Performance Appraisal Comments

Performance appraisal is widely accepted as a potent tool because it both motivates the good employees by giving them a pat on the back, and at the same time raps the knuckles of the underperforming employees so that they may look to improve the quality of their work. Performance appraisal is thus both a tool of employee motivation as well as one for employee performance improvement. So while a lot of methods of performance appraisals are used by different companies, like the 360 degree performance appraisal method, rating scale method and the critical incident method, the part of the performance appraisal form that particularly flummoxes the human resources manager is the 'comments' section. How to write performance appraisal comments?

Performance Review Comments

Of course performance appraisal comments can be very tough to write. After all, the comments section serves an important purpose of letting the employee know about how good or how bad the work he has done has been. So general statements like 'John is a good employee' or 'Mark is a bad employee' are clearly terrible performance appraisal comments examples. But then again, this section cannot have a long drawn out story like the one Ted tells in 'How I Met Your Mother'. What this section needs is precision. Here are some tips for writing performance appraisal comments.

• Specific: The above mentioned examples no doubt make it amply clear that the need of the hour is a specific comment for improvement or of praise rather than something as vague as 'Chris could try and improve his performance a bit'. Setting a target for Chris and telling him exactly what he needs to achieve is the way to go. By making the performance appraisal comments specific, the employee knows what the management expects of him and the management knows what is the target set.
• Comments on Personality: Saying something like 'Rachel shows way too much attitude' or 'Johnny comes across as too full of himself' too are very counter-productive performance appraisal comments. The management should not really make it their business to comment on the personality traits of the employee, even more so when these traits are totally unrelated to the professional life and work of the employee. Use the comments section as a way forward, rather than for a scathing attack on the employee.
• Shouldn't Take an Extreme View: This approach, otherwise known in the more colloquial circles as jumping the gun, is maddeningly common and one which again serves no purpose whatsoever. If, say, Carlos cannot complete his target, it is sad, but not an opportunity to cast shadows upon his overall quality of work. Performance appraisals need to be impersonal and need to state categorically what the employee should do rather than saying that he's a complete head case just because he is not quite working properly.
• The Way Forward: It's the point which is perhaps the most important one in the performance appraisal comments section. The bouquets or brickbats are all fine. But what needs to be very crucially included in the performance appraisal comments section is the improvements which the employee needs to make and the way forward for the employee. This way the employee learns what is expected of him and how to do it, rather than blindly shooting in the dark.

All in all, the things to consider while finishing a performance appraisal report are the employee's professionalism, creativity, stress management and time management. You may also refer to some Sample Performance Appraisals for added guidelines. Follow these few guidelines and you will definitely have a more informative and progressive performance appraisal.