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Employee evaluation checklist for worker performance

Find out what you should include on an employee evaluation checklist and how to conduct one both time-consciously and professionally. Don't rely on paperwork to make personnel decisions when there are digital checklists to make your life easier.

What Is an Employee Evaluation Checklist?


Employee evaluation is conducted by companies to record the overall performance of an employee. Usually, a uniform employee evaluation form is used for this purpose in order to better compare different evaluation criteria.


The use of templates to appraise employees makes sure companies are using their human resources optimally and serves to develop and enhance indiviudal employee strong suits .Thus, the assessment of work performance is not only in the interest of the employer but also in the employee. These forms are an important instrument in giving thoughtful feedback and, thus, create a two-way dichotomy between the management and their subordinates.



This article is about:


1. Reasons to conduct a regular employee evaluation with checklist


2. Criteria an employee evaluation checklist should meet


3. Benefits of digital employee evaluation forms


4. Writing an employee evaluation assessment


5. A digital employee evaluation solution


Employer conducting employee evaluations with a checklist

Why Should You Conduct Regular Employee Evaluations?


The idea of development is a crucial factor that speaks in favor of regular employee evaluations. Even if the assessment itself does not yet yield improvement in personnel quality, it will have a positive impact on the company enterprise as a whole. If a company wants to survive in the global and digitalized business world, however, it must have agile employees who can adapt to change.


In order to assert oneself successfully against competitors, it’s necessary to promote personnel who can be developed in a targeted, direct approach. In times of a prevailing skilled worker shortage, it’s better to hire employees with the necessary competencies.


An employee evaluation form template is one of the basics of personnel development in a company. Through it, an employer can uncover discrepancies between the job requirements and skills of a potential hire or job holder. These can then be minimized or even eliminated altogether through targeted training and development coaching.


The most important goals of an employee evaluation checklist are:


  1. Optimization of personnel development and initiative
  2. Recognition of employee performance
  3. Increasing employee performance
  4. Coaching employees in line with their needs
  5. Performance-based employee compensation
  6. Improving the leadership quality of supervisors
  7. Developing communication between supervisor and employee
  8. Promotion of suitable junior staff
  9. Motivativating every employee


What Criteria Should an Employee Evaluation Checklist Meet?


The employee evaluation should include, if possible, all criteria that are operationally relevant and describe the employee personality. The criteria must be unambiguously formulated and comprehensible to all employees. After all, company goals are also your employee’s goals, so you should use language that speaks to everyone.


Which assessment criteria ultimately ends up in the employee evaluation depends on the corporate goals for that branch.The following selection reflects typical, almost universally valid criteria which can be found in almost every employee evaluation checklist:


  1. Quality of work
  2. Self-reliance
  3. Expertise
  4. Effectiveness
  5. Willingness to perform
  6. Resilience
  7. Flexibility
  8. Teamwork
  9. Cost consciousness

For executives, there is also:


  1. Delegation skills
  2. Employee leadership
  3. Employee development


What Are the Benefits of Digital Employee Evaluation Checklists?


An effective peer employee evaluation form should include detailed feedback from managers and colleagues. Paper-based evaluations can be ineffective in many ways. Here are 3 key reasons why you should implement a digital tool for employee evaluation forms in your organization:


1. Cut Your Work Time in Half


Paperwork like scanning, signing, and mailing evaluations can be time-consuming and ineffective. Digital evaluation forms can be done at any time and shared immediately, freeing up time for in-depth analysis and corrective action within the organization. All information is securely stored and accessible anytime you need it.


2. Get More Insight


Tracking the right information across a multitude of documents is a redundant and time-consuming task. With a digital tool, specific information can be tracked and changed at any time, enabling immediate action. Automated reports provide insight into all employee evaluation forms that have been conducted within the company. This way, personnel decisions are never delayed.


3. Strengthen Your Company’s Image


Your reputation should be as forward-looking as your company’s goals. Capturing signatures electronically and reducing bureaucracy among employees increases motivation, transparency, and trust in the workforce.



A supervisor meeting with a subordinate for an employee evaluation

How Do I Write an Employee Evaluation Checklist?


Writing an employee evaluation assessment is perhaps the most important part of the evaluation process, save for the results of its analysis. That’s because coming up with the right questions to ask and the right evaluation criteria can make or break a company. A poorly written one can produce inconclusive results that jeopardize the quality and goods of its services by getting rid of productive team members and promoting underperforming employees. All of that combined can lead to a loss in revenue and dividends later down the line.


  1. Review the Employee’s Job Description

    Knowing the goals and objectives specific to the employee’s role is important to keep in mind while conducting evaluations. You want to be fair and objective about their performance within the company, especially since performance reviews are often tied to salary bonuses and promotions.

  2. Keep the Language Clear and Concise

    Whether it’s a peer review or a self-evaluation, you should write at an eighth-grade reading level, the average literacy level within the United States, according to PIAAC (Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies). If employees do not understand the language in the assessment, the responses will be inaccurate, leaving you with inconclusive data.

