Employee Relations | Preparing and Conducting the Appraisal
Preparing and Conducting the Appraisal
- Set a date and time in advance that is mutually convenient for you and your employee. Allow enough time for each of you to do preparation. Schedule a private room where you will not have any interruptions. Out of the immediate office in a conference room is a good choice. Schedule an hour to an hour and a half for the meeting.
- Inform your employee to bring the completed Employee Self-Appraisal Form to the Performance Appraisal Interview.
- Gather the following:
- Job description and previous objectives established
- Documentation notes, emails, etc.
- Feedback from co-workers/customers
- Letters of commendation
- Current disciplinary documents
- The previous appraisal
- Anything else relevant to the individual’s performance
- Outline of an effective meeting:
- Explain the goals of the meeting
- Encourage dialogue
- Discuss the significant achievements of the employee
- Review goals and standards
- Discuss unsatisfactory performance
- Review future goals and objectives
- Mutually discuss development and training plans
- Listen actively
- No surprises
- Close properly and end on an upbeat note
- When conducting the interview:
- Create a positive environment and help the employee feel at ease
- Give balance feedback, both positive and negative, however start with the positive
- Focus on the job, not the person
- Ask questions and allow the employee to provide feedback
- When discussing areas of improvement, discuss methods and invite employee response and input
- Keep the interview on track
- Specifically describe the behavior or activity that you want
- Concluding the interview:
- Summarize and review the important points of the discussion
- Restate the action steps that have been recommended and provide a time table
- Make sure the employee reviews the appraisal and has an opportunity to provide comments
- Have the employee sign the appraisal form to acknowledge that he or she has read it (this does not signify that they agree with the content)
- Provide the employee a copy, retain a copy for your files and send the original document along with the self-appraisal to Human Resources within one week of conducting the interview
- Summarize and review the important points of the discussion
- Follow-up:
- Follow-up with the employee to check how they are proceeding within the given time frames
- Offer the employee assistance in achieving the objectives and encourage on-going discussion
- Review the objectives periodically during the review period to make necessary change