Are You Really Impartial in Performance Appraisals?

The very phrase "performance appraisal" can send a shiver through even the strongest employee. Managers, on the whole, do their best to ensure the process goes as painlessly as possible while maintaining strict objectivity throughout. Yet humanity is prone to bias, be it upfront or hidden, which leads to questions of impartiality during the performance appraisal process. When your staff is up for such assessments, you need to be alert to your own reactions and tendencies; even something you don't consider to be important may affect your reaction during the appraisal in ways you haven't thought of.

The biggest hidden tendency that's easiest to spot as it's happening is choosing an unusually high (or low) overall rating for an employee that they may not necessarily deserve simply because they excel-or, conversely, fail to meet expectations-in a key area. The temptation to even out their score across the board because of these specific qualities may be high, but that's the first step to realizing your own biased reactions in such appraisals.

Don't forget the subjectiveness of certain rating systems that don't necessarily take other factors into account. If you say a certain employee's performance was "good" but not "great", why is that? Do you apply the exact same measuring rod to each employee, basing your judgment on the exact same qualities? How can you tell? Without a stricter method of control, such a rating system could easily be abused, even if it isn't consciously.

On the other end of things, some managers are so afraid of giving their employees very high or low ratings that they stay right in the middle of mediocrity, rating everyone as being "average". This is just as bad as going to one extreme or the other; not only does it unfairly rate the employee, who may deserve a far better grade, but those employees who deserve a worse grade are allowed to stay in the company for an undetermined amount of time, bringing down progress and profit and costing you a valuable employment slot in your staff.

There are many more tendencies to watch out for, but the general idea is to be aware of what you're doing at each performance appraisal and have a solid reason as to why you're giving out each rating the way you are. If someone has performed remarkably well, give them credit without ignoring areas where they could improve. If they lack any redeemable quality, don't give them a higher rating just to keep the peace and give yourself less work. Hidden bias is often far more dangerous to a company than bias that's out in the open.