Appraisal Form Template

An appraisal at work is a way of evaluating staff to determine their value to your organisation. The outcome of this review provides the basis for promotions, pay increase and other benefits.

When done correctly, it should form part of an effective performance management system. This will help you measure the progress of your staff.

This post explores how effective performance appraisals can increase employee performance. It also takes a look at how this increase improves their overall engagement.

What is an appraisal at work?

It’s a meeting between you and your employee to discuss their work performance. It also provides you with the opportunity to understand their abilities for further development.

Performance reviews aren’t a legal requirement. However, they’re a great way for you and your staff to have a dialogue about important work issues. They’re also an effective way to measure and manage your employees’ productivity and growth within the business.

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

The purpose of staff appraisals is to measure and improve the performance of your workforce. The desired result is to increase every employees’ potential and value to the company.

How to do a staff performance appraisal

While most employers recognise the importance, not all of them know how to conduct appraisals with an employee.

The first step to 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

Use this information to create an agenda that’ll help guide the direction of the meeting.

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

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

Employee performance appraisal methods

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

While one method may work well for an organisation, it may not for another. It’s important to determine the method that works for your business to evaluate your employee appraisal.

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. This includes areas such as loyalty, judgement, knowledge capacity, etc. Modern methods, however, develop on that. These focus on the evaluation of job achievements.

Traditional performance appraisal methods include:

Rating

List a number of factors and rate them on a numerical scale according to performance.

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.

Essay evaluation

Create a detailed description of an employee’s performance. Include 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 are more common in government departments. Evaluate employees based on various parameters including attendance, leadership, self-expression, responsibility, integrity, etc.

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 developmental 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?

An appraisal form is a tool you can use to assess employee performance. Having a company appraisal form will mean you can evaluate the contributions and achievements of staff within a certain timeframe.

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. As a result, you decide when to conduct them. A typical pattern is to conduct a yearly or quarterly.

One reason it is a good idea to have a critical appraisal form to hand. This way you can  conduct reviews at critical points within an individual’s employment. For example, at the end of their probation. Also, if you have concerns about an employee’s performance, you can refer back to the form.

Appraisal form examples

You should tailor your form to your business. That means that no two appraisal forms look the same. Also, other organisations may choose to use their forms in a different way. For example, one business may utilise an employee self-appraisal form.

Also, the document may look different depending on the role. A senior management performance appraisal form will look different to an entry-level worker, for example.

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

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. 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. Ask all of the questions you feel are relevant to the senior role.

How to use your employee appraisal form

Of course, having a form is just one part of the appraisal. We would advise conducting a meeting with the employee to discuss achievements, concerns, and future development. Together, it may be worth using a rating rubric. 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 can get an average score. This score may tell you whether they’re suitable for future development.

An appraisal should be a discussion too. If the review is entirely one-sided, you may not get an accurate reflection of the individual’s performance. Ask them questions and give them time to answer. Address their concerns if they have them and build a plan to move forward.

Employment law & appraisal forms

What does employment law have to say about appraisals? Not much.

You’re not legally required to keep a simple appraisal form in the UK. There is also no requirement to conduct a review, annually or otherwise. So what is the purpose of them?

You might not encounter an issue until you dismiss an employee for performance issues. Without performance management, or a chance to improve, the staff member could raise a claim of unfair dismissal. You will find it difficult to justify a dismissal for performance without any evidence of a review or appraisal.

Download your FREE appraisal form template

Ready to conduct your review? Our appraisal form sample is based on performance. However, you may prefer an approach based on specific objectives. In this case, you can edit the template to suit your needs.

Download your free employee appraisal form by clicking the link below. Remember, you should use the form in conjunction with meetings. If you need further support with performance management, speak to one of our HR experts today on 0800 470 2856.