Reviewing employee history before a performance evaluation is a critical part of the evaluation process. In preparing for a performance evaluation meeting, one of the main determinants of your evaluations’ effectiveness is the quantity and quality of the performance-based information you gather. This information provides the basis and support for the evaluations that are given and the comments you provide. If the information is weak or unproven, the same can be said about your assessments.
In any business, numerous resources can provide important performance-based data. Your notes about your employee’s production are at the top of the list. Still, several resources beyond your notes provide additional information about your employees’ performance and give your evaluations additional impact.
Review last year’s evaluation
Assuming your employees worked for you or another manager the previous year, an important first step is to take a look at last year’s evaluation. Presumably, that evaluation contained areas in which employees need to demonstrate some improvement. Identify those areas and the possible sources of such deficiencies and take them into account when carrying out this year’s evaluation.
For example, if a particular performance problem is interfering with an employee’s effectiveness, it would be beneficial to know if it is a new development or a problem evident last year. If it is a new development, it can be addressed in the performance evaluation, and some strategies can be offered to correct it.
Check your notes
When you spend regular time on the floor with your employees, you are in the perfect position to observe their work and provide them with the training, feedback, guidance, and support they need to do their job well. Your face-time with them also allows you to gather data on all aspects of their performance.
Your notes do not need to be a detailed treatise. They can be a list that includes the dates, some words that describe the incidents, and some other words that describe their impact. When the time of the annual evaluation arrives, these notes will provide you with accurate first-hand information about your employees’ performance throughout the course of the evaluation period.
If you trust your memory for all this information, you probably will not remember exactly what happened, when it happened, and who did what to whom, especially over the course of a year, so accurate note-taking is recommended.
Reviewing the files
As part of the access process and the collection of a wide range of information on your employees’ performance during the year, take a look at the files of each employee. The file can contain important pieces of performance-related data that can improve and complete the information that has already been gathered.
If other managers have contact related to work and relationships with their employees, you can gather additional information for evaluations by discussing your employees’ performance with them. Do not forget to ask your own manager.
Review of evaluations
If your company’s evaluation process includes self-evaluations, or if you have chosen to include them in the process, now is the time to take a look at them. The same applies to 360-degree feedback if your company uses it. When reviewing your employees’ self-assessments, the first step is to take a look at how your employees approached this assignment. Employees who are careful, thorough, and detailed in their approach to work will demonstrate these characteristics in the way they complete their self-assessments. At the same time, employees who are somewhat careless will reflect these attitudes in this assignment.
If your company includes 360-degree feedback in the evaluation process, this is the time to review the results. This data (obtained from a series of anonymous individuals, such as co-workers, managers, colleagues, customers, and others) can provide a good amount of additional information regarding its employees’ performance and efficiency competencies.
Regardless of your role in the evaluation process, if your company uses 360-degree feedback, it is helpful to take the votes into consideration when you are establishing a development plan with your employees.
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