When assessing an employee's performance it is important to look at the bigger picture to a correct and fair conclusion. With this in mind here are some points to take into account:
Outside influences and determining factors.
It maybe the case that a employee’s work and performance might have been hindered, or even helped, by something that was entirely out of their control and of which they had nothing to do with.
Misleading results.
It may seem that the success or failure of a project is directly comparable to the amount of work put in by, or the abilities of the employees who were working on it. This is not always the case, there may be other factors that need to be taken into account, i.e.
- How achievable was the task in the first place?
- Did the employee have the necessary information or equipment to carry out the task effectively?
Recent performance vs. long term performance.
It is easy to be short sighted in an appraisal and only focus on the employees most recent performance and not long term performance. This may either lead to an employee’s performance being overrated or underrated and will mean that the appraisal, and the improvements that you will try to make not be appropriate.
Vague evaluation methods.
Avoid the use of general and vague terms to describe something as important as an employee’s performance ie; words such as average, good, very good etc. Try and be specific about what it is that your are referring to and put it in context.
Unfair performance evaluations due to previous performance in other areas.
Try not to evaluate someone’s performance based on their previous performance in another area of expertise or project. This will obviously not be a fair assessment and will only lead to it becoming harder for both that person to improve and for you to get the best out of them.
Performance appraisals are not something that people will often get too enthusiastic about however they are an important instrument in helping improve and get the best out of your work force.
Silicon Beach Training offer a full range of human resources training courses including performance management training.