Purpose of Work Appraisals
Employee appraisals, or evaluations, are assessments of a worker's performance for a given period of time. Employers often assess employees once or more a year. A variety of methods are used, including the traditional top-down manager evaluation and the 360-degree appraisal, where employees receive feedback from colleagues, customers and subordinates, as well as a manager.
Raise the Bar
One purpose of appraisals is to compare an employee's actual performance to his job and work group goals. This not only allows the manager and employee to assess the merits of recent performance, but to also consider new goals. Company growth and employee production are optimized when employees achieve objectives and continue to raise their level of production and performance over time.
Appraisals are really intended to be a part of a company's employee motivation system. By maintaining ongoing development with employees, you communicate the value of their roles. More specifically, managers can motivate by reinforcing strong performance, offering pay incentives, or delivering constructive feedback to address performance gaps. In essence, a manager helps his employees work toward goals and helps them understand areas of strengths and areas where improvement is needed.
While areas of deficiency should be addressed as they arise, appraisals do provide a forum for managers to discuss learning goals with employees. These are goals which target an employee's areas of weakness and training needs to ultimately improve her performance. If an employee struggles with consistent customer service, for example, the manager might discuss options such as more one-on-one coaching or sending the employee to a service training program.
One of the more important purposes of work appraisals is to allow the employer to document an employee's performance. This is useful in making promotion decisions and when demoting or terminating a poor performing employee. Evaluations come in handy when dealing with discrimination or wrongful termination lawsuits, unemployment cases, or union grievances. Formally documented performance reports, especially when signed and acknowledged by the employee, are an important defense tool for employers.
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