Employee Dissatisfaction with Appraisal Results: How Should HR Address This Issue?

Handling Employee Dissatisfaction with Appraisal Results

If an employee seems dissatisfied with the appraisal result, what should be the next step for HR? What is the best practice in these kinds of cases? Management does not wish to have disgruntled and demotivated employees. Please suggest the way forward.

Thanks.

Before you impose any decision on staff, you need to call both the staff and the manager for an open discussion to find out the reason. The manager's rating may be based on personal bias instead of annual performance, or it may not be. Therefore, you need to carefully analyze the situation.

If the staff is still dissatisfied, then approach management. Provide them with a factual report based on the open discussion and seek their opinion or decision. Convey the same to the staff.

I hope these suggestions may help you to some extent in resolving the issue.

Regards.

Also, this employee did not revert immediately after the results but has come back with this email one month post the appraisal results. Do we still call for the open discussion?

I totally agree with Shalini. You may call him to join the discussion, regardless of how long it has been since he appealed. Additionally, I would like to share a book with you that I hope will provide a better understanding of the performance appraisal system.

Thank you.

Regards,

There can be many reasons for discrepancies in appraisals. These can include:
a) Manager's prejudiced mind
b) Personal bias
c) Recent actions or activities that may have influenced the appraiser.

Therefore, it is essential for HR to facilitate open discussions between the appraisee and appraiser, summarize the findings, and present them for the Reviewer's consideration before final approval by the CEO/MD.

Thank you,
R K Nair

There are many instances where an organization decides the maximum yearly benefit that can be given to its employees, and it may not match the expectations of the appraisee. First of all, one needs to look into what exactly is making the employee unhappy. Is it the process or the outcome? If the process and parameters fixed by HR are not followed, then the appraiser should be held responsible. However, if the policy does not allow benefits as expected by the appraisee, then probably the employee should be made aware of that.

First, you can identify whether employees are dissatisfied with either the process or the results. The second thing is, after completing the appraisal process, you should have a review meeting with the appraisees. This meeting will provide them with detailed knowledge of why the ratings or results are as they are.

Agree with Shalini, and it's important for the Reporting Lead to justify why such a rating was given, and the Manager should remain consistent. A lot of problems arise when the Manager and the Lead are not in sync with each other.