I read with interest fellow IowaBiz author Victor Aspengren’s article on Forget the Ratings in conducting annual performance reviews.  Victor points out that most companies use subjective rating systems in their performance reviews which leave everyone in the company, supervisors and employees alike, dreading the annual review process.

What happens next is what I call the Lake Wobegon effect:  Every employee becomes "above average" because supervisors are unwilling to hold employees accountable.  Then when it comes time to discipline or terminate employees companies are often shocked when I tell them it may be difficult to discipline or terminate an employee because of their employee evaluations.

Employee evaluations are valuable proof in an employment lawsuit.  Make sure poor performance is properly documented.  Otherwise, the judge or jury will not believe you when you say the employee performed poorly but all their evaluations are excellent.  You should conduct the evaluations on a regular basis, usually at least once per year.  And Victor’s ideas on creating a dialogue with your employees is on the mark as long as that dialogue is open, honest and holds employees accountable for their performance.

See also:  Considerations for Your Performance Evaluation and Employee Evaluations are Critical to Firing Decisions.

photo on flickr by Krista76