Performance Appraisal Review Template

Undertaking an appraisal with one of your employees is a way of evaluating your staff to determine their value to your organisation. As a performance management strategy, appraisals provide the basis for promotions, pay increases, and other benefits.

When undertaken correctly, appraisals form part of an effective performance management system, which will ultimately help your organisation measure its profitability, as well as the progress of the staff under its employ.

What is a performance review? 

A performance review or appraisal is a meeting, typically held between line managers  and employees, to discuss work performance. It also provides your management team with the opportunity to understand your workers’ abilities, helping them plan further career development pathways.

Performance reviews aren’t a legal requirement. However, they’re a great way for you and your staff to engage in a dialogue about important work issues.

Objectives of employee appraisals include:

• Defining employee’s roles and responsibilities
• Identifying strengths and weaknesses
• Determining compensation and pay packages
• Providing performance feedback to a staff member
• Receiving feedback from the employee
• Improving communication

How to use an appraisal form template 

Whilst most employers recognise the importance of appraisals, not all know how to conduct them with employees. To make the process easier, a performance review template can guide you in carrying these out, which Croner can provide.

The first step to take when conducting an appraisal is planning.

You’ll need to the following:

• Data relating to the employee’s performance
• Notes from their previous review meeting
• Information on future goals
• Objectives to set

Once you have all the relevant data, use this information to create an agenda that will guide the direction of the appraisal meeting.

During the meeting, you’ll discuss their challenges and successes.  This part should include information on how an employee can improve their performance to reach targets set by the business.

The focus of the staff appraisal process should be on the future development of the staff member. It’s important to draw up an action plan for how they can meet their individual targets as well as contribute to overall company goals.

Employee performance appraisal methods

There are various methods with which organisations use to measure the performance of their employees, and they each have their own strengths and weaknesses.

Whilst one method may work well for an organisation, it may not for another, making it important to determine the method that works best for your business.

In their 1997 book Managing Human Resources, George Strauss and Leonard Sayles divide the methods into two categories:

1. Traditional methods
2. Modern methods

The traditional method rates an individual’s personality traits, including areas such as loyalty, judgement, and knowledge capacity. However, modern methods tend to focus on employee achievements within their role.

Traditional performance appraisal methods include:

Rating

List several factors and rate them on a numerical scale according to performance, such as attendance, productivity, attitude etc…

Forced choice method

Provide employees with ready-made statements about an employee that they can only answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to.

Checklist method

List employee traits in the form of statements with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers. Upon completion, send it to HR or a senior manager for evaluation and completion.

Essay evaluation

Create a detailed description of an employee’s performance that includes details of their relationship with co-workers, strengths and weaknesses etc.

Critical incidents method

Record critical behaviours of each employee in relation to performance. Take these results into consideration when evaluating performance or considering promotions and bonuses.

Confidential method

These can be more common in government departments, where you should evaluate employees based on various parameters including attendance, leadership, self-expression, responsibility, and integrity, to name a few.

Modern performance appraisal methods include:

Management by objectives

Work with employees to set goals and performance standards. Compare the goals achieved for the given period to the goals originally agreed upon. Take steps to improve employee performance and conduct reviews periodically.

Assessment centre method

Measure the organisational, interpersonal, and planning ability of employees. This helps determine the training and career development needs of your staff.

Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS)

Use qualitative and quantitative data to rate employees. The process compares their performance with a similar numerical rated behaviour.

Other modern performance review methods include the 360-degree method and human resource accounting.

What is an appraisal form template? 

 An appraisal form template is a tool you can use to assess employee performance by following an already set out plan. Having a performance reviewal template will mean you can evaluate the contributions and achievements of staff within a certain timeframe and follow guidelines set out for you.

If your form is well-structured, it will highlight career development opportunities as well as areas to improve. This means you can base promotions on results and plan staff advancement within your teams.

When should you use a staff appraisal form?

There is no legal timeline for when you should carry out an appraisal, meaning it is up to your own discretion when deciding how and when to conduct them. A typical pattern is to conduct them yearly or quarterly.

Having an appraisal form to hand ensures you can conduct a review at any time during the individual’s employment. For example, at the end of their probation. Also, if you have concerns about an employee’s performance, you can refer to the appraisal form template.

Appraisal form examples

You should tailor your form to your specific business needs and goals, which means that no two appraisal forms should look the same. The appraisal form may also look different depending on the role, and a senior management performance appraisal form will look different to an entry-level worker version.

The download at the bottom of this page is a standard, simple appraisal form. However, we’ll explore a few alternative options here, such as:

Self-appraisal form for constructive feedback

You can use this type of form on its own, or in conjunction with a regular appraisal form. Ask questions, such as:

• What are your main accomplishments this year?
• Which parts of your job do you do best, and which do you struggle with?

The self-appraisal form gives the employee the opportunity to raise concerns and self-evaluate. In doing so, they might highlight issues you weren’t even aware of.

Appraisal form for a potential promotion

In this document, you’re really looking for applicability to a new role within your company to improve staff retention and engagement. As such, you should ask questions such as:

• Will they need further training?
• Do they have the appropriate experience?

Remember, the appraisal itself isn’t the decision, but an information-gathering exercise. So, it’s a great opportunity for you to ask any relevant questions about the new role and the employee’s suitability for it.

How to use your employee appraisal form

Having a template is just the first step of the appraisal process, so we would advise conducting a meeting with the employee to discuss achievements, concerns, and future development. It may be worth using a rating rubric together with the appraisal meeting to obtain a clearer view of your employee’s progress. A common rating system is the 5-point rating scale:

• 1 = Poor (consistently fails to meet expectations)
• 2 = Fair (frequently fails to meet expectations)
• 3 = Good (usually meets expectations)
• 4 = Very Good (frequently surpasses expectations)
• 5 = Excellent (consistently surpasses expectations)

At the end of the review, you will have an average score that could help tell you whether the individual is suitable for future development.

An appraisal should not only be a performance review, but a discussion with the employee too. If the review is entirely one-sided, you may not get an accurate reflection of the individual’s performance, nor their insights on any areas of improvement that you as the employer could work on. If you ask them insightful questions, listening carefully to their answers, you can address any concerns and formulate a plan to move forward in a positive manner.

Employment law and appraisal forms

What does employment law have to say about appraisals? When it comes to legal guidelines, there isn’t much.

It’s not a legal requirement to keep a simple appraisal form in the UK, nor is there one to conduct reviews, annually or otherwise.

However, without performance management, or a chance to improve, staff members could raise claims of unfair dismissal or an employment tribunal, making the appraisal a valuable insurance against claims against your business. You might not even be aware of an issue if you don’t follow the process of an appraisal, and you will find it very difficult to justify a dismissal for performance without any evidence of a review.

Download your FREE appraisal form template

Ready to get to grips with performance management? Our performance review template will help you to analyse and evaluate your employee’s performance. You can edit the template to suit your needs, too.

Download your FREE template by clicking the link below. Remember, Croner are here to help you with your people management, and we have experienced and knowledgeable consultants that are ready to step in and support you. Why not give our team a call today on 0808 501 6651?