Preparing for employee appraisals/reviews
Next month marks the halfway point of the year and is often a reflective time where we can look back on what has gone well or not so well over the past six months.
It’s a good time to start thinking about employee performance reviews or ‘appraisals’ and discussing with your team what they are doing well and what they could improve on. You might also discuss whether they need more support or training and their general career and any objectives that could be put into place.
Performance reviews might be based on a number of different factors, such as whether an employee is:
meeting or has met any previously agreed objectives
demonstrating the right behaviours at work
following an agreed development plan if there is one, such as completing any training.
We always say however, please don’t wait for an appraisal or review to address poor behaviours or performance - anything discussed at an appraisal should not be a surprise!
Conducting a successful performance review/appraisal
Prepare - preparation is key. You could review previous notes from performance reviews and look at any previously agreed objectives to see whether these have been met.
Stick to an agenda - like with any meeting, an agenda can help guide the discussion and make sure you don’t miss anything.
Discuss successes and challenges - ask your employee what they think has gone well and what hasn’t and let them know your thoughts too
Discuss future development - discuss what the employee can do moving forward in order to achieve their objectives. You can also discuss personal development opportunities to help upskill your employee.
Agree an action plan - this needs to be an achievable plan with actions for both parties and deadlines to stick to
Summarise - go over the main points discussed as well as action points and arrange your next review.
You should keep a written record of your conversation and this should be shared with the employee afterwards.
The performance review/appraisal shouldn’t be something an employee dreads, but rather something they welcome and see as constructive and supportive.
If your business needs support with employee appraisals, performance management, HR documentation, or difficult workplace conversations, we’re here to help.
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