Category All, Best Practices 9 Employee Evaluation Best Practices Managers Should Follow Regular employee evaluations improve your employees’ job satisfaction and boost employee retention. Implement these best practices and give meaningful feedback to your employees. March 26, 2020 By Sara Ana Cemazar Regular employee evaluations often help employees understand the expectations set for them. They can also improve the communication between employees and managers. More importantly, employee evaluation results are often the main requirement for promotions, bonuses and raises. Conducting employee evaluations properly can result in many benefits for company and employees alike. What is Employee Evaluation Employee evaluation is an estimation of employee’s performance. It usually assesses the employees’ execution of predefined objectives or outcomes of their work. In the past, employee evaluation traditionally took place once per year – around employee’s service anniversary. However, in the recent times, employers realized that employees want feedback on their work more regularly. In fact, 45% of HR leaders do not think annual performance reviews are an accurate appraisal for employee’s work. 📖 Annual employee evaluations are simply not enough anymore, so you should give meaningful feedback to your employees on a regular basis. To get editable employee evaluation forms you can use for continuous employee evaluation, click below. The Importance of Employee Evaluation Reviewing your employees’ performance in a consistent manner has many advantages. Employee evaluation is a vital part of employee experience. Importantly, it has been proven that companies with higher employee experience scores achieve better business results. Moreover, positive employee experience has other numerous benefits for your employees and business alike. Let’s address specific implications of properly applied employee evaluation methods. Regular employee evaluation improves productivity Employee evaluations benefit both the employer and employees. On one hand, employers have a consistent way of measuring employees’ performance according to the previously set criteria. On the other hand, employees get feedback on how well they are performing. An astounding 65% of employees want more feedback to get a better sense of their performance. Moreover, 69% of employees say they would work harder if their efforts were better recognized. Therefore, employee evaluation can positively affect your employees’ productivity. One of the staples of employee productivity is employee recognition: look at our Employee Recognition Playbook to learn more about implementing an employee recognition program. Employee evaluation increases job satisfaction If the results of employee evaluation are positive, they will reassure employees that they are doing a good job. Additionally, if results are negative but re–directive, they can steer your employees’ efforts in the right direction. Therefore, it is not surprising that accurate and consistent feedback makes 68% of employees feel fulfilled in their jobs. Better relationship with higher ups 57% of employees say that they do not get clear directions, and 69% of managers are not comfortable communicating with the employees in general. Employee evaluation can create a common space for communicating grievances among employees and managers. 📖 Furthermore, providing frequent feedback creates a sense of trust among employees and their higher ups, with 50% of employees believing that being thanked by managers improved their relationship. Employee engagement Improving employee engagement is a goal for many companies. Regular interaction between managers and employees about employee performance can facilitate an increase in employee engagement. Since employee disengagement costs $500 billion annually in the US alone, employee evaluation can also help you conserve your company’s financial prosperity. In fact, Gallup research showed that when managers gave their employees positive feedback, 67% of employees were fully engaged in their work. Improved company culture A culture of open communication and growth can start with employee evaluations. Creating a common space for reviewing employees’ goals and performance gives a way to open and honest communication, which 33% of employees say they lack in a workplace. Employee retention Many companies today struggle with retaining their employees. Importantly, companies that implement regular employee feedback have 14.9% lower turnover rates compared to companies whose employees do not receive feedback. Employee growth Getting regular employee evaluation results will help your employees be aware of their strengths and work on their weaknesses. Consequently, this can help them advance in their career and get a promotion. Since 76% of employees are motivated by opportunity for growth, make sure to give your employees a chance to improve their performance. Employee Evaluation Best Practices For employee evaluations to give best results, it is necessary to appropriately conduce them. More specifically, this means you should thoughtfully apply the best practices listed below. Also, you should take notes on these procedures and adapt them to your employees and company’s policy. 1. Make employee evaluation continuous Continuous employee feedback should be your absolute priority if you want to reap all the benefits of employee evaluation. Do not wait for annual or quarterly performance reviews to talk to your employees about their performance. Getting feedback on a regular and less formal basis facilitates effective dialogue between employees and their managers. More specifically, employees will have an opportunity to discuss their concerns or ideas with superiors on a daily basis. After all, employees have said it themselves. Due to their upbringing, millennials have an ingrained expectation for ongoing communication and want more feedback in the workplace. Furthermore, 63% of Gen Z said they want to hear timely, constructive performance feedback throughout the year. 2. Set goals In order to be effective, employee evaluation should estimate your employees’ performance according to previously set goals. The goals ensure that the supervisor and employees are clear about the requirements of employees’ tasks. Moreover, the goal-driven evaluation communicates the desired outputs from employee’s job and defines how they will be measured. Measuring your employees’ performance according to set standards will minimize the impact of supervisor’s subjective assessment. Additionally, it will allow employees to self-assess their performance in any point of time. 3. Make it less formal As mentioned before, younger generations are looking for continuous employee feedback. What they’re also looking for is less formality. To be exact, 80% of Gen Y say they prefer on-the-spot recognition over formal reviews. 