How to Provide an Employee Performance Review

Are you a supervisor who has to review employee performance? Haven't ever performed an employee review before? Well, below are some tips for performing an effective employee performance review, even if the review of the employee is less than stellar.

1. State only facts, not opinions

When reviewing an employee's performance, you want to be sure you have facts to back up any statement you make about their performance. Avoid using phrases such as: it seems to me, I think that, in my opinion, etc. Statements such as this may potentially make the employee feel as though you simply don't like them and they will not take the review of their performance seriously.

Point out only those issues that affect job performance, and back up what you say with facts or examples the support your statements. Never make a performance review personal.

2. Provide documentation

If you have examples of quality or sub-par work, show the employee, and then provide suggestions for improvement. Copies of reports, documents, emails that support your claim of errors should always be shown.

If an employee is consistently late to work, use time cards to show proof of this so the employee cannot argue that it's not as bad as it seems or state that it isn't true.

3. Don't make it personal

Remember always, you are reviewing the employee's performance on the job, not the employee themselves. Personality should only be addressed if it is in direct relation to a personality conflict with another employee or document-able poor attitude toward job duties. What an employee does on their off time, away from the job, is none of your concern and should not reflect on their performance or their evaluation / review.

4. Always offer suggestions for improvement

Unless you are terminating the employee, if you must say something negative about job performance or attitude, it is important to always provide guidance and suggestions for expected improvement. You cannot hold an employee accountable for what they don't know, and a performance review is a good way to tell them where they are lacking, but you can't expect them to change if you don't tell them what you expect.

5. Always say something positive

Unless you are terminating the employee, there must be something positive you can say about their performance. In fact, if there's not anything positive to say about their job performance, the employee shouldn't be employed there. Telling the employee you are reviewing the positive things they do on the job encourages them to do more positive things and gives them a good indication of what expected behavior and performance is.

Additionally, praise for a good job is highly motivating and rewarding, and criticism, even if constructive is a hard blow. If you only point out the negative, the employee may not take the entire review constructively and may get bogged down on focusing only on the negative things.

6. If the performance review uses a numerical scoring, be consistent, but fair

Giving all 5s or all 1s is not consistent nor accurate. If you are telling an employee they have performed poorly, it makes no sense to give a high numerical rating on that item, and if you are telling them they performed well, then you should score them higher on those items. The scores should match the coaching or comments you are providing about their overall performance on each topic.

Too many employers simply score right down the middle on all things, and this is a frequent complaint of employees during a performance review. If you can score from a 1-5, but give all threes down the middle, but some things they did well on and others they did not, the employee will be confused. Ratings should match what you say about their performance.

7. Keep the review confidential

The employee performance review should be between the supervisor, human resources or personnel and the employee only. Other employees should not have access to or information about the performance review of a coworker.

8. Base the performance review on the employee's job skills and performance, not by comparing them to other employees

If the employee does a good job, but perhaps not as efficiently as another employee in a similar job, they should not be penalized on their performance review for this. Their job performance should be based on and compared to only their job description and duties and how well they perform compared to those expectations, not compared to another employee's performance.

9. Compare the current performance review to past performance reviews in order to show improvement or deficiencies

After you have finished your performance review, it's a good idea to then look at previous performance reviews in order to discuss with the employee any areas where they have improved or weakened. It's important that your performance review be based only on their current performance, but tracking past performance is important for tracking progress.

10. Privacy

Be sure to always do a performance evaluation in complete privacy. Don't do it in an open hallway, office, or cubicle. This is both for the benefit of the employee being reviewed and the other employees and will cut down on workplace gossip.

Employee performance reviews are a great way to track progress, receive praise, obtain constructive criticism, and learn how to perform their jobs better and more efficiently. In our busy work days, sometimes we don't find the time to compliment or coach employees when it is needed, so a performance review can help make sure that happens. When a performance review is handled properly, it can be a learning and rewarding experience for both employer and employee.