Employee appraisal is an important task which, unfortunately, is not fully appreciated by most employers. In fact, most senior managers and company directors dread the exercise and are never very enthusiastic about the whole process. This is really regrettable because proper employee appraisal is beneficial to the employee and, even more importantly, the business. When conducted in an atmosphere of fairness and with the intention to honestly address issues, this process helps businesses flourish.

One of the most important things about employee appraisal is the timing. It is recommended that a business manager appraises every employee at least once a year and preferably twice per year. The first year of employment is critical for an employee as there is so much to learn about the organization and for this year, an appraisal should be carried out after the first six months and a follow up appraisal conducted six months later.

Perhaps the main reason why neither employee nor employer looks forward to the appraisal is a feeling that appraisals achieve nothing. This apathy is detrimental to the whole process and it guarantees that you will not achieve much from the appraisal. Some employees also come to the appraisal with a feeling that the employer is looking for reasons to show them as uncooperative or even incompetent.

These negative feelings can be addressed when the employer makes it clear that the intention of the exercise is to identify areas of weaknesses that need to be improved on. The employee will respond with enthusiasm when the appraisal process also takes note of the employee’s strengths and when complements are given. Such an employee will speak honestly as he or she will now be sure that the exercise is not aimed at victimization.

The appraisal form should therefore be carefully designed to address all important issues. These forms should show how an employee is ranked in the performance of duties and a ranking system (say 1 to 10) used. The form should also allow for comments. When an employee is given the chance to explain himself, both the employee and employer benefit as no issues are left hanging.

To show honesty in the exercise, the employer must never seem to be ambushing the employee. To avoid this, the employer should tell the employee in advance that an appraisal will be carried out and should specify dates. This allows the employee to prepare for this important exercise. Since an appraisal is conducted to help improve the way things are done, it must never be influenced by factors such as race, color, religion and gender. Moreover, the person carrying out the appraisal must not rely on past appraisals. Though these are important, they are most probably irrelevant in the current period. An employee who scored poorly in a past appraisal could have worked hard to improve and judging him on past appraisal is plain unfair.

The most important thing in conducting employee appraisal is how the exercise ends. While positive criticism is necessary, the person conducting the appraisal should end it on a positive note to show the employee that improvement and success are possible.