When you employ and manage people, it’s important for you to provide regular feedback.
This is typically done during an appraisal.
You may call them annual reviews, personal development plans, or performance reviews.
Whatever you call it, the purpose remains the same – to review an employee’s performance and behaviour and to provide positive or constructive feedback.
Providing feedback in this way is really important. Employees feel more valued, listened to, and they get to see where there’s room to progress and grow within your business. And for you, the employer, you can reward good work, discuss performance issues, and you benefit from increased engagement and loyalty from your employees.
Despite all of these benefits, lots of businesses don’t hold regular appraisals for their staff.
Maybe because they don’t see the benefit, or they don’t feel they have the time, or perhaps because they don’t feel entirely confident with the process…
So, why bother with appraisals?
When conducted properly, a staff appraisal can be an extremely useful tool for both parties involved.
It’s a process that helps to create good back and forth communication between employee and manager, it strengthens working relationships, and it opens up a regular opportunity to talk honestly about performance, expectation, and development, amongst other things.
Of course, this is when you’re taking the process seriously. If you’re simply doing it to tick the boxes, it may have a detrimental effect on your staff instead.
Appraisals can be the best way to improve employee happiness, motivation and performance.
The most obvious benefit of appraisals is that you can measure and review performance.
With the right structure, you can make sure your employees are working to the required standard, you can identify which employees are performing above and beyond expectations, and you can see who has hit their targets for bonuses, pay rises, or other rewards.
It’s also the ideal opportunity to address any concerns you have over unsatisfactory performance (if it hasn’t yet reached the point of misconduct).
You might use an appraisal to create personal development plans (PDPs) for your people, no matter how they’re currently performing. PDPs help direct, record and measure development. The goals and targets you set should be reached before your next appraisal or given a realistic timescale if the goals are longer or shorter term.
Your appraisals are also an ideal opportunity to identify skill and knowledge gaps and discuss and plan relevant training programmes for improvement or further development.
On the other side of the coin, you can use the opportunity to help your star performers to map out their future career path and goals. This could include identifying the skills that will be required for future roles and planning the training and development that will be useful to start now.
The whole process can help you spot potential that you may not have seen otherwise.
Yet another benefit of appraisals is the opportunity to manage changing roles. As a business grows and changes, naturally so too do the roles within it. Communication over these changes is vital to make sure they are fully understood, and that your people are aware of the new expectations on them, as well as the changing goals and purposes of the business.
And it’s not only individual performance that can be discussed during appraisals. It’s an excellent time to speak privately about group or team goals and expectations for performance and productivity. You’re more likely to garner honest feedback on a 121 basis than in a group setting, and this could be hugely advantageous.
Want to find out more about appraisals?
Whether you’re already doing appraisals, or would like to start – we’ve created a new guide that talks you through how to conduct the perfect appraisal.
Click HERE to be sent our latest guide: The employer’s complete guide to appraisals
If you need a hand with any of this, or anything else when it comes to the people and practices in your business, we’d love to help. We are always happy to debate the pros/cons, dos/don’ts with you so please do talk to us if we can help in any way, we are here to support you. Just give us a call and arrange a free consultation. You can talk to Alison directly on 07967 221595 or email info@enlightenhr.com
