Employee Appraisal

Appraisal of employee is the periodical process ofreviewed both, by subordinate and his supervisor.
reviewing his/her performance in specific areasFirst, employee review himself, grading his own
versus predefined standards. This appraisal issuccess, the way he see it. After that, his
initiated, supervised and collected by HR, butsuperior is putting grades on results and activities,
essentially is conducted by supervisor with hisand giving feedback to his subordinate. Basically
subordinate.the outcome of the whole process is a good basis
There are several steps in the annual cycle offor next year Appraisal process. This is logical,
appraisal. In January the appraisal process startsbecause objectives of companies do not change
with setting of goals for employees that arethat drastically. On the other hand, the
covered with appraisal process. The Appraisal iscompetence development is not something that
split in two main areas:requires a few days or months or even a few
- Objective setting - target, specified andtrainings. It is rather tough task for somebody to
measures, for different areas. These targetsdevelop his weak spots, and it usually takes
depends on position and business priorities, andseveral years for ambition person to obtain a
can be, for example, Revenue, Sales Volume,visible progress in his areas identified as gaps, or
Cost Control, Customer Satisfaction, Distributionto put it in more polite way - "areas for
Efficiency, ...improvement".
- Competence Development ( activities forAppraisal should be created on annual level, both
development of specific skills, identified throughObjectives and Competence Development.
Gap Analysis ). For every skill that developmentGenerally Appraisal process should be incentivized
need has been identified the development plan isthrough annual bonus system. ( More under
created with main elements: Competence to beRewarding Article, within HR section. )
developed, Skill to be Developed, Activities to beAppraisal process should be cascaded down
conducted, and Example of activities.top-down, until certain level, normally first
Competency model can be different, so it is up tosupervision level. To go below it is management
each company to decide which model to adopt.decision, and can have sense in some
But the common thing for all models is that theyorganizations, but not in all. To go to the bottom
should have Core Competency Model (would not create real effect, but bureaucratic
Leadership, Judgment, Teamwork, ... ) as well asconfusion.
Functional ( e.g. for Sales those are NegotiationThe most important thing in this process is
Skills, Communication Skills, Planning Skills, ... ).commitment of all leaders of the process, and
After setting objectives it is recommended tothat goes top down. If is not conducted in a valid
have periodical reviews, e.g. quarterly, in order theway, it turns to be happy sheet filled formally to
follow up the process, to be able to correctsatisfy the procedure or to justify a giveaway
development in case that is not satisfactory. Atbonus at the end of period.
the end of year, all scores and activities areAppraisal process is a powerful managerial tool
assembled in the official form, and mutuallyand it should be treated as such.