10 Performance Appraisals Factors

Whether you are a business owner or otherwise are in a leadership position, understanding how to properly evaluate your staff’s job performance and how they can best contribute to your company promotes accountability and productivity within your workplace. Read further to learn more about performance appraisals, their benefits, factors to consider when conducting a performance appraisal and additional topics of discussion.

 

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What is a performance appraisal?

A performance appraisal, also called a performance review, is an evaluation method that employers use to measure an employee’s contributions to their company. According to Investopedia, performance appraisals can occur whenever an employer deems it necessary. They may occur to congratulate an employee and justify a pay raise, identify areas for employee improvement or outline reasons for termination decisions.

 

Benefits of providing effective performance appraisals

Here are some potential benefits of providing effective performance appraisals within your business, according to Chron, the Houston Chronicle news website:

 

Improves communication between leadership and staff members

By communicating with your employees about the potential you see in them as well as the improvements they can make, you help foster a healthy professional relationship with your staff members. Employees feel valued as you take the time to help them seek improvement within your company.

 

Minimizes confusion about job duties

Performance appraisals help employees gain clarification on their job requirements and what is expected of them within your company. This allows employees to feel satisfied with their jobs.

 

Provides employees with a goal-driven mindset

Performance appraisals inspire motivation to meet job goals employees may have forgotten about after working at your company for a long period of time. Not only can this enhance their productivity, but it can also increase their job satisfaction by giving them a goal to strive for.

 

Reduces employee turnover rates

Performance appraisals might help reduce employee turnover rates because you set clear expectations and give employees the opportunity to grow within your company. because of this, they may be reluctant to leave your company for another opportunity.

 

Creates opportunities for career advancement within the company

By conducting performance appraisals, your employees may improve their job performance to the point where they are ready to take on more senior roles within your company.

 

Factors to consider for performance appraisals

The factors you use to evaluate your employees can vary depending on the role they have within your company, but, there are some common factors that apply to all roles. According to http://www.whatishumanresource.com/, here are some factors to consider for performance appraisals:

 

1. Punctuality

Punctuality refers to the degree to which an employee is on-time for work. You may choose to include attendance in this performance factor.

 

2. Accountability

Accountability refers to the process by which employees take responsibility for their actions if an error occurs and understand how their job affects the productivity of the rest of the office.

 

3. Quality of work

Quality of work is a factor that allows you to assess the overall quality of the work they contribute to your organization.

 

4. Quantity of work

Quantity of work is a way of measuring productivity within the workplace. Measure the quantity of work by comparing the number of tasks they complete in a given time frame to the needs of the company.

 

5. Time management

Time-management is the process by which employees meet deadlines and allot specific amounts of time to certain tasks.

 

6. Teamwork

Teamwork refers to the degree to which an employee works well with their co-workers.

 

7. Reliability

Reliability can encapsulate factors such as punctuality, productivity and work quality to assess how dependable your employees are.

 

8. Communication abilities

The degree to which an employee is able to communicate with their coworkers, superiors or subordinates may be an important performance appraisal factor. This includes verbal communication, written communication and interpersonal communication.

 

9. Leadership capabilities

Especially for those seeking management positions, leadership capabilities show how well a person can lead a team and model exemplary behavior on the job. 

 

10. Skills and job expertise

Another potential factor is the amount of industry knowledge and skills that an employee demonstrates in their daily job duties.

 

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Frequently asked questions about performance appraisals

What are the three basic functions of an effective performance appraisal?

According to the employee performance software company Synergita, these are the three basic functions of an effective performance appraisal:

  • To create individualized development plans for better performance in the future
  • To provide consistent feedback about what areas employees thrive in versus areas they should focus on for improvements
  • To establish reliable performance data on which to evaluate future employees within the same role and to evaluate employee progress over time.

 

What is the difference between performance appraisals and performance management?

The Synergita website says the difference between performance appraisals and performance management is that performance appraisals typically occur on an annual basis and look to evaluate an employee’s strengths and weaknesses. In contrast, performance management is more of a constant process where employers evaluate the employees’ contributions to a company and if their work aligns with the company’s core goals and values.

Another way to differentiate between the two is by saying performance appraisals are more focused on the individual, whereas performance management is more focused on how the individual affects the company at large.

 

What is the purpose of a performance appraisal?

The purpose of a performance appraisal is to instill confidence in your employees and give them guidelines to reach/maintain your performance standards for them. Further, performance appraisals aim to improve communication between you and your employees about your expectations as their leader.

 

What is the performance appraisal process?

According to the website Chron, here is an efficient way to conduct a performance appraisal and implement those practices throughout your business :

  1. Establish a foundation on which to base performance standards within each role of your business.
  2. Strive to communicate those standards to departments and individual employees through meetings and written instruction.
  3. Create a performance reporting system where department heads record data about employee performance on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
  4. Provide individual feedback to each employee about their current strengths and areas for improvement within the workplace.
  5. Draft a development plan for those who need significant help in meeting the performance standards you established.

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