MightyRecruiterPerformance Management: 5 Helpful Tips for Employee Reviews
One task that many managers do not look forward to is employee review. While the task is meant to help employees to remain productive and encourage them to perform their duties in an efficient manner, it tends to strike fear and anxiety in the hearts of managers. Fortunately, the following tips can help to improve any manager’s performance management and help to make it a less stressful task.
Keep Record of Everything
It’s hard to evaluate employees when you can’t recall all of the work they’ve done. A good way to ensure that you are fair and correct in your evaluations is to keep records and documentation of any and all work your employees complete. Not only will keeping documentation ensure that you don’t miss anything, but that documentation can be used as examples and proof to support any criticisms, reviews and accolades you give.
Create a file system in which each employee has his or her own folder. Each time they do something right or wrong, document it and store it in the folder. The same goes for when they do something impressive, need a coaching or have to be spoken to about something regarding their work performance. Keep the files somewhere locked up safe and out of reach and view from prying eyes.
Be Credible
It’s never easy telling workers about their work performance, especially if you need to tell them about areas where they need to improve. No matter how much you feel tempted to beat around the bush or omit information so you can lighten the blow, avoid doing so or you risk coming off as untrustworthy, uncredible and insincere. You want your employees to trust you and the first thing you can do to ensure they will is to be open and honest with them at all times, especially during review time.
When there are performance related issues, you need to make them known so that employees can work to prevent them. Don’t sugarcoat things, even if you think it will hurt their feelings. Remember, it is your job to be their boss/manager, not their friend. Also, sugarcoating things can actually hurt employees in the long run because they won’t understand why or where they went wrong. To help soften the blow, consider relating the issues in a positive way that makes it clear what the problem is and what the employee needs to do rectify it.
Don’t Waste Time
Many managers make the mistake of assuming they have to wait until review time to start the termination process for new employees. That assumption is counterproductive to any organization’s bottom-line. The first one to three months of employment are often referred to as probation or onboarding. This is done to help managers to remember to provide reviews and feedback frequently to help new employees better fulfill their obligations. It does not mean that you have to wait until that probationary period is up to fire someone if they are not performing as expected.
Most new employees tend to work their best and hardest during their first three months on the job. If you have an employee who doesn’t look or act as if they are capable of being productive or fitting in, there is no time like the present to start the review process. If you have provided them with reviews before but they don’t seem to be making the necessary adjustments, you should refocus your performance management efforts on helping them to transition out of the job, your department and on to an opportunity they may be better suited for.
Ongoing Feedback
When it comes to performance management, the frequency at which you perform reviews can really help your employees to be more productive. Your employees may not know when they are performing their duties wrong. To prevent them from getting in the habit of doing things the wrong way or poorly, provide continuous feedback to inform them of what they are doing right and wrong. Meetings should be held regularly so employees can know how their efforts affect the department or organization as a whole so they can make adjustments to improve. If employees know where they stand at all times, the easier it will be for them to communicate and seek out assistance when they need it or feedback.
With these tips, performance management no longer has to be a task that you dread. Instead, it can be a positive, insightful and productive process that will benefit everyone.
Mighty Recruiter has many resources and information for you to use to improve performance management within your organization.