A probationary period allows you to ensure that the candidate you chose for your position was the best fit for the job.

It’s a chance to assess the new employee’s performance, commitment, and general fit for the job and take appropriate action if they don’t fulfil the requirements.

It usually last between one and six months, and either you or the employee can terminate the agreement at any time during that period.

Whether you want to successfully evaluate your employees’ performance without being too severe and crushing office morale or too easy-going to their flaws and places for improvement, here are seven suggestions for doing so effectively.

Set objectives with your team

Meetings to evaluate employee performance should be utilized to create new objectives. Have an open conversation with employees about their performance, including both the positive and negative elements, before deciding how to proceed. The discussion will only be beneficial if something useful emerges from it.

Employees should leave the meeting with a set of personal goals that they wish to achieve for the company’s benefit. Instead of making employees feel bad about their poor performance, setting goals can motivate them to do better.

Be open and honest about your performance goals and evaluation criteria

Ensure that you are clear about what you anticipate from your staff throughout the year and before the performance evaluation. They should constantly know to what degree they are expected to perform, but the evaluation guidelines should also be clear.

Before you meet with your employees, they should know how they are doing, and the meeting should act as a safe environment for an open discussion about what they are doing well and what they need to work on. You are not only hurting your staff, but you are also hurting your organization if you keep these expectations and rules to yourself.

Provide assistance and solutions

If you observe that employees are struggling with their performance assessments, give your help or ideas, if you have any. Keep in mind that you’re not simply an evaluator; you’re also a leader. Employees will feel lost and confused if you want them to improve but do not assist them.

Throughout the year, provide constructive criticism

Much of the planning for conducting employee performance reviews are done throughout the year, believe it or not. Suppose the only time you provide feedback to your employees is during an annual or semi-annual performance evaluation; in that case, you may be losing valuable time that might be spent helping them develop.

You can ensure that your employee is doing well, that your company is doing well, and that office morale is doing well by delivering positive feedback throughout the year.

Address poor performance as soon as possible and in a courteous manner

If an employee consistently performs poorly throughout the year, don’t wait until the end of the year to inform them they need to improve. Instead, take them aside during the year and talk to them about their problems; this will help you build a healthy connection to feel comfortable talking to you about their performance.

Keep in mind that you’re not simply an evaluator; you’re also a leader. Employees will feel lost and confused if you want them to improve but do not assist them in doing so. Remember, you want to help your staff grow, not criticize them, so confront poor performance with respect.

Don’t only provide lousy feedback

While we all have employees that need to improve their performance, focusing solely on the negative parts of their performance can make them feel unloved, resulting in low morale, which will negatively impact the rest of the firm. Make sure you explain what the employee does well when responding to unfavourable criticism.

Concentrate entirely on results

Ascertain that the evaluation is solely focused on their performance. We all have people in our lives who we dislike. Make performance evaluations objective rather than subjective. Keep in mind that you’re evaluating their work performance, not their personality or attitude. Maintain a professional tone.

Conclusion

Hopefully, these seven pointers would have given you more confidence in the job performance evaluation process. Evaluations will be a breeze if you follow these guidelines.

In recent years, the employee performance evaluation has gotten a lot of flak. Both managers and employees have been frustrated by traditional personnel appraisal systems. Furthermore, the majority of employees believe that performance reviews are ineffective in motivating them to perform better.

Make preparations ahead of time

Staying on track requires arranging thoughts to deliver precise and succinct performance feedback. This necessitates an understanding of the employee’s job, needs, and actual performance compared to the preset expectations. Prepare an itinerary ahead of time, replete with open-ended questions to engage your employee in conversation.

It’s a Discussion

You aren’t the only one in the room, so don’t be the only one who speaks. While the conversation is about the employee’s performance, they should also have a say. Keep in mind that this is a two-way conversation.

This isn’t a time for criticism, so don’t go into detail about every blunder an employee has made, and don’t take over the talk. Instead, use it as an opportunity to highlight a team member’s merits and flaws in light of his or her accomplishments during the review period.

Don’t Be Afraid to Face Your Fears

Positive reinforcement is an excellent habit to follow; however, not every employee will receive a perfect performance report. Only 35% of high-performing employees believe their bosses are honest with them about their performance.

