Understanding Performance Reviews: How Do You Conduct Fair Appraisals?

Hi Everyone,

Please help me in understanding how performance reviews are conducted. Additionally, I would like to know the process for conducting appraisals within an organization. How can I assess an employee's performance during an appraisal? Please provide details on the parameters to consider.

You could have given sufficient information while raising this query. Are you a student or a professional? If the latter, then what is the nature of your industry? How many employees are there in your company? What is your designation? If you are from HR, then do you work under an HR Manager and so on.

Performance Appraisal Process

Performance Appraisal is not an event. It is an ongoing process that has to be repeated every quarter or half-year. It appears that you do not have a proper policy on Performance Appraisal (PA) well in place. When employees join the company, during induction itself they should be told when their appraisal will take place. The salient features of the policy could be as below:

- Appraisal may be done quarterly. An appraisal cycle of one year is too long. Nevertheless, a salary hike may be done as of 1st April or 1st Oct.
- For employees who join in between, when their first PA will take place can be decided in the policy.
- The percentage of salary hike should be linked to the score of the PA.

The important point is that PA concentrates only on the individual performance. We need to go beyond and measure the business performance. For this, you need to have a well-designed policy on Performance Management System (PMS). There was a query in this forum on PMS. I have replied to this post. Click the following link to refer to the reply:

https://www.citehr.com/511936-pms-company.html

Though the heading of the link is for an IT company, the contents are applicable to all industries. In the above link, you will find several other links. Go through all the links patiently. It will improve your awareness of the subject.

For further doubts, you may call me on my mobile number [Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons].

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Dear Ms. Surabhi, Your query is important and interesting.

Performance Review Methods in the Eighties and Nineties

In the earlier days of the eighties and nineties, we, as management, used to sit for a day with a list of employees and start marking A, B, or C. Then HR used to calculate the amount based on the applicable slab for that particular grade of employee. The opinions of the reporting officer, divisional officer, HR, and head are deciding factors. The advantage is that it is fast and rewarding for deserving employees, but it is less data-based and more based on gut feeling.

Self-Appraisal Method

The second method used by companies is the self-appraisal form. Ten points are ranked first from 1 to 10 by the appraisee himself, then by his boss, and then by the head in front of both, accompanied by a debate/discussion for 10 minutes. This gives satisfaction to all three. Data about absenteeism is provided by HR. Achievements and failures are provided by the reporting officer. In case something is left out, the appraisee himself points it out so that there is no partiality, and at least the truth and facts are put on paper in front of the panel. Theft of credit is avoided, and the reporting officer is always fearful of that. The examples of the 10 points are attendance, punctuality, behavior with peers, obedience, learning ability, attitude, responsibility, leadership quality, suggestions for productivity increase, Kaizen, cost-saving, etc.

Challenges of Linking Appraisal to Tangible Results

Too much linking of appraisal to tangible results alone may pollute the working atmosphere, as improvement in one area may be due to a failure in another and depends on who is more powerful, not on who is more competent or honest. Some people steal the Kaizen of others and manipulate numbers. Management has to filter this and develop the capability to do this; otherwise, it brings great unrest and dissatisfaction in the organization.

Regards

Hi Dinesh,

I am working in an IT company where the company size is not more than 10 employees. Moreover, I am the only HR person here. My boss has asked me to provide details on how to appraise the employees. Since this is an IT firm, please advise me on how to do this practically as I only have theoretical knowledge on the subject.