📖 This means that you can give feedback to your employees any time. Consequently, this will create a culture of open communication. If applied properly, informal employee evaluations can build more trust towards higher-ups and breed more innovation. 4. Focus on the positive Surely, employees do not always accomplish their goals nor work perfectly. However, the managers giving employee evaluations should focus on the positive aspects of employees’ performance. This will make employee engagement higher, as teams led by managers who focus on their weaknesses are 26% less likely to be engaged. 5. Be specific in your criticism Even though you should focus on the positive feedback, your criticism can be constructive and re-directing if delivered properly. When you are giving someone a negative feedback, be specific in explaining expectations and results. This will allow an employee evaluation to have a better outcome. As giving feedback is stressful for 44% of managers, remind them that employees prefer corrective feedback over praise and recognition! 6. Allow peer-to-peer feedback Peer-to-peer feedback has multiple benefits. Not only does it teach your employees how to give feedback, but it also facilitates building a great company culture. Furthermore, 76% of employees are motivated by positive feedback from their peers. This kind of feedback leads to increased employee engagement and creates a productive working environment. 📖 You can easily implement FeedBck, our feedback platform, to help you grow talent in your company. Give and receive feedback as work happens. Read more 7. Keep your promises It is vital that your employees trust you. According to research, employees whose leaders treat them respectfully are 63% more satisfied with their jobs and 110% more likely to stay with their organization. Therefore, be true to your promises and deliver the provisions that were agreed upon accomplishing certain performance goals. 8. Use evaluation form for consistency Employee evaluation should be consistent above all. This means that you should have a set of criteria to rely on when you are estimating your employees’ performance. As we mentioned before, having a clear set of measures will allow you to avoid any impartialness. To make it easier to track everything that’s been discussed, use employee evaluation forms and write down all that you need. 📖 Pro tip: develop your own score explanations to help you be more consistent. For example, if you will be using a 1 to 5 scale in employee evaluations, write down what do these scores stand for precisely. 📖 Download the editable employee evaluation forms you can adjust for your own use. 9. Recognize and Reward Obviously, it is extremely important to recognize and reward your employees for accomplishing the goals you set together in your last employee evaluation. Recognition is the number one motivator for employees, as they are propelled by seeing and hearing the value of what they do. Employee recognition increases employee engagement, boosts productivity and lowers the employee turnover rates. Find out how you can improve your business results by implementing a Recognition and Rewards platform in your company. Recognize and reward your employees today with JobPts. Read more Employee Evaluation Questions We previously discussed the importance of consistency in your employee evaluation. Therefore, here is a list of questions you can repeatedly use in your employee evaluation forms to help you and your employees jointly set goals and measures for achieving them. What do you wish to accomplish within the company in the next 6 months/next year? What resources do you need from the company to reach your goals? What do you think will be your biggest challenge in meeting your business goals this year? How often would you like to receive feedback on your work? Who would you like to achieve feedback from? How can I help you accomplish your goals? What are your long-term career goals? How can our company help you achieve your long-term goals? Which new skill would you like to gain in the next year? What are the trainings you need to gain desired new skills? How well do you think you performed according to the goals you set for yourself the last time? What made you proud of your work in the previous year? What areas can you improve in? Employee Evaluation Form Templates Most HR professionals use employee evaluation forms to note down all their employees’ progress, comments and recommendations. Employee evaluation forms can be used for consistent tracking of your employees’ performance on weekly, monthly or yearly basis. Remember, a continuous employee feedback is an important factor in employee experience as a whole! Have a look at our examples of employee evaluation forms. You can download these employee evaluation form templates in an editable format and edit according to your own criteria and evaluation parameters. Employee evaluation form 1 Use this simple evaluation form to note your employees’ goal achievement and set new goals for the upcoming period. Employee Evaluation form 2 You can create an employee evaluation form like this one to rate your employees’ performance in certain aspects of their job. Employee Evaluation form 3 By using this employee evaluation form, you will be able to estimate your employees’ execution in certain performance areas. Employee Evaluation form 4 This employee evaluation form will allow you to concentrate on your employees’ goals and their perception of the obstacles on their way of achieving them. Employee Evaluation form 5 Take this employee evaluation form to rate your employees’ performance according to a predefined scale. Improve Your Employee Evaluation Practices with FeedBck Employee evaluation can help your employees work better only if they’re done the right way. Technological solutions can ensure the proper implementation of various employee feedback strategies. FeedBck is a continuous employee feedback solution that has helped companies across the world plan and implement new employee feedback initiatives, or improve their existing programs. To see how FeedBck can help you transform the culture of evaluation in your company, schedule a demo today! Transform your company culture with FeedBck. Read more
