An employee performance evaluation, or simply a performance review, is a unique process designed to assess and review an employee’s professional performance. In most cases, managers are responsible for conducting employee performance evaluations. Even though every business determines its employee evaluation cycles, most conduct a complete performance evaluation annually, with several check-ins over the year. In addition, many companies conduct evaluations when an employee completes a probationary period.
While most performance reviews consist of you, as an employer, completing evaluations for your employees, some evaluation forms also require self-evaluation of success by your workers.
You can use forms specially designed to evaluate an employee’s performance as accurately as possible. These forms are called employee performance evaluation forms. In addition to using employee evaluation forms to give employees feedback about their performance in the workplace, you can also use the forms to make important decisions about your employees’ futures. For instance, employee evaluation forms can be used for determining promotions, salary raises, and even layoffs.
Free Templates: Employee Performance Evaluation Form
Suppose you are unsure about creating an employee performance evaluation form or need a prepared outline immediately. In that case, we offer free downloadable and customizable templates of employee performance evaluation forms.
With the following templates, you will have everything you need to evaluate without spending your precious time creating evaluation forms. Instead, you can download a form template, customize it, and distribute it to others if needed.
Therefore, every evaluation form can contain different metrics. The structure and format ultimately depend on the goal of the performance review. Some commonly used structures include self-assessment checklists, rating scales, performance tasks, and formal observations. Typically, at least a portion of an employee’s performance evaluation consists of a review of outcome metrics or progress against previously identified goals.
All these features make employee performance evaluation forms incredibly systematic and reliable.
Why Should You Fill Out an Evaluation Form?
As an employer, you probably view employee performance evaluation forms as a chore, but they are essential for the optimal success of the business. There are many reasons for completing an evaluation form, including the ones mentioned below:
Litigation protection
You can often find yourself in inconvenient situations where former employees take legal action against you and your company. When that happens, it is essential to have all the necessary documentation to prove the former employee’s performance in the workplace. In addition, keeping these records protects against litigation, which can benefit you.
Overview of performance
In their most basic form, performance reviews are designed to help you gain insight into the performance of every employee for a given period. Access to that information can help you promote or demote staff members, depending on their input.
Enhanced communication
Highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of employees’ performances and giving feedback is crucial for allowing employees to improve their work and develop as staff members. In addition, you can foster honest and open communication with a detailed employee performance review.
Optimized career progress
You are responsible for your employees’ career progress. Learning about every employee’s aspirations and professional goals can help you individually optimize career goals for every staff member. Performance forms are a perfect opportunity for you to focus on all employee’s unique skills and talents.
Employee engagement review
Engaged employees complete their tasks and duties significantly better than employees who are not engaged or motivated to do their work. Therefore, keeping the staff engaged is vital for companies that want to succeed. Employee performance evaluation forms enable you to review the levels of employee engagement regularly and act when necessary.
Employee morale boost
Performance evaluation forms can boost employee morale by showing employees you care about their progress. Doing so can motivate staff members to continue with their outstanding work. In addition, an employee morale boost can improve the relationship between you and your employees.
Collection of feedback
Evaluation forms are excellent for giving feedback to employees. During the employee evaluation, you can collect feedback about your employees’ performance and use the information to praise their input or give constructive criticism.
Planning of resources
Appraisals and evaluation forms ensure that you manage and allocate resources more effectively. In addition, these processes help you save time, money, and effort.
Effective hiring practices
Employee evaluation forms can work well for you if you want to implement effective hiring practices as an employer. You can improve your hiring practices and hire better candidates by collecting data from the central employee trends or tendencies in lacking specific skills.
How to Evaluate an Employee: Step-by-Step Guide
A step-by-step guide can make the entire process significantly more manageable if you are unsure how to conduct employee evaluations. You can create a practical and valuable employee performance evaluation form by following the steps below:
Establish performance standards
The first step to creating an employee evaluation form is establishing performance standards. Defining performance standards allows companies to outline what employees in different roles are expected to accomplish and how they are expected to work. Setting equal standards for all employees in a specific position is essential.
Set specific goals
The next step is to set the specific goals every employee should accomplish. Contrary to the performance standards, which are universal for all employees holding the same position in a company, goals are set for every employee individually. Since goals rely heavily on the strengths and weaknesses of employees, it is crucial to create specific goals tailored to every employee’s unique skill set.
