competence) distort their review feedback. Role-playing can be beneficial as all of us can remember negative facial expressions, like missed deadlines if your employee is confused on how to deliver the review. Studies show that trained managers can make a positive impact on their review effectiveness, by as much as 30%, thus improving employee trust.
Encourage Two-Way Conversation
This is a great opportunity to have an open dialog during the review to increase engagement for the employee. Encourage employees to also do their own self-assessments so they can consider both their accomplishments and challenges and contextualize them relative to their manager. Make sure to allow at least 45 minutes for discussions to give employees an opportunity to share their goals, and any concerns they have. Encourage the manager to ask open-ended questions; for example, “What support do you need in order to be successful?” to help uncover barriers. Make sure to let HR know if you would like question guides to ensure consistency across the organization. Some industry research has shown that two-way communication can improve employee satisfaction with reviews by 25%, and build trust.
Set Actionable Development Plans
You can use reviews as a bona fide opportunity to set personalized development plans for your employees and track their progress. To create actionable development plans, focus on the skills gap as well as career aspirations. For example, if an employee has found difficulty managing their time, suggest a training course, coach or mentor that could support their development. Again, set measurable goals, like completing a project management certificate in six months. Ideally, the development plan should link to the needs of the organization, such as upskilling employees for new technology. Provide employees with resources such as e-learning opportunities or internal workshops. Use completion rates in the next review to hold them accountable for their development, to track progress you can use HR tools to see completion rates and assess how compliance is being tracked across the organization.
Review and Evaluate the Process
Overall evaluate the review process to determine fairness and impact. You can do this by receiving anonymous employee feedback after the review process is complete to assess the employee’s perception of fairness and clarity. Aim for an 80% satisfaction rate and review data to look for trends, such as consistently low scores from an entire department, which means they need training. You can also use KPIs, such as employee promotion rates or employee improvements and productivity (e.g. 15% productivity improvements), to translate and measure outcomes. You can also identify areas in the organization where the review process can improve, such as requiring a formal performance review mid-year for timely feedback.
Instil a Feedback Culture
Creating a culture embedded in or feeding from continuous feedback requires going beyond formal assessments and evaluations. Generalize informal, every-day feedback from managers to employees between reviews, with every/weekly check-ins for example, to address performance issues before they become a problem. To assess whether employees receive sufficient frequent feedback you can use pulse surveys to gauge the sentiment of employees. You also have an opportunity to reward employees for high performance, through bonuses for monetary rewards, or public acknowledgements for rewards lacking monetary value, although encouraging the behaviour is most impactful. Creating a feedback culture was shown to result in a 20% increase in employee engagement according to research.
Conclusion
The job of managing employee performance reviews begins with planning written objectives, designing a process to guide the reviews, training managers on the process, and creating an environment of open communication. Through the development of actionable development plans, measuring the effectiveness of reviews, and creating a culture of feedback, HR can affect performance and engagement.
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