As the year quickly winds down, many organizations are conducting their annual performance reviews. Now is a great time to provide your EHS employees with feedback on their work and establish their 2020 goals.
It’s essential that you make the review process organized to ensure it goes smoothly and both you and your employees get the most out of the reviews you conduct. Implement these tips to prepare for and carry out beneficial performance appraisals:
1. Provide ongoing feedback to employees throughout the year.
The annual review shouldn’t be the only time you give your team members feedback on their performance. This should be something you’re doing on a regular basis. When you’re providing employees with that consistent feedback, they’re more likely to make improvements in their work and become more engaged and committed to your company.
2. Be prepared to provide examples of employee performance and behavior.
When reviewing an employee’s performance and behavior throughout the past year, it’s important to provide examples to back up your positive or negative review ratings. It’s difficult to do this when you’re simply trying to remember everything that happened with each employee over the year. That’s why maintaining documentation will ensure you have these examples when performance review time rolls around. A good way to do this is to create a folder for each team member and put things like customer feedback, performance reports, and summaries of any conversations you have with them in it. When staff members see these clear examples of their performance and behavior, they’re much more likely to turnaround negative performance and make improvements to their work.
3. Ask employees for feedback.
During the performance evaluation, don’t just provide a worker with ratings and feedback on their performance. Be sure to give them the opportunity to comment on everything you’re saying. The team member might have information that you weren’t aware of. Additionally, asking your employees to complete a self-assessment of their performance throughout the year is a good way to get a picture of how they view their performance and determine any blind spots they might have.
4. Review 2019 goals and discuss goals for the upcoming year.
The performance review is a good time to look back to determine whether your employees met their goals, what they did well, and where they could make improvements. Establish clear expectations for 2020 and make sure your workers understand their responsibilities. Communicate how they are contributing to your organization’s overall goals.
Performance reviews are great opportunities for both EHS managers and employees to assess the past year and set up 2020 for success. Use these tips to make sure you’re prepared to conduct reviews and ensure the appraisal process is effective for everyone involved.
Resources:
7 Ways for a Manager to Prepare for a Performance Review, Dan McCarthy, TheBalanceCareers.com.
15 Performance Review Tips to Usher in a New Era, The Robert Half Blog, RobertHalf.com.