What are appraisal forms?
A performance appraisal is a human resource management tool used to manage and assess the performance criteria and behaviors of employees. Through a structured assessment process, employers identify their performers and uncover performance gaps. Performance appraisals are also an important basis for employee development, for example, in continuing education, compensation, or succession planning. Often, employers use regular feedback sessions for such a performance review.
As a rule, performance appraisals are carried out at least once a year as part of an appraisal interview using a form provided for this purpose. Here, all evaluation criteria are listed in a structured manner. In addition, the achievement of objectives from the annual target agreement is often evaluated within the performance appraisal. Appraisal forms also have the advantage that the results from the interview can be recorded for the next appraisal.
This article deals with the following topics:
1. Necessity of performance appraisals
2. Evaluation criteria in appraisal forms
3. How can I write an evaluation? The core elements
4. How do I rate my employees? 4 principles
5. A digital tool to conduct appraisals
Why is a performance appraisal so important for companies? 4 relevant reasons
There is a long tradition of conducting performance appraisals in the workplace. Continuous improvement of competitiveness requires companies to maintain a constant dialogue with employees. Accordingly, assessing performance and providing feedback on the results to those being appraised is an ongoing task for managers and an indispensable part of the management process.
There are different reasons why companies conduct performance appraisals. In the past, it was mainly about performance monitoring, but now its focus has shifted to providing feedback and identifying potential. Accordingly, performance appraisals are often about:
1. Prove leadership skills
A fair and well-founded assessment, as well as a general interest in a continuous exchange with employees, is always a strong indicator of leadership competence. By making your employees feel that their questions, worries, and concerns are taken seriously and treated equally, and by basing your evaluation of performance quality thoroughly and on sound facts, you create a corporate culture of mutual respect and exchange.
2. Improve personnel planning
The regular assessment of the competencies of individual employees is an excellent method to delegate tasks to them in a targeted manner and to implement an optimal delegation of responsibilities.
3. Increase performance
Performance appraisals that recognize the potential of the employee and make suggestions for the targeted use of this potential are effective factors for improving the performance of employees. Frequently, coworkers can obtain a picture of their personal authority only in the concrete situation of the evaluation discussion. In order to ensure coworkers are aware of their strengths and can effectively tackle weaknesses together, it is imperative to have regular discussions that lead to a mutual exchange of ideas.
4. Ensure a perfect reputation
A Professional and well-prepared performance appraisal strengthens the relationship between the management team and the employee. Even after the person concerned has left the company, the joint work does not have to end there. Because a fair and comprehensible treatment will be remembered by employees, it will ultimately strengthen the reputation of the management and the company in a sustainable way.
What are the 6 common evaluation criteria in performance appraisal forms
Frequently, performance appraisals have a demotivating effect on employees because the evaluation criteria in companies are not transparent. This makes it all the more important to make evaluation criteria as objective as possible and to define exactly what is meant by each criterion.
In principle, companies are free to choose the evaluation criteria according to their needs. It is of crucial importance which characteristics are important in a person or for a position and which criteria are useful for their assessment. When collecting relevant data for the performance appraisal, it is useful to define certain categories and formulate concrete questions with reference to them.
- Performance: e.g. personal commitment, additional services rendered, frequency of ideas contributed
- Efficiency: Work rate, quick comprehension, timely work results
- Quality: Error frequency, quality of results, diligence
- Flexibility: Responding to changing work conditions, dealing with changing work areas
- Responsible action: Taking responsibility, dealing with resources
- Team ability: Contributing to the team, success in working together, frequency of communication problems
- Task management: Which tasks are taken over by the person? How well are they fulfilled (in terms of time and quality)?
- Independence: Are tasks handled independently? Are problems recognized and managed in a goal-oriented manner?
- Resilience: Is the employee able to work under pressure and to complete tasks optimally even under time pressure?
- Motivation: Is the employee motivated and committed? Does he/she strive for the best possible performance?
How do I write a performance appraisal? The core elements
It is important to learn how to integrate the performance evaluation into the daily work routine and how to set up the document correctly. The following elements will help you with the concrete conduction of an assessment letter:
Letterhead
- Name of the assessor and name of the company
- Contact details
- Date
- Subject of the appraised person
Main part
- Information on the company and job title of the employee* including the period of cooperation
- Description of the actual tasks and abilities of the appraised person
- Assessment of the quality of the work performance
- Evaluation of social competence, collegiality, etc.
End
- Wishes for the future
- Signature
How do I rate my employees? 4 principles
A good Performance appraisal method is an important element in strengthening the relationship between employees and their superiors. Employees receive the necessary input through their participation in the company, are shown strengths and aspects for improvement, and can have an open exchange about cooperation.
Here you will find 4 relevant principles, which will make it easier for you to start your appraisal with the right mindset:
- Fair – The employee appraisal always follows the same criteria defined in advance and is applied equally to all employees.
- Objective – The performance assessment is primarily based on facts, i.e. on evaluated performance data and experience of the management positions.
- Pre-work – The assessment should only be made after a detailed evaluation of the key figures regarding the productivity of the individual employee.
- Regularly – Performance evaluations should be carried out regularly to maintain a regular and intensive exchange between the management level and employees.
Benefiting from digital appraisal forms
The Lumiform App & Software provides digital forms that help you streamline your performance assessment process. However, paper-based processes can be administratively burdensome. A lot of time is taken up by scanning documents and re-keying data for comparison purposes.
Lumiform’s flexible and digital form builder allows a performance appraisal to be created for the entire workforce using a consistent template. Changes to the appraisal form can be easily implemented and all employees have immediate access to the latest version. All responses and results are automatically bundled into one report and can be sent out immediately. The desktop software makes it child’s play to compare previous work results and performance with the current information.
Save time and paper on performance appraisals in your organization and reap the benefits of Lumiform’s app and desktop software every day:
- Get an overview of everything that happens in companies
- Get automatically generated reports – that saves you all the follow-up.
- Increase the efficiency of your internal processes: Through more efficient communication within the company, you solve emerging problems up to 4x faster than before.
- Save time through easier analysis of all data from your appraisal forms.
