This document provides information about annual performance appraisals, including methods, tips, forms, and phrases. It discusses six common performance appraisal methods: ranking, rating scales, checklists, critical incidents, essays, and behaviorally anchored rating scales. The document also lists additional topics related to annual performance appraisals and provides links to download forms and further resources.
1. Annual performance appraisal
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I. Contents of getting annual performance appraisal
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Yes, it’s that time of year again — when the groans of managers can be heard over the mere
mention of the words, “Annual Performance Reviews.” Many managers see performance
appraisals as nothing more than an empty, bureaucratic exercise forced on them by HR. And
simply search the Internet on the words, performance appraisal, and you’ll find various polls
revealing the high percentage of employees who feel appraisals are pointless. Hmmm…see the
link here?
Even after all the years I’ve spent in corporate America, I’m still shocked at how flippantly some
managers take performance discussions with their employees throughout the year, especially
annual performance reviews. For example, after inheriting another manager’s department
because he moved into a position elsewhere in the company, I found he hadn’t completed
performance appraisals in seven years. You read that right – seven years. You can just imagine
the employee morale I also inherited with his group.
In her article, “Is it time to give up on performance appraisals?”, Gabriella Jozwiak notes UK
“management consultancy Hay Group found half of public sector workers and one-third of
business leaders describe appraisals as a box-ticking exercise.” Take a good look around your
company. Is this the same way you’d describe the attitude of managers toward the performance
appraisal process where you work?
Ms. Jozwiak also quotes a U.S. poll from San Francisco consulting firm, Achievers, which
“revealed 98% of staff find annual performance reviews unnecessary.” Maybe the real reason
2. why employees find annual performance appraisals a waste of time and unnecessary is because
of the lack of effort managers put into the process. After 20-plus years in corporate America and
many years as a business consultant my personal conclusion is this: Lackadaisical management
attitude = employee apathy.
When I was the global vice president of service marketing for a Fortune 500 healthcare
company, someone once asked me what percentage of time I spent in personnel management
activities. I said it was probably 30% or more of my time because I’ve always seen it as my job
to coach and cultivate star performers. My point is this: When you make finding the right talent
and coaching that talent your number one priority, the rest will fall in place much more easily –
such as achieving revenue targets/quotas, cost control, process improvement, completing
projects, etc.
Putting your best effort into performance appraisals will result in benefits exponential to the time
spent during the process. How do you do this?
Here are my 7 tips to make performance reviews more meaningful to you and your employees:
#1 Preparation is key. Because performance reviews are often seen as a boring, bureaucratic
exercise, many managers spend little to no time preparing. Unfortunately, lack of preparation
diminishes the value of the review with the employee. Notes retired businessman and Forbes
contributor Victor Lipman, “Year-end evaluations aren’t just a one-time, one-hour meeting, but
something to substantively prepare for. Significant thought should go into it, not just about top-
line results…but what are the key messages you want to convey, what’s the overall feeling you’d
like the employee to leave the meeting with?”
#2 Consider the logistics for the discussion. Hold performance appraisals in a location that
allows for confidentiality of discussions. If available, opt for a smaller conference room with a
round table. Small room with a small table not available? Instead of sitting all the way across
from the employee at a large, rectangular conference table, sit adjacent to them because this will
improve the flow of conversation. Putting an employee at ease goes a long way in helping the
performance review be as effective as possible.
==================
III. Performance appraisal methods
3. 1.Ranking Method
The ranking system requires the rater to rank his
subordinates on overall performance. This consists in
simply putting a man in a rank order. Under this method,
the ranking of an employee in a work group is done
against that of another employee. The relative position of
each employee is tested in terms of his numerical rank. It
may also be done by ranking a person on his job
performance against another member of the competitive
group.
Advantages of Ranking Method
i. Employees are ranked according to their performance
levels.
ii. It is easier to rank the best and the worst employee.
Limitations of Ranking Method
i. The “whole man” is compared with another “whole man”
in this method. In practice, it is very difficult to compare
individuals possessing various individual traits.
ii. This method speaks only of the position where an
employee stands in his group. It does not test anything
about how much better or how much worse an employee
is when compared to another employee.
iii. When a large number of employees are working, ranking
of individuals become a difficult issue.
iv. There is no systematic procedure for ranking individuals
in the organization. The ranking system does not eliminate
the possibility of snap judgements.
2. Rating Scale
Rating scales consists of several numerical scales
representing job related performance criterions such as
dependability, initiative, output, attendance, attitude etc.
Each scales ranges from excellent to poor. The total
numerical scores are computed and final conclusions are
derived. Advantages – Adaptability, easy to use, low cost,
every type of job can be evaluated, large number of
employees covered, no formal training required.
Disadvantages – Rater’s biases
4. 3. Checklist method
Under this method, checklist of statements of traits of
employee in the form of Yes or No based questions is
prepared. Here the rater only does the reporting or
checking and HR department does the actual evaluation.
Advantages – economy, ease of administration, limited
training required, standardization. Disadvantages – Raters
biases, use of improper weighs by HR, does not allow
rater to give relative ratings
4. Critical Incidents Method
The approach is focused on certain critical behaviors of
employee that makes all the difference in the
performance. Supervisors as and when they occur record
such incidents. Advantages – Evaluations are based on
actual job behaviors, ratings are supported by
descriptions, feedback is easy, reduces recency biases,
chances of subordinate improvement are high.
Disadvantages – Negative incidents can be prioritized,
forgetting incidents, overly close supervision; feedback
may be too much and may appear to be punishment.
5. Essay Method
5. In this method the rater writes down the employee
description in detail within a number of broad categories
like, overall impression of performance, promoteability
of employee, existing capabilities and qualifications of
performing jobs, strengths and weaknesses and training
needs of the employee. Advantage – It is extremely
useful in filing information gaps about the employees
that often occur in a better-structured checklist.
Disadvantages – It its highly dependent upon the writing
skills of rater and most of them are not good writers.
They may get confused success depends on the memory
power of raters.
6. Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales
statements of effective and ineffective behaviors
determine the points. They are said to be
behaviorally anchored. The rater is supposed to
say, which behavior describes the employee
performance. Advantages – helps overcome rating
errors. Disadvantages – Suffers from distortions
inherent in most rating techniques.
III. Other topics related to Annual performance appraisal (pdf download)
• Top 28 performance appraisal forms
• performance appraisal comments
• 11 performance appraisal methods
• 25 performance appraisal examples
• performance appraisal phrases
• performance appraisal process
• performance appraisal template
• performance appraisal system
• performance appraisal answers
• performance appraisal questions
• performance appraisal techniques
• performance appraisal format
• performance appraisal templates
