Employee performance review forms are essential tools in any business. They’re like a mirror reflecting an employee's contributions and areas for improvement. However, they often become a tedious, box-ticking exercise rather than a constructive feedback mechanism.
This post is dedicated to turning the traditional employee performance review form into an efficient, engaging, and meaningful process. If you’re ready to make better employee performance review forms, let’s get started!
What’s involved in employee performance reviews?
Employee performance reviews are a regular assessment and review of an employee's job performance and overall contribution to a company. Typically, they’re conducted annually or semi-annually and are crucial to employee performance management.
What needs to be covered in an employee performance review?
A successful employee performance review should cover a few critical aspects:
- Performance assessment: Evaluate the employee’s performance against predefined criteria
- Goal review: Discuss how well the employee met the goals and objectives set during the last review period
- Strengths and achievements: Acknowledge and appreciate the employee's strengths and achievements
- Areas for improvement: Constructively identify areas where the employee could improve, offering clear examples
- Future objectives and goals: Set goals for the next review period
- Training and development needs: Assess the employee’s need for additional training to enhance skills or address gaps
How often should employee performance reviews occur?
Employee performance reviews are commonly done annually to evaluate the year's work comprehensively. However, frequency can vary depending on the organization's needs and culture. Some companies prefer semi-annual or quarterly reviews for more regular feedback and goal-setting.
Businesses are increasingly moving toward more frequent or even continuous feedback mechanisms, like monthly or weekly check-ins.
Ultimately, the ideal frequency depends on the company's size, industry, and specific employee development and performance management goals.
Why would you need an employee performance review form?
Employee performance review forms help standardize the evaluation process. They provide a structured format for documenting performance, offering clear criteria and benchmarks for evaluation.
These forms also help in goal setting and tracking progress over time. Further, they serve as important records for HR decisions, like promotions or training needs, and are crucial for legal compliance and dispute resolution.
How to improve your employee performance review forms
Employee performance review forms are critical, so here are a few ways in which you can improve them.
Keep goals for an employee performance review as the focus
Maintaining a strong focus on goal-setting is critical in improving your employee performance review forms. Goals should be clear and aligned with both the organization's objectives and the employee's career aspirations.
Ensure these goals are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely) to provide clarity and direction. The review form should ultimately facilitate a discussion about progress towards the previously set goals and help set new, realistic objectives for the time to come.
Best questions to ask employee during performance review form
Here are a few great questions to include in your performance review form:
Performance and achievements:
- How do you feel about your achievements this review period?
- What challenges have you faced, and how did you overcome them?
Current role and responsibilities:
- How do you define success in your current role?
- Are there aspects of your role that you find particularly rewarding or challenging?
Professional development and skills:
- What skills would you like to develop or improve?
- How well do you feel your strengths are being utilized?
Goals and aspirations:
- What goals would you set for yourself in the next review period?
- How do you see your career path progressing in our organization?
Support and work environment:
- How can management better support your professional development?
- Are there any processes you think could be more efficient?
Set up an automatic approval process
Incorporating an automatic approval process into the employee performance review can significantly enhance efficiency. Configure an automated workflow process so that once an employee completes their assessment or review form, it is automatically routed to the relevant manager or HR personnel for approval.
This streamlines the reviews process, minimizing delays often associated with manual handling. It also reduces the administrative burden on all parties involved.
It’s not at all complicated to do. If you’re using Google Forms for your review forms, all you have to do is tie it up with an add-on called Form Publisher. With that, you can create automated workflows that integrate seamlessly with Google Forms.
Collect employee feedback for performance review improvement in the future
Gathering insights directly from employees sheds light on the efficacy of your review process. You can also encourage the inclusion of questions about the review experience in employee engagement surveys at your organization.
Ask employees for suggestions on how the forms and the process could be more helpful and relevant. This approach not only refines the review system but also demonstrates a commitment to employee engagement and continuous improvement.
The most important thing is to store the responses in an organized manner for easy retrieval when it’s time to implement changes. You can do this easily with Form Publisher!
Employee performance review forms are better with Form Publisher
No matter what stage of employee performance review you want to improve, Form Publisher can help if it involves forms. You can create powerful workflows to automate the approval processes, store away employee feedback for later use, or even share the review forms with colleagues easily with Form Publisher.
Start your journey towards a smarter, more responsive review process by upgrading how you deal with forms. Try Form Publisher!