subject: Employee Evaluations Are They Worth It? [print this page] Employee evaluations are a crucial part of doing business because it not only measures how well the employee is doing, but it also lets your organization know the skill and expertise level of the employees in your organization. Being the best in your industry is a goal of your organization, but you can only do that by knowing your employees strengths and weaknesses, as well as understanding the prospect of where they can take the organization. In a way, performance reviews are a SWOT analysis of your business number one resource your employees.
Employee evaluations come in a couple of different forms, such as traditional annual job reviews given by the employees manager, or 360-degree reviews where the manager and co-workers are involved in evaluating an employee. The traditional review is important, particularly for the relationship between the employee and his or her manager. The risk with peer reviews, especially if they are tied to pay raises and promotions, is that coworkers might undermine each other, which could lead to a lot of company morale problems. Performance reviews should be kept positive and be used to praise the good work an employee does, as well as encourage them to do better in their areas of weakness.
Another possible issue with peer reviews is it can be a bit overwhelming for some people to either give constructive feedback, or to receive feedback from coworkers. It can be extremely difficult for people to remove emotion from their comments and be objective. For example, if there is an employee whose job performance is subpar, but they are well liked or are perceived as vulnerable, their coworkers may try to cover for them and give them better remarks than they actually deserve. Likewise, star performers may receive unfavorable comments from coworkers who are jealous or have an inflated opinion of their own work. Receiving feedback from coworkers can also lead to grudges, hostility, and other teamwork-related issues.
Whichever employee review system your organization engages in and/or adopts, providing feedback to employees will not only help employees know their performance level within the organization, but it will also give your business the information it needs in order to know what skills need to be developed or brought on to have a competitive advantage over your competitors.
