Here at Achievant we have just completed our annual performance appraisal time.  And as a human resources service provider, we work very hard to practice what we preach. 

So consequently we conduct focal point reviews (that means everyone is reviewed at the same time) annually and utilize 360 performance evaluations for our senior team.  If you’ve never done a 360 and are interested in learning more about how they work, give me a call or send me an email. 

I also am a big supporter of focal point reviews. Although initially changing to this format can seem overwhelming, it actually makes things easy.  I see the main benefits as:

• It gets all the pain over with one time of the year rather than a slow death throughout the year
• Makes from a much easier comparison, or ranking, of employees if they are all evaluated a the same time
• Managers show more effort in doing the reviews because it is an activity that everyone in the organization is working on at that time as opposed to just one more item on my “to do” list. 

I am a big believer that the performance appraisal “process” is much more important than the “form”, although that is typically where companies focus their attention.  And like most things in life, you will only get out of this process what you put into it. 

Here’s what I think the process should look like.  HR launches the Salary Administration process with an email like this -

To:          Management

From:     Sue McMillen

Date:     December 1, 2007

Re:         2008 Salary Administration

It is time to begin preparing for the 2008 Salary Administration process.  We have prepared the following timeline to ensure that the performance appraisals, and subsequent increases, will be processed in a timely fashion. 

We are offering two training sessions on the Performance Planning Process:

 January 17^th                                        January 19^th

10:00 a.m. – Training Center              1:00 p.m. – Downtown

This class will be beneficial to both new supervisors and anyone needing a refresher.  No need to register in advance.  Remember that performance appraisals are often used as a legal document in employment matters.  Be sure to:

·        Provide specific comments to support your rating in every category

·        Type and spell-check the document, do not hand write

·        Be sure the evaluation summarizes the employee’s performance for the entire year, not just recent performance. 

Your HR rep would be happy to assist you in writing difficult appraisals or to review them for you.  Please note that the self-evaluation is now included as a section in the appraisal form instead of being a separate document.   It is the expectation of our company that every employee will receive performance feedback on a timely basis.