Human Resource And Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal is the evaluation of the employees, based on their work done, to assess their future potential and reward them for their work. Performance appraisal usually creates friction between employees and human resource departments because the employees feel judged by the HR managers. This behavior defeats the entire purpose of performance appraisal and if your employees feel resentment towards it, then it means you are doing something wrong.

The main aim of performance appraisal is the development of the employee as a worker. It should be more of an act of constructive criticism than a form of condemnation and punishment.

Clarify the Purpose

The first thing that HR managers should do as part of the performance appraisal is to clarify the employees about the main aim of it. They should clearly convey that the appraisal is going to be done so that feedback could be provided on how the employees can improve their work and can be rewarded accordingly. Moreover, employees should know well beforehand about the criteria along which they will be judged so that they can work accordingly.

Avoid Formal Appraisal Process

The appraisal process should not be very formal either. A formal appraisal process reflects itself as a judgment rather than an improvisation process. Also, an employee should be appraised not only by the ultimate seniors and the HR department but also by their immediate seniors, team members and juniors. This provides an overall assessment of the employee as a worker of the organization. This also ensures that the employee is not only a good subordinate but also a good leader and a co-worker.

Assessment Based on Achievements

Yet another good way of conducting performance appraisals is assessing on the basis of the achievement of objectives. This method is more appropriate for modern times, where innovation and creativity hold more value than following a set of commands. In this method, the employee should be assessed on the basis of how well he or she achieved the objective of the task, how productive they were and how they managed to use the set amount of resources. This allows the employee to really shine through using their set of strengths rather than being forced to do the usual. This also allows the organization as a whole to achieve productivity and innovation.

Encouragement is Better than Criticism

Where, an appraisal resulting in a good evaluation of an employee should be rewarded with appropriate awards and benefits, a bad appraisal result should not be heavily criticized. If you feel that a particular employee failed to prove himself, criticizing him and punishing him is not the right way to do. Instead, you should offer them training and guidance opportunities where they can learn about their strengths and can improve where they lack behind. Being harsh and passing on destructive criticism will not only demotivate the employee but will also create an aura of fear in other employees as well.

Performance appraisal is a sensitive task. It can make or break your business’s entire human resource. The way it is being conducted in the past has given it a negative image of a way to punish and criticize employees rather than an opportunity to improvise.