Performance Appraisal: How Do I Navigate the Process and Follow the Right Steps?

Hi All,

How should I go about the performance appraisal? What procedures should be followed?

Regards,
Usha

Hi Usha,

Performance appraisal/management is a broad area. Let us know what you need in particular. Also, this depends on the kind of company you are currently working for and the organization structure of the same. There are a lot of posts available on this site about this topic; specify the particulars for us to reach you back.

Regards,
Abhi

The basic performance management process is: - Agree and document goals and desired behaviors with the employee. - Review and discuss performance on a regular basis with the employee (weekly/monthly). - Conduct a formal performance appraisal discussion with the employee (quarterly/biannually/yearly). - Agree and document the employee development plan. - Award a salary increment/bonus/reward. - Agree and document new goals and desired behaviors with the employee.

You can find out more about employee performance management at www.businessperform.com/html/employee_performance_management.html

Vicki Heath
Human Resources Software and Resources
www.businessperform.com

Hi Usha,

Performance appraisal is part of the overall Performance Management System (PMS) of an organization. Through the appraisal process, the gap between an individual's agreed performance standards and their actual performance is assessed, and appropriate strategies are drawn for the subsequent performance cycle. This is a useful performance enhancement exercise.

In many organizations, PMS is linked to other systems such as salary and benefits, training and development, and succession planning. I have attached a small PPT for you which you may find useful.

Have a nice day!

Rajesh

Hello Sanjeev, I agree with a lot of what you say, and it is the foundation for many 360 degree appraisal systems. Our experience and the experience of other senior HR consultants that we speak with see some significant risks in linking scores on 360 degree appraisals with salary increases and bonuses. I would say the same holds for linking to promotions and even whether the person will have a job tomorrow.

Where these outcomes are linked to what is a subjective evaluation instrument (yes, being multi-rater it is more “objective”, but essentially it measures people's subjective valuations), we find and hear from others that there is a lot of argument about the validity of the results. Imagine for a moment that your bonus or your job was dependent on some number from a survey. Wouldn't you fight for a favorable outcome. What we find is that in this process, people lose track of the developmental opportunities (How can I use these results to improve?) and focus on the all-important number.

Sanjeev, instead of this method removing favoritism and buttering as you hope, it can and does increase its incidence. The literature talks about how improperly implemented 360 degree appraisal systems lead to “collusion”, where raters and participants get together to promise giving each other higher scores.

Yes, getting feedback from customers, peers, managers, etc is very important, and yes, employees need to get multi-rater feedback using a survey form or via feedback meetings, or whatever. Many companies are now reaping the benefit of multi-rater feedback systems without the inherent risks by splitting the appraisal system in two.

1. Objective, meaningful, measurable and agreed goals are used to determine salary increments, bonuses, promotions etc.

2. Multi-rater feedback is used as a basis for discussions about future behaviors and development opportunities. With the heat taken out of these discussions about “behavior”, the manager and employee are free to now discuss in an open and honest way.

For those who are interested, we have some more information on performance management systems at http://www.businessperform.com/html/...anagement.html

Vicki Heath

Human Resources Software and Resources

http://www.businessperform.com

Hi Mr. Sanjeev,
We appreciate & thank you for sharing such valuable comments on PA.
As per your comments, you have mentioned
"Person whose score is between 3.6-5.5, need a lot of improvement in his work and hence need to given “Functional Training” and cannot be considered for Increment or promotion.
Anybody who scores between 5.6 – 8.0 can be given increment from 1% - 50% of their salary.
Only those whose score is more than 8 should be considered for promotions.
So, for e.g there is an employee who has scored a rating of 7, so how much increment can be given to him.
If there is any specific formulae or any other guidance, please let us know.
Waiting for your reply.
Regards,
Karun Bhatia