A lot of managers believe performance appraisals or review to be a useless corporate exercise which eats up a lot of your time every year.

In reality, performance appraisals are carried out to assess the performance of employees related to their contribution to the company and overall work efficiency. However, since performance appraisals have earned negative publicity, managers and many employees don’t like the idea.

The reason behind this negative publicity is inaccurate appraisals and inefficient execution by the human resource team or the management staff.

Hence, in this article, we will discuss how you can improve your performance appraisals for better evaluations.

5 Tips to Improve Performance Appraisals

It is possible for managers to enhance the employee performance appraisal process with the help of effective goal setting, communication, and developmental activities. Here are the 5 ways of achieving that:

1. Actually, Use Appraisal Document

The appraisal document is often ignored by managers. However, if you look at it, then the performance appraisal document is one of the most important documents. When you utilize this document quarterly or monthly, you can keep a track of employee performance all year long. Further, you will know the starting point of performance appraisal meetings – it’s the appraisal document.

In fact, the report included in the document is proof of employee’s performance, progress, and accomplishments. Isn’t this enough to make your task simpler and hassle-free?

2. Utilize the Power of Feedback

A lot of organizations still conduct appraisals one time in the year. While this structure was perfect a decade back, it is not today. The millennial or Gen Y workforce today requires consistent inputs from the employer. This is because the workforce needs to know they are performing well and moving in a direction.

When the employer or HR team is not even giving their feedback, how is that possible?

• Continuous feedback can help your employees understand weaknesses and strengths.
• You can help your employees move in the direction of the company goal through regular feedback.
• Additionally, you can easily address the situation when a high-performing employee is not performing well.

When the manager becomes used to offering feedback, they become better at handling problems arising in the workforce.

3. Utilize Self-Appraisals

Most of the managers utilize one of the following methods for self-appraisals:

• The manager hands over the self-appraisal. Score the appraisal form delivered by the employee and sit in the meeting with a point of view in mind.
• The manager hands over the self-appraisal. Signs it if they feel that the employee has done a good job.

It is best to avoid using both of the above methods. In both methods, the manager is simply implying their opinion over the employee’s opinion. That is not how self-appraisals should be utilized. The correct way of utilizing self-appraisals is to allow the employee to fill the form and the manager can write their pointers separately. Then, the meeting begins.

4. Plan Effective Goals

One of the reasons for low employee performance is the inability to achieve goals. Somewhere, this is not entirely the fault of employees. Sometimes, managers set unachievable goals. This may have been the pattern earlier but it is not effective now.

Set goals that allow your employees to utilize their intelligence for implementation. You need to support the personal empowerment of employees for the company’s growth. Then, your goals will turn in accomplishments rather than turning into disappointments.

5. Carry Out a Two-Way Discussion

A new way of making appraisals successful is having a two-way discussion. Traditionally, the manager gets the major say in the performance appraisals. However, this can be changed. Managers and employees can start having a healthy conversation all year long about their performance.

This will not only encourage the employees to improve but also increase their performance gradually. It is even likely for a low-performing employee to increase his or her performance by the end of the year.

Conclusion

There are multiple ways to improve your performance appraisals. Some organizations use surveys for both peer and manager evaluation and others believe in having appraisal meetings. However, regardless of the method you use, it is possible to enhance your performance appraisal through the above methods.