Performance Evaluation

Performance evaluation is the process of evaluating how effectively employees are fulfilling their job responsibilities and contributing to the accomplishment of organizational goals.

Performance evaluations are extremely important to an organization, although they may be difficult to conduct. They tell organizations whether their selection methods are right.

They demonstrate where training, development and motivational programs are needed and later help to assess whether these have been effective.

As a matter of fact, many organizational policies and practices are evaluated, in large part, through their impact on performance.

Performance evaluations, after all, are the basis on which managers make decisions about compensation, promotion, and dismissal.

Purpose of performance evaluation

• Periodic performance evaluation is an employee’s report card from his/her manager that acknowledges the work he/she has done in a specific time and the scope for improvement.
• An employer can provide consistent feedback on an employee’s strengths and strive for improvement in the areas that the employees need to work on.
• It is an integrated platform for both the employee and employer to attain common ground on what both think is befitting a quality performance. This helps in improving communication, which usually leads to better and more accurate team metrics and, thus, improved performance results.
• The goal of this entire process of performance evaluation is to improve the way a team or an organization function, to achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction.
• A manager should evaluate his/her team member regularly and not just once a year. This way, the team can avert new and unexpected problems with constant work being done to improve competence and efficiency.
• An organization’s management can conduct frequent employee training and skill development sessions based on the development areas recognized after a performance evaluation session.
• The management can effectively manage the team and conduct productive resource allocation after evaluating the goals and preset standards of performance.
• Regular performance evaluation can help determine the scope of growth in an employee’s career and the level of motivation with which he/she contributes towards the success of an organization.
• Performance evaluation lets an employee understand where does he/she stands as compared to others in the organization.

Performance evaluation;

• Is the systematic evaluation of the performance of employees and to understand the abilities of a person for further growth and development,
• Is a process of evaluating an employee’s performance of a job in terms of its requirements,
• Is the process of evaluating the performance of employees, sharing that information with them and searching for ways to improve their performance,
• Provides the basis for assessment of employee contributions, coaching for improved performance and distribution of economic rewards,
• Refers to the outcome of the behaviour of employees.

360-degree review

The 360-degree survey is a comprehensive review mechanism that helps gather the greatest insights and feedback on an employee’s performance from his/her supervisor, peers, colleagues, and subordinates.

Supervisor evaluation

The supervisor evaluation survey is deployed to collect feedback and information from employees related to their supervisor. Supervisor evaluation helps an organization and its leadership understand the accuracy of the work done by the supervisor and also help them evaluate the overall value the supervisor adds to his/her team and to the organization as a whole.

Manager evaluation

A manager evaluation survey offers a set of questions that are answered by the employees to evaluate their direct or indirect manager’s effectiveness at work. This survey is extremely useful for the management to understand the manager’s performance, the attitude at work, willingness to help his/her subordinate, and more.

Senior management evaluation

Senior management evaluation survey questions are used to understand the employee’s perspective of the senior management and evaluate their abilities to be able to run the organization smoothly. This questionnaire should have questions that help an organization gather insights on effectiveness, direction, policy-making abilities, and other useful traits. 

Employee satisfaction surveys and employee engagement surveys are also one of the best ways to conduct the performance evaluation. A satisfied and engaged employee is most likely to perform 14% better than his/her counterparts (Gallup).

Employee satisfaction

An employee satisfaction survey is deployed to understand how satisfied or dissatisfied your workforce is. It is essential you measure employee satisfaction as dissatisfied employees not only not perform well but also can be a major reason for high levels of employee attrition in an organization. This survey can power your workforce and HR strategies to cultivate a work culture that enables your organization to win from within. Many times, if an employee doesn’t feel challenged enough, then he/she remains unsatisfied with the work. Performance evaluation can find reasons behind one’s contribution to the company and ways of enhancing it.

Employee engagement

Employee engagement survey enables you as an organization to test the levels of engagement of your employees and to understand how motivated they are to perform well in the workplace. Employee engagement is a matter of concern for most organizations, and disengaged employees set a negative example for other employees. Disengaged employees perform poorly as compared to their colleagues. Thus, this survey can be used to analyze and review the level of performance of an employee and take corrective measures immediately.

Objectives:

• To confirm the services of probationary employees upon their completing the probationary period satisfactorily.
• To effect promotions based on competence and performance.
• To assess the training and development needs of employees.
• To decide upon a pay raise where (as in the unorganized sector) regular pay scales have not been fixed.
• To let the employees know where they stand insofar as their performance is concerned and to assist them with constructive criticism and guidance for the purpose of their development.
• To improve communication, performance evaluation provides a format for dialogue between the superior and subordinate and improves understanding of personal goals and concerns. This can also have the effect of increasing the trust between the rater and the ratee.
• Finally, performance evaluation can be used to determine whether HR programs such as selection, training, and transfers have been effective or not.

Advantages

Career Development

Performance evaluations allow managers to help employees with career development. Performing an unbiased evaluation can point out where employees are excelling and the areas needing improvement. After the evaluation is completed, managers can develop plans with specific tasks to help employees develop in their career and meet goals that benefit the company. Evaluations can help employees increase their commitment to the firm and productivity. Employees that add value to the firm are considered first when better positions open up and employers decide to promote from within.

Work Achievement Recognition

Performance evaluations give managers a chance to recognize employees who performed well during the evaluated year. Recognizing employees for their achievements builds their morale, and employees with high morale are more productive. If monetary bonuses and raises are given based on performance evaluations, employees possess tangible evidence that shows the company values their hard work. Employees can list achievements received by an employer as awards on their resume if ever looking for another job.

Disadvantages:

A disadvantage of performance evaluations is that the managers evaluating employees may show bias to certain employees, which may happen intentionally or unintentionally. One major risk of using performance evaluations is that some managers unconsciously favor employees that possess similar characteristics as the manager. Bias causes managers to focus more on the personality and style of the employee instead of the actual achievements. This can result in good employees feeling slighted, which may cause tension in the workplace. Bias also affects the favorable employee because he may miss much-needed guidance to improve his performance.

One-Sided Feedback

Another disadvantage of performance evaluations is that the meeting can result in a one-sided conversation. Although a manager may give an employee a chance to offer feedback, some managers already make up their mind about an employee and are not opened to two-sided dialogue. If the performance review is one-sided, employees may feel as if their opinions do no matter. This may cause an employee to shut down and refuse to communicate with management in the future. Managers should listen to feedback presented by employees, and correct evaluations if employees make valid points.

Performance evaluation process

Step 1

In most organizations, a performance evaluation process states that an employee’s performance is tracked every three and six months, provided, the employee has worked with the organization continually for that tenure. The HR department can send across an online survey for the employees to fill out regarding their satisfaction and engagement levels.

Step 2

The employee’s immediate manager will decide his/her performance quality after evaluating the yearly performance, conducting an employee engagement survey, and eventually having a face-to-face meeting.

Step 3

The feedback received from the online employee satisfaction survey can be kept anonymous. This feedback can be analyzed in real-time from a centralized dashboard. On the basis of the analysis, the manager can prepare further questions for the face-to-face performance evaluation meeting.

For a probationary employee to be termed as a tenured employee, he/she must perform as per their supervisor’s expectations for six months. The first six months of an employee’s tenure are crucial as the management always has a watchful eye on them for all their contribution towards assigned tasks, ownership skills, and punctuality in task completion.