Written by S. Thompson | Posted in Business |

The top three employee performance appraisal methods involve using 360° feedback, the management by objectives approach or using a ratings/grading system. In this article I’ll show you the advantages and disadvantages of each method and where they are best applied.

Many smaller companies enjoy using 360° feedback to evaluate employees. This involves interviewing the various employees or clients who have had interactions with the staff member over the space for you. This is also effective if individual switch from team to team throughout a reporting period. It is highly effective at identifying overall behavior patterns and performance throughout the year so can clearly be used for identifying productivity improvement training and assistance that may be needed.

A more established approach (well at least since the 1950s) involves management by objectives. Employees discuss the various goals and objectives they need to achieve in the upcoming year. The objectives themselves should be quite achievable for the employee and the manager should always set a specific deadline by which they need to be completed. These performance appraisal methods are easily measured as to whether the objective was successfully achieved or not. The employee themselves also benefit from the fact that they can collaboratively discuss and debate with their supervisor what types of goals they have set for the coming year.

If you really want a more standardized approach then using ratings scales is often the technique used in larger companies. Employers need to be able to establish an in-depth grading system for each employee based on performance, productivity, teamwork, motivation, communication skills, sales, etc. These grades will alter from company to company so the use of a customized set of graves is often required. This technique is often quite egalitarian in comparing different employees who are doing the same roles so can prove to be invaluable when assessing individuals in a larger company for whom is to get a promotion.

Related articles

• Let’s Abolish Self-Appraisal (blogs.hbr.org)
• Employee Engagement & Performance Management (demandmetric.com)
• Empowering Risk Mitigation in HR (demandmetric.com)

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