  3. Look at Example Templates for Ideas

    Have you ever heard the term, work smarter, not harder? That’s a phrase that also applies here. There’s no need to create an evaluation from scratch when there are a plethora of free online resources available. Lumiform has several premade templates for you to choose from and adapt to your specific needs. You can even create multiple checklists for different company divisions to edit and save for later.

  4. Think of Desirable Behaviors

    Every business has a company culture to think of, and these are the traits that you should look for in your employees. It’s sometimes hard to get an idea of a potential employee’s personality during the hiring process. That’s where an evaluation comes into play. By asking the right questions, you can identify who reflects these desirable behaviors and, in doing so, will ultimately preserve the company’s future. For instance, this could be any personal characteristic that aligns with the company’s objectives and goals. Usually, these traits possess positive undertones, such as optimism, perseverance, motivation, etc.


    Don’t penalize employees for not displaying behaviors that match up exactly with your expectations. Some people are optimistic but lack initiative, while others are exceedingly intelligent but harbor an offputting disposition. The goal in identifying an employee’s strengths and weaknesses is to reinforce desirable behaviors while suppressing undesirable characteristics.

  5. Think of Specific Goals

    Think of specific company goals in terms of how the employee can accomplish them. If your company wants to boost overall sales, then a measurable goal would be implementing a sales quota. Does the employee meet or exceed these expectations? This question evaluates an employee’s performance and, by association, their value to the company.

  6. Write Qualitative Oriented Questions

    Write questions in which concede measurable results. For example, it’s not satisfactory to ask, “Does the employee meet expectations?” What are the specific job expectations, and how can they be measured? Going off the previous example, you can ask each employee how many sales they’ve procured. This way, data will reveal who is overperforming, who is underperforming, and by how much. You can more easily identify areas for improvement with this method of questioning.

  7. List the Job Position’s Tasks and Objectives

    This is probably one of the most basic steps in writing a custom assessment for your company, but it is also vital in assigning credit where credit is due and corrective action where it is not. Make sure you leave space on the form to write down an employee’s name, company ID, and job title. You can write separate evaluations with specific questions addressing each company division. This will increase the form’s accuracy rate and its overall fairness.

  8. Brainstorm Different Ideas

    Most of what you write will probably end up in the wastebasket. That’s okay. It’s more than okay even; it’s expected. Everyone has their own writing method, so don’t be afraid of putting ideas on paper. Keep in mind that not everything you write will be perfect the first time around—that’s why the erasure and the backspace key were invented. So don’t get disheartened, and keep the ideas flowing.


What Are Some Examples of Employee Evaluation Questions?


Writer’s block is a common occurrence when it’s your first time doing something. Maybe you’re left with the feeling of not knowing where to start or what exactly to write. There’s only one way to get over writer’s block: write. But it can also be helpful to see some examples first so that you know you’re on the right track.


  1. Is the employee always on time and adhering to the work schedule?
  2. Does the employee show initiative, take independent action, and generate opportunities for completing the assigned task?
  3. What are the worker’s greatest strengths? Greatest weaknesses?
  4. What can the employee do to be more successful/ productive?
  5. What additional training would serve the employee?

What Are Some Examples of Employee Evaluation Comments?


When writing employee evaluation comments, constructive feedback is key to generating successful results. This cannot be stressed enough. People tend to react poorly to what they perceive as an attack on their character. This reaction is typically seen when comments use inflammatory, opinion-oriented language.


You don’t want to make your employees or peers feel undervalued. That’s not the goal of an evaluation and will have the opposite effect of its intended purpose: continuous improvement. To make sure that doesn’t happen below is an example of what constructive feedback should look like:


John, your enthusiasm for group projects is unparalleled by anyone else on the team. Your high energy is contagious and helps promote a work environment that everyone else is excited to participate in, which is a great quality to have in a leader. However, sometimes you get so excited that I think you are unaware that you speak over other team members. Just yesterday, you interrupted Suzy Jones while she was presenting her ideas about marketing the new hair, skin, and nail vitamins. Your positive attitude is an indispensable part of our team dynamic, but to get promoted to team lead, as we talked about, you’ll have to work on your listening skills and encourage others to promote their ideas.



Use Digital Tool for Employee Evaluation Checklists


Lumiform is a powerful mobile app that allows you to digitize and streamline the employee evaluation process. The accompanying desktop software allows individual employee evaluation forms to be created in a snap.


Afterwards, employees and supervisors can conveniently complete and view the templates via tablet or smartphone – online or offline. This reduces the risk of unanswered questions and data loss. The app guides the user through the employee evaluation checklist and ensures that all points are answered. Afterward, all data is stored securely in the cloud.


Digitize your paper employee evaluation forms with Lumiform, and enjoy the following additional benefits:


  • The flexible form builder helps you turn any custom employee evaluation form into digital checklists in minutes
  • Lumiform offers pre-made employee evaluation templates to help you get started digitally, quickly, and confidently.
  • Using the super intuitive mobile app, employee evaluation can be efficiently conducted between supervisors and employees and recorded goals can be viewed again and again.
  • All results from an employee evaluation are automatically bundled into one report and can be sent to employees and supervisors instantly.
  • Never miss a scheduled employee evaluation again with the reminder feature, and never lose another report with cloud storage.

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Employer handing in her employee evaluation report
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