Employee Reviews: Meaningful Assessments Come From Feedback and Goal Setting

When conducted well, employee annual reviews are not only a way to document an employee's work performance but can also serve as a growth mechanism for the worker. Far too often, though, these employee annual reviews are performed in a superficial manner, with both the manager and employee gaining little from the process. Some managers feel that it takes too much time to put together a useful annual review, but with a little planning, an effective annual review is easy to attain. Here are some tips for conducting better employee annual reviews:

1. Be honest: It is easy to be honest with a great employee, while much more difficult to tell the poor performer that he or she needs to improve his or her results. In order to make the employee annual review process useful, the manager must be willing to share real feedback with all employees, even if it is difficult to do so.

2. Give actionable feedback: Instead of just saying that an employee is not meeting standards, tell the employee exactly what he steps he needs to take to improve performance. This will give the employee something to strive for, and will also make it easier to measure ongoing performance (making next year's annual review much easier to conduct).

3. Keep track of results throughout the entire year: All too often, managers will only pay attention to the work is completed immediately before the annual review. Managers should keep notes on what the employee has achieved so that all results are included in the review, not just to most recent

4. Provide written feedback: The best employee annual reviews are given in writing and explained in person so that the employee can refer to the review on a regular basis. Prepare what you plan to say to the employee versus what is actually written in the review (especially if you have negative feedback that the employee may not want to hear).

5. Set goals: Great annual reviews not only review the past but also look forward to the future, giving the employee something to look forward to in next year's work. Make sure to set stretching, but realistic goals for the best results.

Finally, managers should consistently be in contact with their employees so that the information provided during the employee annual review is not a surprise. Regular feedback ensures that the employee is not blindsided during the review process (which could actually counteract the review itself).