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100% Positive Employee Performance Appraisal

Written by: Leonard Scott

Article Overview: Performance appraisal meetings between boss and subordinate are too often disastrous encounters in which anxiety is generated in both parties, the motivation and trust the boss generated throughout the year are undermined, and employee dissatisfaction with his/her work and the company is planted. This article explains how to avoid these performance appraisal session mistakes and make employee appraisal 100% positive and motivating every time.

100% Positive Employee Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal meetings between boss and subordinate are too often disastrous encounters in which anxiety is generated in both parties, the motivation and trust the boss generated throughout the year is undermined, and employee dissatisfaction with his/her work and the company is planted. This situation stems from the performance appraisal instruments, the inadequate training of managers in how to conduct effective performance evaluation sessions with subordinates, company policy regarding sharing, or rather, not sharing information with subordinate employees, and company policy on when unsatisfactory performance should be dealt with. Formal performance appraisal meetings are in too many cases “gloom and doom” affairs for both manger and employee instead of motivational interactions which sends the employee back to his/her work with a positive attitude and desire to take his/her performance to higher levels of achievement.

First, a policy should be established that all unsatisfactory performance be dealt with immediately. If an employee violates company policy with respect to tardiness, absenteeism, unacceptable work quantity or quality, interpersonal relations, or any other aspect of work for which a standard of performance has been established, the infraction should be handled then and there by warning the employee and placing his/her on an improvement program. Of course if the infraction is serious, the employee should be discharged right away. As the famous saying goes, employee unsatisfactory performance should be “nipped in the bud.” It should never be allowed to go on until performance appraisal time.

Second, the performance appraisal instruments should be set up such that they contain no unsatisfactory rating evaluation scores. (See below for sample 100% positive performance appraisal forms.)

Third, appraisal sessions should be on time, frank, open, involve two-way communications regarding expectations and complaints, cover employee strength and areas where higher levels of performance could be achieved, establish goals for the future, allow the employee to bring to the table his/her hopes and aspirations regarding future assignments and career development, set forth a training and development program for the employee, provide information on company performance, goals, and future plans, and answer the employee’s questions honestly. This sounds like a tall order, but it reflects a sound approach to handling employee performance appraisal where increased employee motivation is the goal.

Let’s take a minute to cover how to handle the “OK” performer, the employee who meets all the required standards of performance, but does not get a rating better than “Good.” It is easy to conduct performance evaluation sessions with employees who are rated “ “Excellent” or “Outstanding.” The appraisal sessions with “OK” performers, who will constitute the majority of employees, are the ones that take the most skill. In these sessions the following terms should be used: “doing a consistently good job”, handling your job quite satisfactorily”, “getting the job done in quite an OK manner”, and “ fully meeting your job requirements.”

Now let’s look at what 100% performance evaluation rating forms should look like. Two forms are presented. One is for non-managerial employees and the other is for managerial employees.

Employee Evaluation Report (front side)

Employee_______________________ Date ___________________________

Classification____________________ Department______________________

Confidential Report

Performance Factors

Quantity of Output Outstanding Excellent Good/Satisfactory

Make an overall judgment as to 10 9 8 7 6 5

the size of the employee’s acceptable Very fast worker.Works fast. Well Work output satisfactory.

output in relation to what is regarded Consistently exceeds organized. Volume

as satisfactory/good, excellent, or output standards by of output is above

outstanding. Consider the employee’s considerable amount. Expected levels.

overall use of time and resources.

Also, evaluate employee’s ability

To stay with difficult or tedious

Tasks or projects, ability to meet or

Beat deadlines, total hours worked,

Learning speed, problem solving

capacity, and sensitivity to cost control.

Quality of Work Outstanding Excellent Good/Satisfactory

Make an overall judgment as to 10 9 8 7 6 5

The quality of the employee’s output. Consistent, high Exceeds minimum Work quality satisfac-

Consider completeness with which degree of quality. Ex- requirements for tory.

Work solved or prevented problems, ceeds goals by signifi- quality. Exceeds

capitalized on opportunities, or cant amount consis- goals and requires

achieved goals. Consider output tently. Seldom needs little supervision.

format, number of revisions required, supervision.

incisiveness shown, and clarity and

impact of communications involved.

Also, evaluate output accuracy,

Dependability of results, and depth of

analysis. Is employee capable of

dealing with and solving highly

complex problems or just average

level difficulty? Is employee concerned

about cost control as it relates to quality

of work.

Interpersonal Relations Outstanding Excellent Good/Satisfactory

Judge employee’s cooperativeness, 10 9 8 7 6 5

Influence on fellow workers, nature of A strong influence on Very effective in Gets along with others

Upward and downward impact, and positive interpersonal working and satisfactorily. Generally

Overall company loyalty and spirit. relations in the work dealing with positive.

Consider whether employee is a positive, unit. Considerate of others. Solidly

Negative, or neutral member of the work others’ views. Elicits positive.

Group. Measure employee’s overall. cooperation. Very

Interpersonal behavior to determine its positive.

effect on other employees’ performance

and on personal outside the firm.

Initiative and Ingenuity Outstanding Excellent Good/Satisfactory

Judge the employee ability to originate 10 9 8 7 6 5

or develop ideas and to get things started Very high level of High level of Satisfactory level of

and moved toward completion. initiative. Strongly initiative. Shows initiative and ingenuity.

self-directed and good self-

makes many good direction and

suggestions for makes a number

improving of suggestions

operations. for improving

operations.

Points Rating

38-40 Outstanding

31-37 Excellent

20-30 Good/Satisfactory Total Points_______________

Rating____________________

Compensation

Increase

Recommendation___________

Manager Signature__________ HR Approval ____________ Final Approval ______________

Employee Evaluation Report (reverse side)

Future Goals and Objectives:

Employee Training & Development Program

On an Employee Evaluation Report form for Managers, the factors of Innovation and Leadership & Managerial Skills should be added and the factor Initiative and Ingenuity should be deleted. Doing this will increase the total rating points to 50. Therefore, the Outstanding rating will have a point range of 48-50, the Excellent rating will have a point range of 40-47, and the Good/Satisfactory rating will have a point range of 25-39.

The expected performance rating distribution using this performance rating system usually comes out as follows: Outstanding—2% to 5%; Excellent—5% to 10%; Good/Satisfactory 85% to 93%. Remember, there are no Unsatisfactory ratings in this system. All instances of unsatisfactory employee performance are handled immediately by placing the employee on an improvement program or discharging the employee.

This performance appraisal system has the result of nipping poor performance in the bud, saving “salvageabale” employees, ridding the work group of poor performers promptly, allowing employees to reach their highest potential, strongly encouraging employees to develop positive interpersonal relations, teamwork, and work unit cooperation, stimulating suggestions for improving operations, and providing a work environment that consistently aims at motivating workers to increasingly higher levels of productivity. The benefits of a 100% positive performance appraisal system are many, and setting up such a system is well worth the time and effort.

Related Articles
  How To Run A Staff Appraisal
  Are Organizations Utilizing Employee Performance Appraisal Systems optimally?
  360 Degree Appraisals
  Getting the Performance Appraisal Right
  Employee Review Writer

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