Select the performance evaluation method
Once the performance standards are established and the specific goals are set, it is time to select the performance evaluation method. There are plenty of methods available, and here you will find more information about the five methods most used for performance evaluation:
- Self-evaluation: One of the best ways to start an employee’s performance evaluation is with a self-evaluation, also known as self-assessment. With a self-evaluation, employees can rate themselves as workers by answering open-ended or multiple-choice questions regarding their job performance. In addition, you can compare the results from your evaluation forms to your employees’ self-evaluation results to make the performance evaluation procedure more effective and transparent.
- 360-degree employee evaluation: The 360-degree employee evaluation method focuses on rating employees by their input in the advancements, whether they were done internally or externally. Furthermore, the 360-degree employee evaluation also contains thoughts and opinions from different department supervisors and peers. That makes this evaluation method highly detailed, hence its name.
- Graphic rating scale: A graphic rating scale uses numeric or text values to rate the team members. The values used commonly correspond to the range between poor and excellent. The results can be portrayed on a graphical scale that all employees understand and know how to read to determine their level of success.
- Developmental checklists: Developmental checklists are perfect if you are using roadmaps for employee development. With the help of these checklists, you and your employees can understand where every team member stands regarding performance, making the developmental checklist one of the most straightforward solutions for your employee evaluation processes.
- Demanding events checklist: The demanding events checklist presents all employees’ positive or negative qualities. This evaluation method is particularly beneficial when employees need to showcase demanding skills and immense expertise.
Determine the actual performance
Determining the actual performance requires you to consistently monitor your employees’ performance over an entire year. This particular step also comes with unique obstacles that should be avoided, such as a poor selection of measurement techniques, the effects of personal bias, as well as work interference during the performance evaluation.
Compare actual and desired performances
You can detect deviations in your employees’ workflow by comparing the actual performance with the desired performance. However, comparing these two features can have different effects. The actual performance can match the desired performance but can also be higher or lower than the desired performance.
Fill out the evaluation form
After collecting all the necessary data, you can complete the evaluation forms with the correct information. Of course, some employee performance evaluation forms are more accessible to complete than others, but that ultimately depends on the outline of the form you choose to implement.
Talk about the results
The results received through the employee performance evaluation form should always be shared one-to-one. All employees should be informed about their results, but that is not all. You and your employees should discuss the issues and potential further ways to improve their performance.
Make the decision
Finally, you need to decide on the future steps that need to be taken to improve the workers’ performance, which may include introducing corrective measures or rewards such as promotions, bonuses, transfers, and others.
Effective Practices for Filling an Employee Evaluation Form
Some additional practices can help you complete employee evaluation forms quickly and easily without decreasing the quality and reliability of the evaluation.
Here are the four primary tips to consider:
Be honest and specific
The best way to provide feedback is by being honest and direct. If you avoid addressing the real issue or approach the issue from an overly diplomatic and considerate standpoint, you will not provide any beneficial results to your employees. That is why it is always better to be forthright with what you have to say to your team.
Do not compare employees
Comparison of employees can quickly turn into unhealthy competition and resentment in the workplace. Therefore, instead of comparing one employee to another, performance should always be compared to the pre-defined performance framework with all the metrics.
Compare performances, not personalities
Although it is challenging not to include personality traits while evaluating an employee, evaluation forms should be oriented toward reviewing employees’ performance and not their personalities. Comparing anything other than performance can lead to employees feeling attacked.
Provide ongoing feedback
Employee evaluation is not a one-time event. Instead, it is a continuous process that must be repeated throughout the year. Although that does not mean you need to evaluate your employees in detail daily, some ongoing feedback can help workers improve their performance and complete their daily tasks more efficiently.
Wrapping Up
Employee performance evaluation forms are an essential tool for any company. They enable employees to keep themselves informed about their professional performance, allowing them to grow as professionals and develop their careers. In addition to making employees better workers, performance reviews can also help you streamline your processes and achieve your productivity goals.
With the templates of an employee performance evaluation form, you can easily collect information and analyze the performance of your employees without spending too much time or resources on creating these forms yourself.