Talk about performance appraisals and everyone would picture a yearly event where they get to discuss about their performance over the period against some objectives that have been assigned to them. And of course the bonus.
And the hike. Indeed, it is not exaggeration to say that for many employees, the event is more important because of the hike than because of any other factor.
With so much time and effort invested into the task which involves all the employees of the organization, if appraisals are not adding value to the organization and its goals, what’s really the point of even conducting them?
That’s not to say that appraisals are not required. If handled properly, appraisals act as the stepping stones for more success and better growth opportunities for everyone.
There is no point in pinning all hopes on one yearly event and treating it as the be-all and end-all for critical workforce-related decisions. That’s why the accent here should be on increasing the value that appraisals add to the organization. So how do we do this?
By making sure that performance appraisal does really mean performance appraisal, for one thing. The entire exercise should focus on measuring employee performance and giving valuable and actionable feedback. Of course, when appraisals happen once a year, employees will be thinking about promotions, bonuses et al.
So increasing the frequency of appraisals will let you focus on just the appraisal. No one expects a promotion or a hike every quarter, and the knowledge that all these quarterly appraisals add up to the yearly review keeps employees’ focus where it should be.
Employee buy-in is another factor that can greatly increase the value of performance appraisals. Instead of treating them as tasks that need to be gotten over with so that they can enjoy their promotions and bonuses, employees need to think about appraisals as events that genuinely help them and the organization grow.
Performance appraisals can be conducted in a much better manner if the organization uses HR software solutions which support them greatly in this endeavor.
