The Role Of Performance Appraisals In Your Career

Performance appraisals can be a positive addition to your career and your promotion through the company. They are used to evaluate and plan for staff and management both in development and growth and also in performance levels.

Most performance appraisals are completed on a yearly basis, although if there is a probation period in your job after a promotion or new hire there may be two within the first year. Usually performance appraisals list the responsibilities and duties of the job as well as other factors such as professional growth, team support or leadership, and general attitude components. Many performance appraisals now have the employee set goals and objectives for themselves for the coming year and then evaluate how accurately they achieved their objectives.

Benefits

Performance appraisals benefit your career by:

• Clearly outlining the goals, objectives and expectations of your position.
• Grading on a numeric scale or graduated levels to monitor improvement.
• Ensuring employees are evaluated on equal criteria for the same job.
• Allowing personal input as to the direction of your professional growth.
• Eliminating many subjective type comments and focusing on objective facts.
• Establishing a level of competence for both the individual employee and the workplace as a whole.
• Provides a written record of levels of performance.
• Can be used for promotions, awards and other incentives.

Most performance appraisals are completed by a direct supervisor or manager and are reviewed with both parties present. This gives employees one-on-one time with the manager to highlight their abilities and to discuss professional growth and promotions that are available. Many performance reports are completed by both the employer and employee so there is a opportunity to inform management of additional roles and responsibilities that you may be required to complete that are not recorded on the performance appraisal. This may also be a good time to discuss your personal career goals with your manager and to get input as to ways to achieve those goals.

A good record of performance appraisals can be used as an evaluation tool for in company promotions and job changes. Positive performance evaluations indicate a professional and competent employee that would be idea for advancement. Self-directed performance appraisals can be ideal in setting a career plan in place with the assistance of a supervisor. It can be an opportunity to attend trainings or conferences that could be paid for by the company. In addition, some companies use the self-guided performance evaluations to determine the professional development that the company will sponsor throughout the following year.

Negatives

The biggest concern with performance appraisals is that employees tend to work to the appraisal, and are not always motivated to do new or creative things. Depending on the type of employment this can be positive or negative. It would be very negative if a computer tech tried a new and creative way to network a system that might leave the company without Internet for a week, whereas a salesperson may have an excellent result with a non-standard approach to sales.

There are occasions when a negative performance appraisal may be unfounded. Most agencies offer some type or appeal or review if there is disagreement between management and employees on a performance review. This usually involves a third party reviewing the information and interviewing the supervisor and the employee.

Sometimes the issue concerns the fact that it is a new position in the company and the evaluation does not fit the job, or that the employee is new to the position and is on a steep learning curve. Either one of these situations can be addressed by creating a new evaluation standard or completing another performance appraisal in a few months.

A negative performance appraisal is not necessarily detrimental to your career, what is important is what follows. If you know that you have a bad report but it was immediately followed by a positive performance assessment be prepared to highlight this and focus on the changes that occurred.

Talk to employers and managers to improve your performance appraisals and keep striving for excellence. Use performance appraisals to evaluate and reflect upon your current level of performance and on developing a strong professional growth plan for the future.

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