Appraisals - advice and your experiences

[cakeboy]

Hi All

Yes it's a appraisal time at our offices.

I know as a good employer I have to do them but I dont particulalry enjoy the process.

In the past I've asked each of the team to fill out a form containing the following;

Which parts of your job do you think you do well?

What areas of your role cause you difficulties and why? b) How can we tackle these issues?

What skills and knowledge do you think you need to gain/improve to do your job better? b) How can we develop these areas and make you better at your job?

How would you like to see your role develop in the next 6/12 months?

What personal work targets would you set yourself for the next 6 months?

Where do you want to be, within the business, in 6m/12months time?

Where do you think the company needs to improve as a company and as an employer.

Please comment on any areas/issues that have not been addressed

I want to overhaul both the document and the way we do appraisals.

Any contributors want to tell me how you do yours and how we best do ours. What works? What doesnt work?

All contributions welcome.

Thanks

 

[ShortCouture]

I have a lot to say (and a lot of experience) on this subject - but first..this is what you have asked the employee to say - but what is your side of the process? what areas do you cover? what is your full process?

they fill this in - then what happens?

 

[cakeboy]

sorry, to answer your question, I will go through the same form (as notes to myslef, pinters to remember etc) and then we sit and discuss each section, getting them to offer their thoughts first. At the end of the process we then usually try to set some targets for the forthcoming period.

Also, I forgot to add, last time we also added a '360 degree' appraisal whereby each employee gave me their thoughts on each of their colleague's strengths and weaknesses. I collated this and where relevant, included it in the discussions (strictly no names).

 

[ShortCouture]

That's a pretty good basic structure - especially the way you structure the conversation with the employee. You want to overhaul the process and docs - so you must be seeing some issues/failings with it.

Can you explain what you think is wroing with it - what is motivating you to change it?

I'm not saying that there is nothing wrong - I want to see what you think is missing so that I can help you fix that.

 

[cakeboy]

My motivation to question what we do is

a) when we sit down to do these I get the feeling 'here we go again, we do the 'appraisal dance' every 6 months because we should'

b) I'm not sure what anyone gets out of them (although the team have previously asked for more appraisals/feedback)

c) we do the appraisal and then it gets forgotten in a week (probably my fault....)

d) Im always trying to look for better ways to do things and as a small business owner I'm always asking myself "am I doing this right?". UKBF helps in that regard.

 

[ccp consultancy]

Its hard to say without seeing the form - if you want to email me a copy and I can give you some feedback / show you ones I have used previously

 

[carolinebrown]

Yes, i have Appraisals - advice and experiences

 

[cakeboy]

CCP - thats the form ^^^^^ up there where I posted earlier

 

[ShortCouture]

no-one likes appraisal time - mainly because they are afraid of what might be said and because it's difficult to come up with answers to those Qs every 6 months.

I like your 'am I doing it right' attitude! The main thing to remember about appraisals is that there should be no surprises! They should be pretty much a summary of what you both already knew/have discussed before. People do want feedback - but they need frequently not just every 6 months. They need to know how they are doing - good/not so good, they need praise, constructive criticism, to know where they fit in the business, what their contribution is and to feel valued.

It's common practice to have a monthly 1 to 1, need only be an hour. Gives both a chance to discuss things that may have not been commented on/discussed/seen until then - and for feedback to be given.

It's very good to talk to everyone every day - not in a structured meeting way - but even a passing their desk chat will help.

You set targets (?) for the next 6 months - goals? tasks? what is fashionably called objectives? Do you make these SMART? Specific, measurable, achievable/agreed, relevant, timed. Ten you ahve to review progress on the objectives -either informally as and when things come up or weekly/monthly depending on the task. There is too much on this subject to put here.

Take this out: Where do you want to be, within the business, in 6m/12months time?

Where do you think the company needs to improve as a company and as an employer..

The first one is quite an intimidating Q to some - they prob just wantt o be in same job but may feel that they have to give a diff answer. You can rephrase it to - is there anything specific that you would liketo achieve in 6/12 months?

The second Q is not about the employee's performance so should not be in their appraisal. But by all means get them to give this feedback all year round.

Do they get a grade with the apprisal? Do you use appraisals to decide wage rises or just to manage performance?

I have some guidance docs that I can send you.

 

[LicensedToTrade]

Do you use appraisals to decide wage rises or just to manage performance?

I should certainly hope not. Pay reviews and appraisals should be conducted as entirely different events and neer the twain shall meet. I've got more to say on this but I'm going swimming because I'm getting to be a bit of a fatty and the water makes me feel like I'm thinner

 

[ShortCouture]

I should certainly hope not. ~~~ I've got more to say on this

so you will come back and say it - yes? I have experiences only from large companies where appraisal gradings were used to determine the % wage rise - almost en mass. I think this is not correct and would like to hear other opinions/experiences.

 

[LicensedToTrade]

so you will come back and say it - yes? I have experiences only from large companies where appraisal gradings were used to determine the % wage rise - almost en mass. I think this is not correct and would like to hear other opinions/experiences.

Yes I will come back and say it . The bulk of my experience is also from large companies, typically international organisations with thousands of employees but the fundamentals are essentially the same. I'll be back in a little while, hopefully a little thinner and porbably a little wetter.

 

[johncor]

How big is your company? Appraisals work well for larger organisations but for smaller companies where you are working with staff on a day-to-day basis it can be destructive than constructive. If your staff don't want them then why bother?

 

[Billmccallum]

How big is your company? Appraisals work well for larger organisations but for smaller companies where you are working with staff on a day-to-day basis it can be destructive than constructive. If your staff don't want them then why bother?

I have to disagree, I have oonly worked in smaller teams, but think appraisals are important for both the employer and staff member.

But I dont like bi-annual/annual appraisal, I much prefer an ongoing system based on monthly team meetings and KPI's, outputs and outcomes.

I find this makes it easier to pick up on problems that may be arising within a team, individual performances and identifying target issues early.

 

[LicensedToTrade]

Right I'm back.

As the previous poster says, appraisals are more often used by larger organisations, particularly where employees have infrequent contact with their line manager. SMEs are much less likely to utilise appraisals but in my opinion they are really missing a trick with this.

As johncor says in SMEs there tends to be much more frequent contact between colleagues and the boss, generally as the hierarchy will have relatively few tiers to it and operations typically take place on a single site.

However, day-to-day contact whilst important is no substitute for a formalised review of an employees development. Yes appraisals can be more destructive than constructive but only when they aren't carried out properly.

One of the biggest reasons that appraisals are dreaded by employees is that they see them as that time of the year when the boss takes them to side and tells them how crap they are at their job and as such why they won't be getting a pay rise. Firstly pay reviews and appraisals should always be handled entirely separately, if you can keep them 6 months apart then all the better. By amalgamating a pay review with an appraisal you run the risk of undoing all of the work achieved during that appraisal if it doesn't come with a pay rise, so don't start problems for no reason.

An appraisal should never be used as an opportunity to chastise employees, it is a rare opportunity for some quality time between an employer/manager and an employee to discuss how it has been going since the last appraisal and what development is anticipated in the near future.

Most appraisals fall flat on their face not as a result of the employees attitude to it but rather the employers attitude. Employees need to feel as though they are being taken seriously so it is important for the employer to make a gesture to support this. Make it clear that you are turning your mobile off, have all of your landline telephone calls diverted to someone else, close the door, sit in a neutral office, don't let anyone interrupt you.

God I could go on...

 

[Atilla]

When i was at a large multi-national, i just kept my appraisal response sheet on file. Opened it up once a year, changed the date and sent it in.
A totally pointless process on their part with suitable responses from the staff.