The Executive Suite: How to Write Employee Evaluations

Monday, July 1, 2013

How to Write Employee Evaluations

Writing employee evaluations can be one of the most challenging duties in any manager's job description. Of course, if every employee was a star and you only had to give glowing job performance evaluations, life would be a breeze. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Read on for a step-by-step guide to writing employee evaluations.

Job description of employee's position
Goals document
Attendance records
Notes from throughout the year
A quiet time and private place to focus

Suggestions

MEET QUARTERLY
Before any employee can be fairly evaluated, she must be aware of the job requirements and standards. Depending on your company's policies, you may have to meet more frequently than required. I recommend that you meet quarterly, even for 15 minutes, to discuss objectives and goals that you have worked with the employee to set for the year.
TAKE NOTES
As a supervisor or manager, it is your job to be aware of performance achievements and deficiencies throughout the year. Don't evaluate the employee on the last month's work. When the time comes to write the employee evaluation, your notes will be invaluable.
BE SPECIFIC
Along with the notes you will jot down regarding exemplary or less than adequate performance, you must also be able to give specific examples. Keep copies of samples of work that you want to remember, or refer to specific conduct or incidents in your notes.
BE FAIR
Don't play favorites. Supervisors are human just like everyone else, but it's important when writing an employee evaluation to put aside personality differences and focus on performance. If the employee is particularly key in bringing a group together, or if he is divisive or disruptive, these details should be discussed and noted throughout the year.
MEASURE PRODUCTIVITY
When establishing goals with the employee for the year, make them measurable. Depending on the position, this may be easy or it may be difficult. If you're producing physical products, quantity is easy to measure. If you're providing a service, you may have to be more creative and measure productivity by success with the customer (internal or external). Customer complaints or compliments may help you in this regard.
EVALUATE INITIATIVE
Initiative is a great way to determine if the employee you're evaluating is above average, acceptable, or an under performer. Does he seek out work when he has the bandwidth? Does she sit back and chat on the phone rather than looking to pitch in on other projects?
CONSIDER TEAM SPIRIT
Be sure to include comments, bad or good, in your evaluation with regard to the employee's overall impact on the group. Is he positive about assignments? Does she encourage questions from newer members of the team?
NOTE STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES
Cover the employee's strengths in the position. Make note of areas that could use improvement, and suggest ways to strengthen those areas (more training, mentoring, proofreading work, etc.). You will have made notes of particular incidents throughout the quarter that support each of these assessments.
CHECK ATTENDANCE
When writing an employee evaluation, take into account the employee's attendance. Is he on time? Does she come late and leave early? How many occurrences of sick time are on record?
SET GOALS FOR NEXT PERIOD
After the employee has been given his evaluation, take time to set measurable goals for the next evaluation period.

Tips

You may need to write the employee evaluation before or after business hours to ensure that you have a quiet time and a private area to do your work.
Look at the links on this article page and check them out!
Don't just clone last period's evaluation. Take time throughout the year to note performance specifics, and put a good effort into writing the evaluation. The employee's career is impacted by what you are writing.