As an employer, one of the greatest challenges you have to face is the duty to make everyone satisfied. Managing human resource is not always a walk in the pack; it comes with its fair share of troubles. In order to achieve your ultimate objectives, you have to be in good terms with your employees. Luckily, there are several effective ways to achieve this. For instance, you can earn your employees’ trust and confidence through regular performance appraisal programs. This exercise should be a continuous process targeting all employees in your company, regardless of their situation. When an employee is subjected to this exercise, they feel appreciated and relevant in their respective department.
Purpose of Performance Appraisal
There are numerous reasons for conducting regular performance appraisal. To begin with, the program helps you to monitor your employees’ performance. Every worker is expected to achieve certain targets in their service delivery, and the only way to determine whether the target has been met is through performance appraisal. This exercise gives you a clear picture of how each employee has performed over a certain period of time and from the results you can determine what needs to be done. The exercise requires routine documentation of each employee’s accomplishments and failures for ease of evaluation.
Performance appraisal also helps in motivating employees. Motivation of workers is a critical component of any organization. You can’t expect impressive results when your employees are inert. A good employer ensures that every worker feels they are part and parcel of the organization. Subjecting your employees to regular performance appraisal programs, therefore, is a great way to motivate them and encourage them to invest all their energy in their respective areas of profession. A performance appraisal program also helps in boosting company morale. A company that recognizes employees’ efforts and accomplishments creates room for more creativity and loyalty by employees. Everybody wants to see their efforts appreciated and getting great rewards for it. This in turn enables your company to achieve its goals. Through performance appraisal, you can easily identify areas that need to be improved. If your employees need further training in their respective careers, make sure they get the training immediately. It’s the only way you can realize the importance of a performance appraisal program.
How to Carryout Performance Appraisal Program
When preparing a performance appraisal program, several critical steps have to be taken. For starters, you need to prepare a comprehensive PA form. This particular form needs to have the necessary inputs from supervisors, managers and fellow employees. Its main aim is to help measure employees’ performance and highlight areas that need to be improved. Your PA form should be rather simple and comprehensible to all employees so that they do not find difficulties in completing it. It shouldn’t take a lot of time to complete a performance appraisal form. When you are implementing the PA program, it’s important to seek its blessing from the top management and ensure employees understand how the whole idea works. Make them understand that it is not meant for witch-hunting or anything of that sort.
If you do not prepare your performance appraisal program carefully, it is likely to meet stiff resistance from employees. Also, ensure all managers are sufficiently trained on how to monitor, rate and interview all employees. Make sure the final grading reflects accurate details of the employee in relation to their performance. Every manager should be warned that personal bias can easily ruin the real intention of the performance appraisal program. All evaluations should be free of discrimination and personal favoritism. Let every employee feel that they have been fairly rated so that they can adopt the recommendations and improve their performance.
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