Quarterly Performance Appraisal: Seeking Feedback and Sharing Experiences

Hi,

We have introduced a Quarterly performance appraisal system in our organization since the beginning of this year. We are yet to realize the complete benefits of the same. I have attached the same for your review or use. If it helps you, I am happy. If you have any suggestions, they are welcome.

Regards,
Praveen.

Hello Praveen, That's a nice straightforward appraisal form that seems easy to use.

My only two questions are:

(1) Your evaluation factors appear to me to mix normative and criterion referenced anchors. Your form has the following:

PART II EVALUATION FACTORS

I. Rate the sub-factors that are pertinent to that position according to the following:

1. Below Average

2. Average

3. Good

4. Very Good

5. Excellent

The term “Average” is norm referenced, as it compares performance with other employees in the group. However, the terms “ Good”, “Very Good” and “Excellent” are criterion referenced as they compare performance with an objective standard. You may get unstuck in a situation where the group average performance is good or excellent. In this situation, how would a supervisor rate an average employee? If you want your appraisal ratings to be “objective”, I suggest its best to stick with all criterion-referenced anchors on your form.

(2) I notice that you don't have any provision on your form for employee comments. You may have a good reason for this. In many cases, allowing employees to add comments gives them some stake in the process and may improve their morale as it gives them a voice.

All in all, I think you have a great form.

Vicki Heath

Human Resources Software and Resources

http://www.businessperform.com

Your form seems adequate for what you have set out to do. We have quite a few useful things to learn from it. However, our real learning experience will come from your describing to us how you will benefit from and sustain a quarterly appraisal process.

An appraisal process requires a sizable investment of time and good temperament on the part of both the appraiser and the appraised. Experience suggests that only companies that can afford huge overhead costs may be able to afford frequent appraisals. Perhaps, your company's circumstances are quite different. It would add to our collective experience if you can enlighten some of us on why you opted for a quarterly appraisal system and how you justify its cost against the benefits. I know of situations in which a company switched over from a half-yearly appraisal cycle to an annual one to improve overall productivity and employee wellbeing.

Hi Praveen,

Good job! However, I am having a couple of questions:

1. KRAs are at the bottom end. Recommendations as part III - what is the basis on which the recommendations are being made? Is it based on KRAs or only the factors you have cited in part II?

2. Achieving KRA - are the factors cited in part II complementing the KRAs decided by the job holder and supervisor? I guess you have mentioned the "others - please specify" as the answer to this - but I just thought of confirming the same.

3. The signatures appearing at the end - is it confined to objective setting only or after every review as well as recommendations? If recommendations are accepted and incorporated, do you have provision for mentioning the same (for example, the training programs attended) which will enable the evaluator to validate the performance easier than trying to recap whether the employee had carried out the recommendations or not?

These were my thoughts. I guess the competencies would have been defined and made available to the managers.

Cheers,

Rajesh B

9845841000

Hi Praveen,

I have gone through your template of the Performance report. Good work. I am sure this template will suit your organization's structure, but I have a few suggestions:

Firstly, please include a section for the Appraisee as well, as they will have reasons for their performance in each quarter.

Secondly, it is not clear what the basis of the rating will be. I think you need to work on that.

This will help me a lot in revising my template for performance review.

Thanks & Regards,
Gunjan

Dear All,

Thank you for your feedback.

I made a mistake by not explaining the process with which we have implemented the same. Let me go through the methodologies we have planned to follow.

At the outset, this form is divided into four parts, viz.:

Part 1: General - This part contains information regarding the employee.

Part 2: Evaluation Factors - These are the various factors used to evaluate every employee in the organization. We have allocated points on a scale of 1-5 for the five sub-factors mentioned. Some managers suggested using terms like Average, Good, Very Good, etc., instead of points, but in our department, these terms correspond to a scale of 1-5.

Part 3: Recommendation - This section is for the respective managers/team leads to provide at the end of each quarter. It serves as a summary for the development to be undertaken in the next quarter.

Part 4: KRA's - This page is for KRA's (Key Result Areas).

We initiated the process at the beginning of the year with the KRA's first filled in by each manager in discussion with their respective employees. While it wasn't as smooth as we wanted it to be, we managed to complete it.

At the end of the first quarter, we have asked every manager who set the KRA's to evaluate their employees based on the same. As rightly mentioned by HoJha, doing this quarterly is challenging due to project pressure on individuals. However, we aim to achieve the target this time and may consider changing it to half-yearly in the future.

With around 55 employees in our engineering consultancy, we needed to fine-tune the working mindset to adapt to the market's pace. Quarterly appraisals were chosen to help employees stay focused and quickly adapt to change.

While the form provides a cumulative appraisal, it leans towards the manager's perspective, even though it involves a one-on-one discussion between the manager and the appraisee. To address this imbalance, we have an annual one-page self-appraisal by each employee and a reverse appraisal where each employee evaluates their reporting boss.

We are gradually working towards implementing the 360-degree performance evaluation.

I hope I have addressed some of the questions raised. If I missed anything, please let me know, and I will try to answer it.

Regards,

Praveen

Thank you, Praveen, for your detailed description of the conditions in your workplace. In your case, half-yearly appraisals may not be so cumbersome until your staff strength grows. The frequency of appraisals can also depend on the time schedule of the projects. If a majority of them are medium-term projects, extending beyond half a year, a higher appraisal frequency can be substituted with good project management methods. It will yield similar results. But if most of your projects do not extend beyond a quarter of a year, then the strategy to have quarterly appraisals may work for you.

Dear Praveen,

I think changing certain parameters can also be used for conducting performance review discussions after every quarter.

Sara