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Performance Evaluation

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Performance evaluation can be understood as an exercise that involves observation, judgment, and feedback. It is a formal procedure to measure an employee’s work and accomplishments based on job responsibility. It is a key part of a typical employee experience program in an enterprise.

Evaluation of an employee’s work ethics by comparing it to predetermined standards, documenting the results, and using the result to generate and provide feedback for the employee to point out the required improvements; all these are involved in the process of Performance Evaluation.

Performance Evaluation ascertains an employee’s contribution to the organization in terms of business revenue when compared to the employee’s overall return on investment (ROI).

  • A supervisor who is familiar with the employee is most suitable for conducting performance evaluations. They can observe the job performance and also keep a log of the employee’s accomplishments. 
  • Additionally, a 360-degree feedback system also helps gather a wide range of insights from the in-office team and the customers.

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The objective of Performance Evaluation

  • It helps employees acknowledge their performance and understand their range of improvement.
    This helps in guiding the employee with positive criticism toward their development.
  • It opens room for communication between employee and employer to gain better judgment of what befits a quality performance.
  • Moreover, performance evaluation creates trust between the employee and their examiners, resulting in better team metrics. Additionally, companies can conduct employee engagement surveys to further this trust.
  • Improved performance results lead to higher customer satisfaction.
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How to conduct Performance Evaluation

  • Job understanding

Both the party employee and employer should establish a common ground and agree on their respective duties and job role. Moreover, the employee should also be satisfied with their job description to reap good results. 

  • Establishing and communicating the standards

Standards to compare the performance of the employees must be set up. These preset criteria are important to compare the employee’s contribution to the organization/company. 

Also, these standards should be easy to comprehend and measure because the employees should be informed of these criteria. 

  • Monitoring the performance

An employee must be monitored throughout the year. Appropriate techniques must be adopted to determine the performance of the employees during a specified time period. These techniques must not be affected by bias, nor should they interfere with an employee’s work.

  • Comparing with standard performance

This step involves a comparison of the actual performance by an employee with the desired performance. Comparison helps understand the degree of difference between the actual performance and the desired performance. The actual performance may be higher or lower than the desired performance. It can tell how much improvement is needed or can help set new standards. 

  • Feedback

After the performance evaluation, feedback via and discussing the result with the employee is a necessary step. This improves employee experience, improves communication and builds trust, and often brings out an effective solution. The feedback has an effect on the employee’s attitude and performance to the organization. Thus, they must be discussed positively with encouragement and enthusiasm. However, this step also includes decisions like promotion, reward, transfer, or demotion. This is important for the growth of the company and should be given proper thought.

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Methods of Performance Evaluation

Different methods used for the purpose of performance evaluation may help the organization gain in-depth insights. These methods may prove to be contributory to receive a wide and unbiased perspective and lead to a performance-centric decision.

Self Analysis

Asking employees to rate themselves in comparison to preset criteria, can tell you how the employee sees their performance level. This self-assessment can be used by the organization to evaluate them fairly. Comparing the self-analyzed result with the result provided by a supervisor can maintain transparency between the employee and the organization.

360-degree feedback

360-degree feedback involves an evaluation from in-office employees and customers. Moreover, the performance of the employees is judged based on their job description along with the work done with other teams.

Checklists/Graphic rating scale

Desired performance in accordance with the goal of the organization has certain criteria. These criteria are required to be positively filled. The process includes maintaining a checklist to document the performance of the employees. This answer determines how much training and employee needs to improve.

You can create a table with two columns, one which includes the skills/variables that will be evaluated and in the second column you can put values against each variable. A supervisor can then score the employee from 0 to 5 or with a yes/no. This is an easy method and gives a clear view of the evaluation.

Team evaluation

Evaluation of an individual employee is important but so is evaluating an entire team. The contribution of all the team members brings out the excellent result and successful projects. So, team bonding, understanding, communication, effort, trust and other such variables are essential for achieving the goal of the organization.

Skills for Performance Evaluation

  • Quality of work
  • Communication 
  • Adaptability and teamwork
  • Innovation 
  • Interpersonal skills
  • Problem-solving ability
  • Punctuality and attendance
  • Adaptability

Sample questions for Performance Evaluation

  1. What is your motivation to successfully complete your job?
  2. Which part of your job are you most satisfied with?
  3. Do you feel fairly treated in this organization?
  4. What skills do you associate yourself with?
  5. If you are appointed leader of a team how would you encourage your subordinates?
  6. How transparent the communication is with your team leader/ manager?
  7. What positive change do you think should be adopted in this organization?

Tips to ensure effective Performance Evaluation

Positive: Employers must communicate positively with the employee. Tell the employees the evaluation is for the development in their job performance. The review discussion must be conducted in a calm and positive manner. The manager/supervisor must not be aggressive and express displeasure. 

Private: These discussions should be conducted in private and must not be interrupted or influenced by any other employee. 

Frequency: The evaluation must be conducted annually or at least once in 4 to 6 months. For new employees or the ones who are performing poorly, the assessment must be conducted more frequently.

Support: The employees must be ensured that these evaluations are to help them and not to discipline them. The supervisor should emphasize that they will help the employees to improve their performance.

Advantages of Performance Evaluation

Employee gains control

A routine evaluation and positive discussion with the supervisor may help an employee understand their strengths and weaknesses. The knowledge will lead the employee to learn more skills and improve their performance to move towards the goal of the organization. This is key to a positive employee experience.

Communication

A performance evaluation is complete when the supervisor/employer provides feedback to the employee and both the parties come to an understanding. Such discussions open a room for communication which can benefit the team as it leads to an honest and transparent relationship.

Clear goal

These sessions let a supervisor discuss and inform the employee what their future goal is and how they can be achieved. Such plans of company goals let an employee know what their career growth is in the organization. This open and transparent conversation on what the company expects from the employee can positively improve their job performance.

Employee feedback for the employer

The feedback session is not one-sided; the employees can also provide feedback for the organization. They can also discuss their grievances, and suggestions for change. 

Also, the supervisor may receive feedback from the team members. This can help the supervisor/leader get a better understanding of the team members and learn more on how to improve the performance of your team.

This creates a complete cycle of feedback which results in an overall evaluation of not only the employees but also the entire organization.

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