Performance management has taken a new turn with self-appraisals. Here, employees evaluate their own performance, which forms the basis for their final assessment.This technique effectively balances out the managerial appraisal, apart from encouraging employee participation and commitment. But, self-reviews are also littered with pitfalls, as the questions do not always generate honest responses. Also, as Harold Fethe, an organisation consultant points out, “When sel f-assessments are compared with either supervisory assessments or peer assessments, research has not shown any straightforward correlations.” Therefore, it is vital to develop structured and consistent self-evaluation questionnaires.
To get reliable input
The first step is to decide the ‘competencies’ or ‘rating factors’ that will be used to evaluate performance. This is based on what the company values and how it decides who is doing a good job. Some sample competencies can range from problem solving, decision-making, teamwork and results, to even something as simple as ‘completes paperwork on time’. This will form the criteria that should be addressed in the appraisal questions. But, do ensure that the standards tie-in with the job description and what the employee actually does on the job!
You can either ask the staff to complete the same form as their managers (probably printed on a different coloured paper). Or, create a customised survey for self-assessment where the employees have to respond to isolated categories.
The questionnaire format will depend on the industry type, organisational structure, company culture and total number of employees. In big companies, you may also need to design separate forms for different clusters of employees based on their hierarchy/skill/education levels or designations/responsibilities.
The form should seek relevant information about:
• Perceived strengths/weaknesses, achievements, areas of greatest development potential
• Areas where the employee went wrong, has problems or requires improvement
• Areas in which greater experience/training/assistance is desired
• Aspects of the work that an employee likes/dislikes
• Additional projects/tasks an employee would like to work on
• Changes or suitable action that would help improve performance
• Immediate goals as well as long-term aspirations
• Other suggestions or recommendations
In addition to the above, self-appraisal forms can also ask about:
• Top job priorities, duties and responsibilities as the employee understands them
• Elements of the job that he finds interesting/difficult
• Factors that impacted his performance
• Tasks or projects that were not successful
• How supervisors/co-workers can help employee
The self-review can have a combination of open-ended questions and Yes/No or multiple-choice answers. Always provide the option of ‘Don’t know’ or ‘Refuse to answer’. It can also ask employees to rank certain factors as say, 1-5 or rate themselves as ‘Exceeds expectations’, ‘Meets expectations’ or ‘Below expectations’.
Supporting statements for various evaluations in the form of concrete illustrations and specific examples can be asked for. This will compel them to think carefully and can also catch out boasts or lies.
Industry experts suggest that the concerned manager should meet with the employee prior to the self-appraisal and guide him on how he should rate himself. They can even go over a sample form together to gain better clarity. This will help the employee to feel comfortable and not threatened by the evaluation.
You can also establish a due date for submitting the self-review, if needed. The methods of evaluation can be factor comparison, forced choice, distribution or weightage.
After asking the employees how they view their own performance and analysing the data, do follow-up by discussing suggestions, setting corresponding goals and working on them. For this you have to be open-minded, receptive and willing to work out a performance development plan.
Watch out
All said and done, managers should still keep in mind that all employees cannot remain objective and a bias is likely to creep in. They may either be unable to unflinchingly point out their mistakes or fear negative action. Then again, while many employees tend to inflate their own ratings, some may even be modest about their achievements or hesitate to take due credit. It is essential to compare employees’ personal perceptions of performance with results of evaluation by a superior.
Therefore, self-reviews have limited functionality and cannot be used as a standalone system of performance assessment. It serves as a starting point, which should be integrated, with other methods to arrive at a balanced evaluation.
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