Best Way to Conduct Performance Review

Performance reviews are an essential part of every organization. These are conducted on a quarterly or yearly basis. These help to foster relationship between the employer and the employees and also help in setting road map for employees. While the quarterly performance appraisals are mainly aimed at setting the targets for the employees, it is the yearly appraisal that draws the most cheers (some boos as well) as it determines the rating, the bonus and the hike in salary that an employee will be receiving. The human resource managers always look forward to the best way to conduct performance reviews so that they can ensure that there are minimal grievances. Management thinkers have time and again come up with some ways of ensuring that these appraisals are conducted in the best possible way. Let us take a look at how to conduct an employee performance review efficiently.

Conducting a Performance Review

Get the basics right
The first step in conducting a fair performance review is to have the right kind of process in place. The person who has been entrusted to carry out the appraisal process should be free from any kind of bias. Adequate knowledge of conducting the appraisal is a must and there should be a procedure for addressing complaints if the employee feels that the appraisal has not been conducted in the right manner.

Prepare for the review
So, you have been conducting performances for a long time and don't feel the need to do any homework? Well, be ready then for some surprises as you never know when some situations can arise out of the blue. It is therefore essential to make sufficient preparations for a performance appraisal. You can take a look at the last year's appraisal and know the areas that were covered. From the records, you can also know about the motivations and aspirations of an employee. Knowing some performance review phrases can be helpful but these also run the risk of being cliched.

Discuss performance
As mentioned above, every attempt should be made to engage the employee in a discussion as most of the employees have certain perceptions which never allow them to be their own self. It would be great on the part of the HR manager if the employee takes the lead in the interaction and discusses all the options rather than narrowing things down.

Taking a holistic view
If an employee hasn't been able to perform as per expectations in the last few weeks, conducting a negative employee performance review would further demoralize the employee. You should try to address the issues affecting his performance and look at the whole picture so that the employee doesn't feel that there is anything personal in nature.

Ease the stress
Always try to start the review on a positive note. It sets the right tone for the review and ensures that employees take it easy. Allowing the employee to put forward his point of view ensures that once they are done with the review, they do not feel that they were not given proper opportunities to express themselves.

Reward achievers
While conducting the employee performance review, ensure that employees who have performed exceptionally well are rewarded with bonuses, increments etc. If the employee's expectations are not met, then you can very easily lose a talented resource of your company. You can take the help of the various compensation surveys to analyze what really is the norm as per industry standards so that the package you offer is competitive enough.

There is no hard and fast rules about conducting a performance review. If you feel that any particular style will work well for your employees, you can conduct the review accordingly. Quarterly performance reviews have got a bad name in recent years and more employees today believe that these are a mere formality that ought not to be taken too seriously. So, it is the job of the HR managers to make the employees realize that these reviews are the reference points for the annual performance review on which the salary hike, bonuses etc will be discussed. In the end, we would like to say that there is no set method which can be labeled as the best way to conduct performance review, but the right kind of preparation and a positive outlook can ensure that you conduct a successful performance review.