Each organization, in order to function properly, should monitor the effectiveness of work. The main purpose of employee evaluation is to check whether employees achieve results in line with the requirements for a given position, as well as to verify to what extent their efforts contribute to the company’s development and profitability.
At the same time, employee evaluation is of great motivational and developmental importance for the employees themselves. Submitting their competencies to verification, e.g. by a supervisor, allows employees to better understand their role in the company and define their skills and knowledge.
In this article, you will learn how to conduct an assessment to motivate employees and what to pay attention to when planning the entire process.
Benefits of conducting employee evaluations
Periodic employee evaluation consists of summarizing the performance of a person employed in a company for a given period. Most often it is conducted quarterly, semi-annually or annually. Usually, the assessment is made by the supervisor and it comes down to an individual conversation. It can also take a more complex form, e.g. taking into account the assessment made by various groups: superiors, subordinates, colleagues and clients. In this case, the verification of the employee’s competencies is carried out by means of a questionnaire and is called a 360-degree assessment. It is also supplemented by the employee’s self-assessment.
Assessment is often mistakenly associated with a form of control and is sometimes accompanied by stress and reluctance on the part of employees. However, it should be treated as a source of information that can bring many benefits to the company and managers, as well as the employees themselves.
It is a great way to test the effectiveness and identify problems within the company. Employees can also benefit from the results of the assessment, which is often a starting point in planning career paths and is an opportunity for promotion, increase or development of competencies.
Periodic employee evaluation brings a number of benefits:
- It allows you to check how an employee is doing in the position they are in and, as a result, increases the efficiency and quality of their work.
- It allows you to observe how the employee reacts to constructive criticism and what steps they take as a result of it.
- It helps to analyze the development and capture the successes of employees, which has a positive effect on the feeling of being appreciated and their self-confidence.
- It helps in making decisions regarding staff changes, promotions, raises, bonuses or dismissals.
- It makes it easier for employees to adjust development paths and broaden their horizons.
- It allows for the leveling of competency and development gaps between employees who face similar tasks.
- It allows you to select the best talents in the organization, accelerate their development and adjust the best forms of motivation and gratification.
- It improves the flow of information and has a positive effect on the quality of communication in the company.
Motivational role of employee evaluation
Feedback is a natural human need. Its satisfaction is often a motivational value in itself. It is an incentive to act, allowing the employee to define development priorities and achieve better and better results. It enables a better understanding of the employer’s expectations and adaptation to the employee’s requirements. It gives space to correct the method of operation and introduce adjustments in everyday work, which in turn leads to better results in subsequent editions of the employee evaluation. We like to be well perceived and highly valued by others, which is why the desire to achieve the best results is often very motivating for us.
The awareness of employees that the assessment is one of the criteria taken into account when obtaining a promotion or additional gratuities (both financial and non-financial) will certainly encourage them to work harder and increase productivity.
How to conduct an assessment to make it motivating for the employee?
According to experts from Vanderbilt University, employee evaluation should fulfill 4 functions:
- Informational function – employee evaluation allows you to verify how the employee is doing at work and what areas they should develop.
- Motivational function – the employee is more motivated knowing that their work is subject to evaluation.
- Developmental function – analysis of evaluation results helps the employee achieve the next steps on the career path.
- Educational function – the employee evaluation process helps to inculcate and enforce the values and norms of the company.
Based on their observations and conclusions, the aforementioned experts created a shortlist of tips on how to prepare and conduct an effective, motivating employee evaluation. The list can be a great inspiration for the activities of HR specialists in creating employee evaluation processes! You can check it out here.
A key aspect in designing an employee evaluation system is to present clear evaluation criteria and the rules of reward. Let’s remember to establish an understandable bonus system and clear rules for building career paths in the company and to prepare managers to act as mentors.
The division of responsibility
Responsibility for the proper course of the evaluation process lies not only with the HR department, but also with superiors, who provide feedback to employees and the employees themselves. All of these sites should be honest and transparent, and be open to feedback that can sometimes turn out to be critical. In order to achieve good results in the assessment, we cannot afford to be misunderstood about important information and problems. That is why it is so crucial to properly prepare the entire assessment process and to provide detailed, two-way communication at every stage.
The role of the manager
Managers should learn to provide constructive feedback to employees and properly define the skills and behaviors they require. Employee evaluation analysis is a great opportunity to spend time on individual talks with subordinates, define expectations, verify competency gaps as well as correct mistakes and plan professional development. It is the manager’s responsibility to create an appropriate atmosphere of conversation that fosters open and honest communication.
The role of the employee
Employees should also prepare for feedback conversations. Before meeting the manager, it is worth recommending them to think about their expectations and topics that they would like to raise during the conversation, e.g. regarding their concerns, problems or doubts. It is the employees who are responsible for the development of their competencies. Therefore, it is worth encouraging them to analyze the path they would like to take in the company and plan the further development of their professional career.
Employee evaluation criteria
Proper communication of an employee evaluation project should include clear criteria. What to talk to employees about during the feedback meeting? Each company may use different assessment categories, depending on its current situation and needs.
Often rated items include:
- Timeliness – task completion time, especially in the event of tight deadlines.
- Organization of work – the way in which the employee carries out his duties and sets priorities.
- Correct performance of tasks – the effect of the employee’s work (reliability, quality of work).
- Openness to development and changes – willingness to take on new challenges, openness to feedback, as well as broadening knowledge and developing skills.
- Communication and cooperation – the way an employee functions in a team and builds relationships with others.
- Ethics – honesty and behavior in accordance with the rules and standards in the company.
- Independence – the ability to perform tasks independently, share your ideas and show initiative in finding solutions.
If you’re looking for new IT specialists to join your company and would like the recruitment process to go as smooth as the employee evaluation described in the article, contact us.