Some bosses would rather avoid conflict than explain how an employee might improve his or her performance. Remember that they are required to give feedback and that’s how they’re supposed to help the employee.

Deliver a Takeaway

Sadly, 98 per cent of employees consider their performance assessments to be a waste of time. Allow your employees to take something away from the meeting. Because no one is perfect, there is always something fresh to learn or practise to improve.

Was it worth it if you or your employees got nothing out of the performance evaluation? Professionals waste far too much time in meetings that aren’t necessary. Building the performance review on important takeaways will save you and your team a lot of time.

Orientation should be changed

In your present performance review procedure, you’ve already recognised a case for change. Perhaps it’s just a matter of how you set up the meeting in the first place. Adjust the review as needed based on your employees’ personalities and learning styles. To adapt the performance appraisal for different personnel, try these approaches:

• Goal-oriented learning: Employees who enjoy learning for the sake of gaining knowledge and who pursue challenges despite setbacks are those who are learning goal-oriented.
• Goal-oriented performance: These employees desire to do their best to demonstrate their competency in a position.
• Performance-avoidance goal-oriented: These personnel don’t want to make a fool of themselves and maybe sensitive to direct criticism.

Keep your eyes on the prize

One of the biggest reasons for failing performance appraisal systems is simply that it is a necessary process. Because you have multiple people to manage in your department, there’s no excuse to let the review’s meaning fall through the gaps. So remove the phrases “good job” and “this needs improvement,” and instead focus on how far the person has progressed and where their development can lead them in the firm.

Conclusion

Finally, always be kind and open to discussions, feedback, and new opinions. For a better performance review, it’s also necessary to ensure that your employees are getting a better workspace to perform well.

“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.”– Bill Gates

All throughout our academic and professional life the one thing that helps us constantly grow and excel is getting timely feedback. Now, most people may have received feedback that they feel demotivates them, however, the most dangerous aspect of getting no feedback at all. In a work environment, it is very critical to ensure that the feedback that is given is always positive or constructive in nature, but is never negative.

In this blog, we will explore the tips that you should include to master the art of giving feedback.

• Identify the reason for providing feedback: While giving feedback is essential, it is important to highlight and identify the reason why it is being given. Also, it is crucial to give feedback at the time when it will be the most effective. It makes no sense giving feedback on something that happened over a month back. Timing and effect are of the essence when giving feedback.
• Keep aside all personal biases: It is human nature to have certain favorites in any team, and at times this favoritism clouds our judgment. When you are giving your team member one on one feedback it is absolutely critical that you keep aside all your biases and give feedback solely based on their performance and merit.
• Ensure it is a two-way conversation: More than often, most managers make the mistake of considering feedback sessions as a one-way communication channel. This is the biggest blunder to make. It is a given that when feedback sessions are arranged when you are pointing out certain flaws in an employee, they too could have some things to point out. Make sure you are a good listener when giving feedback and keep the channel open both ways.
• Avoid making it too personal: The most challenging line to maintain is to keep personal and professional separate while giving feedback. It is only human to allow your personal biases get the best of you when giving professional feedback. However, ensure that when you do so you concentrate only on the official traits and performance and leave aside the personal concerns.
• Offer a constructive way of working on the weakness if any: No team member is perfect and as working employees, we always have certain points that we can work on to improve. When you are highlighting any point that is a weakness make sure that along with the weakness you also tell them how to go about making it their strength. Leaving it with just negative feedback will do no one any good and will leave the employee dejected and demotivated.
• Highlight all the positives as well: It is clearly very easy to ignore all the good and focus on the negatives. Most of the time, managers end up highlighting all the concerns and weaknesses and fail to recognize the good that the team member has done. It is imperative that you keep the feedback a mix of positive and constructive.
• Ensure there is a follow-up: A feedback channel is incomplete if there is no follow up taken. It is a given that while giving constructive feedback as points of improvement, you may have given the employee certain points to work on. Make it your duty to go back and follow up to see if the same has been followed. If the last step is not taken into consideration, then the feedback will be considered incomplete.

For free consultation feel free to get in touch with our experts at info@emgage.work