02/ 08/ 2005
by Jeffrey Moses
For many employees, few words are as dreaded as "the annual employee review." But for small businesses, meeting regularly with employees in a formal review can be a relatively stress-free, productive activity that helps focus all members of the company toward common goals. Also, employee reviews can serve as a platform for employees to bring forth questions and concerns. This can help increase employee dedication, creativity and job satisfaction. Finally, reviews allow you to evaluate employees for increased responsibilities and future promotions.
The key to successfully implementing formal employee reviews is for you to define exactly what should be accomplished during reviews. You should put the purposes and objectives of reviews in a formal written list. Before conducting a review with an employee, you should prepare by examining the employee's responsibilities, achievements (or lack of) and difficulties (such as excessive absenteeism or lack of team involvement). While reviews among employees should be similar in nature, every review will be different because the record and goals of each employee will be different.
Included in a review could be:
- Performance records of the employee, including analysis of strengths and weaknesses
- Areas of concern by management for the individual employee
- Analysis of the employee's performance in light of stated career goals or desired promotion within the company
- Opportunity for the employee to voice concerns regarding the overall company, management, salary, work schedules, employee relations, deadlines, quality benchmarks and any other areas that pertain to the employee's work or working environment
- Opportunity for employee to state his or her personal goals
- Comments by management regarding the employee's work, attitude and attendance
- Discussion in which the person conducting the review can share the company's vision and goals, and show how the employee fits into these
When discussing an employee's weaknesses in performance, attendance or commitment, it's important to be as specific as possible. Use benchmark measurements when possible, rather than vague and general comments about the employee's work record. When recommending steps for improvement, always use action-oriented suggestions. Again, be specific rather than vague, so an employee will know exactly what is expected of him or her in the near term.
It's usually not necessary to conduct all reviews during the same week or two-week period. This may cause undue, building tension among employees. Instead, reviews can be spread out over a two-month or longer period. Another way to schedule annual reviews is to base it on the date an employee was hired. This will stagger reviews throughout the year and will reduce potential buildup of tension. You can either make a general, company-wide announcement that reviews will be held, or employees can be invited privately and individually to reviews.
Each review should be conducted privately in a relaxed atmosphere, either in a neutral area of the company (such as a boardroom or meeting area), or in your office. What happens or is discussed during a review should be considered as confidential as an employee's health or work record.
The natural tendency of workers is to feel that employee reviews are linked with salary cuts, layoffs or changes in work schedules. Do your best to convey that you see reviews as an opportunity to revise goals and continue moving forward, allowing your employees to relax and consider their review as a positive event.
