What is Performance Appraisal? Know All About It

Performance appraisals are regular assessments of an employee’s work performance about a set of goals and expectations. The outcomes of this procedure are being used to make critical choices for both the employee and the organisation, including remuneration, promotion, employee development, staffing, and succession planning, among other things.

Irrespective of the nature of the evaluation process, setting goals for each employee is a popular first step. You could also arrange for upskilling programs for the employees. These objectives should be related to and support the departmental and divisional objectives established to further the organisational strategy.

Common Issues Faced with Assessments 

Error in Performance Evaluation 

Perception and bias cause the evaluators to make mistakes.  The halo effect (the employee can do no wrong), the horn effect (the employee can only do wrong), and recency bias (the rater only focuses on recent good or bad performance) are examples of common errors.

Inconsistent Performance Appraisals 

Some leaders may avoid conflict by rating low-performing or troublesome employees as average or better. When an employer attempts to discipline or terminate such an employee, the employee has a paper trail of acceptable performance, which can work against the employer.

Inadequate Follow-Through 

When performance falls short of expectations, managers must take and implement corrective actions, such as developing performance improvement plans; otherwise, the appraisal system fails as a development tool, which can hurt morale.

Confusing Feedback with Performance Evaluation 

They are related but distinct, and it is critical to understand the distinction. It is also necessary to consider how to use and organise increasing levels of feedback.

Bias 

Some common performance evaluation forms may allow implicit biases to creep in, particularly between men and women. Managers must understand how to make their assessments more equitable and consistent.

Types of Performance Appraisal

Traditional Evaluation: During this appraisal process, the manager meets with each employee one-on-one to discuss their achievement from the previous year. During the appraisal, only one year’s performance is typically discussed. The discussion focuses on the manager’s observations and employee feedback, as well as the employee’s performance evaluation.

Self-Appraisal: This procedure encourages employees to accept responsibility for their performance by analysing their accomplishments and failures. This process also assists them in understanding, managing, and evaluating their company’s development goals.

Employee-Initiated Performance Evaluation:  During this process, an employer informs employees that they can request a performance review from their managers. This modern approach to the appraisal process seeks to replace the traditional and tedious review procedure. 

360-Degree Evaluation: Employee feedback on performance from sources other than managers is included in the 360-degree feedback process. Peer evaluations, external customer feedback, and evaluation from various suppliers are external sources of evaluation. Many businesses are adopting this novel concept to provide comprehensive performance feedback to their employees.

Objectives Behind Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal can be carried out with the following goals in mind:

• Keep records to determine compensation packages, wage structure, salary increases, etc.
• Identify employees’ strengths and weaknesses to place the right men in the right jobs.
• Maintaining and assessing a person’s potential for growth and development.
• To provide employees with feedback on their performance and related status.
• It serves as a foundation for influencing employees’ working habits.
• Review and keep promotional and other training programmes

Conclusion

Performance evaluations must be taken seriously and given the importance they deserve. Indeed, performance appraisals are the most important time in an employee’s tenure with the organization, and as such, they must be handled with care and caution. Furthermore, because managers share feedback, performance appraisals can inform employees about what they are doing well and where they need to improve their performance. They can also suggest skill training programs to do if it would help the employees to deliver better performance. 

Most businesses have well-defined processes in place to assess and evaluate employee performance. While some organisations conduct performance appraisals every six months, others conduct an annual performance review. Aside from that, performance appraisals involve multiple levels of employees, including the immediate manager and others.