While it may seem fair to evaluate employee performance to ensure an organization’s productivity, performance appraisals are not always seen as essential. For some employers, the process is seen as a necessary evil that only adds to the administrative burden of their functions. For others, it would be enough to replace employees who do not meet expectations. However, although the primary function of these meetings between a manager and their employees is to allow the manager to determine each employee’s performance, it is relevant to consider all the other benefits that employee performance reviews offer.
What's the Purpose of Employee Performance Reviews?
If it is necessary for a manager to periodically evaluate their team to ensure the proper functioning of the organization, the exercise is just as beneficial to employees. Let’s explore some of the many benefits of employee performance assessment.
- Determining employee performance
Clearly, if you have set goals for your employees, a performance review is an opportunity to take stock and determine if they have been met. Ideally, objectives should be measurable so that you can assess progress as accurately as possible. Moreover, setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-based) objectives is an excellent motivating factor in itself, which leads to the next point.
- Improving employee motivation
It goes without saying that an employee must be aware of the objectives they have to achieve in order to be able to do so. The context of the performance review is ideal for talking to your employees about the company’s overall objectives, then defining their own and explaining how they can contribute to the organization’s success. By highlighting and recognizing their contribution, you will give them a good dose of motivation!
- Encouraging communication within the organization
It can never be said enough, a culture of open communication is essential to a healthy work climate and, consequently, to the smooth functioning of any organization. Now, how do we make employees feel comfortable talking about their needs? By questioning them and taking their concerns into account. For example, during the periodic performance evaluation, a rigorous manager, after having expressed their own expectations, will question the employee about theirs and then direct their actions accordingly.
- Defining employee needs and expectations
The needs and expectations of employees are constantly changing, depending on various factors such as family situation and health. This is why it is important to question them regularly, and their periodic evaluation is a good time to do so.
- Increasing retention rates
Periodic employee performance reviews can also increase retention rates, since they help reduce the risk of discrepancies between the vision of the work accomplished by the employee and the objectives previously set by the employer. In fact, employees who are aware of the objectives they have to achieve are more motivated and committed. In addition, regular feedback allows employees to adjust more quickly and greatly facilitates career management, which is another very important motivating factor for most employees.
Types of Employee Performance Reviews
There are many methods to evaluate employees. While each of these approaches is relevant, they all have their strengths and weaknesses, and the question is which one will best suit the needs of your organization. The most commonly used HR evaluation methods, all available in staff management software like Folks HR, are as follows:
- Evaluation by criteria
This is the most common evaluation. In the performance evaluation by criteria, the manager evaluates all employees with different elements that he has previously determined: punctuality, motivation, innovation, creativity, etc. This type of evaluation therefore makes it possible to evaluate employees by criteria. On the other hand, this method does not make it possible to gauge the achievement of specific objectives. However, the possibility of adding comments for each criterion makes it possible to personalize the evaluations.
- Evaluation 180
This method, which consists of an evaluation of the employee by their supervisor and a self-evaluation, makes it possible to improve the evaluation process by leading the employee to reflect on the achievement of their objectives, their work methods and their successes, for example, and then to discuss them with their manager.
- 360-degree evaluation
Like the 180 evaluation method, the 360-degree evaluation consists of an evaluation of the employee by the supervisor and a self-evaluation, which is followed by an evaluation of the employee by their peers. One of the great advantages of this method is its global approach. In fact, it makes it possible to evaluate the quality of the employee’s work and their involvement in projects from various relevant points of view.
- Performance evaluation 3.0
This method, while it may not be appropriate for the specific realities of some businesses, offers many advantages when implemented. It is in fact an agile evaluation method that takes into account the needs of employers and employees as they evolve. Meetings between managers and their employees are more frequent than with traditional methods; they can take place monthly or every two or three months. However, they are very quick meetings, lasting 10 to 15 minutes each. Compared to more conventional performance reviews, performance evaluation reviews 3.0 are not based on criteria, but on the objectives to be achieved and the progress towards achieving them.
Which One Is Right for Your Organization?
When choosing an employee performance review method, it is important to keep in mind that each of the methods we have presented can be adapted to the needs of your organization. In fact, even with the more traditional methods (evaluation by criteria, 180 and 360), it is possible to customize the criteria with which you will evaluate your employees, and this, according to the different positions.
Our team is always available to help you determine these criteria so that Folks HR’s professional software for human resources management is a real added value for your organization and is as adapted as possible to its reality. Nevertheless, it goes without saying that in some cases, one method lends itself better than another to the context of a company. For example, Method 3.0 is particularly conducive to the evaluation of sales representatives, who usually have monthly sales objectives, but is also very well suited to other types of positions for which employees are evaluated on a project-by-project basis.
The choice of an evaluation method usually comes with the choice of a tool to simplify its management. With Folks HR, we aspire to offer an all-in-one HR software that simplifies the day-to-day management of human resources. Our solution, in this regard, offers various modules that allow you not only to compile and centralize the information from your evaluations, but also to obtain precise indicators concerning your employees’ performance. In other words, the flexibility of our platform allows us to adapt to your way of working and to provide you with an adequate tool for assessing your employees.
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