If this is the first appraisal, both parties should review the employee’s performance against their job description and other competency measures. If previous performance appraisals have taken place, both parties can also evaluate whether previous goals have been met.
Where an employee has met or exceeded performance standards, the appraiser should recognise this. Exceptional performance should be celebrated, and the appraiser should ideally note specific examples. A performance appraisal should be used to commend and reward an employee as much as it should be used to highlight deficiencies in performance.
Nevertheless, an appraiser must be willing to provide honest criticism. If an appraiser is not willing to be honest, they risk being unable to properly salvage performance issues before they become much more serious.
An appraisal should also consider other aspects of an employee’s performance. This includes examining the employee’s current motivation and attitude when working, as well as their fit within the team’s culture. While these are more subjective measures of performance, they can often have significant influence on the employee’s performance and the organisation as a whole.
After this the employee and the appraiser should collaborate on performance and development goals moving forward, settling on a development and improvement plan. These goals should be discretely measurable, reasonably achievable within the time frame, and they will form the basis of future performance appraisals.
Additional training or assistance the employee might require should also be discussed.
At the end of the meeting, the employee and appraiser should sign off on the appraisal. This can also serve as documentation the employee was made aware of any performance issues, as well as steps that were taken to address them.
Finally, the two parties should agree on the date of the next performance appraisal.
