Fashions for appraisals come and go. Some organisations value performance appraisals as a management tool, but sometimes employee resent being subjected to a “school report”. To avoid the common pitfalls of an employee appraisal, it is important to remember that the aim of using a performance appraisal process is to continuously improve the work performance of your employees. An appraisal report is useless if the issues that are identified, whether these be training, development or promotion are simply ignored. Done well, staff appraisals can be an effective method of ensuring that the performance of employees contributes to the goals of their teams and the business as a whole.
ACAS state that “good performance management helps everyone in the organisation to know:
- what the business is trying to achieve
- their role in helping the business achieve its goals
- the skill and competencies they need to fulfil their role
- the standards of performance required
- how they can develop their performance and contribute to development of the organisation
- how they are doing
- when there are performance problems and what to do about them.”
To get the best out of any staff appraisal scheme, thought needs to be given to designing an appropriate scheme, including developing appropriate appraisal forms. It may also be necessary to provide training for both appraises and their managers. James House HR can help you design an effective appraisal management scheme and provide bespoke appraisal training to ensure that your appraisal project is a success. We can also help you manage the appraisal scheme outcomes to ensure that you get the very best out of your investment.
Frequently Asked Questions
My employees are not keen on an appraisal scheme. How do I engage them in this project?
If employees have had poor previous experiences with appraisal schemes, they can be very negative about plans to introduce a new scheme. It is very helpful to engage your employees in the design process and to provide short pre-appraisal training sessions. Training managers and other employees how to do an appraisal gives all involved overall confidence in the appraisal scheme. Employee involvement ensures everyone involved that the appraisal system is designed to give value to both the employee and the organization.
For advice on any aspect of designing and running an appraisal scheme or staff appraisal training, please call us for no-obligation advice. Tel: 01273 222817.