Employee Evaluations

hshvbm · January 2003

We are conducting employee evaluations and are wondering if it is proper or advisable to request that our employees provide self evaluations and/or job descriptions (perceived).
We believe this information will be valuable but anticipate reluctance on the part of some employees.
Any advise?

Parabeagle · January 2003

We don't self-evaluate in my current company but I have worked at companies where that was done. Interestingly, at least in my experience, it seemed that employees rated themselves lower than their supervisors most of the time. The nice thing about that was that it gave the supervisor and employee the opportunity to discuss possible reasons behind the disparity and some valuable communication usually resulted.

The only time it got sticky was when the employee rated themselves higher than his/her supervisor did.

NaeNae55 · January 2003

Parabeagle, your response surprised me. I used to do the self-evalution appraisals when I was a department supervisor. The employees did their own appraisal while I did one on them. (Then I compared the two and did a final evaluation which combined our notes.) The employee's appraisal ALWAYS came back higher than I rated them. I also remember reading a study that showed that nearly all employees think they are above average employees. This has been my experience as well.

The self-evaluation appraisal worked good for us though, as the employees remembered the good stuff which I had forgotten, and I was able to remind them of the bad stuff which they had forgotten while keeping the appraisal positive.

Good luck!

Parabeagle · January 2003

Interesting, NaeNae! Exactly the opposite of my experience. Maybe it's because we only hired employees who tested positive for defeatist tendencies! Just kidding, kidding!!

Margaret Morford · January 2003

My experience also has been that employees will rate themselves the same as their managers (or lower) 99% of the time. That other 1%, we are always having problems with. However, I do not recommend that you have the employees fill out the same form as their supervisors. Many employees become focused on the fact that their form must look similar to the manager's form or they have gotten the assignment wrong. They wind up just guessing what their manager would say about their performance rather than really evaluating their own work.

I also recommend that the employee do a Self Appraisal before the supervisor begins to write the Performance Appraisal. The supervisor should use this Self Appraisal to write the Performance Review. This helps begin a dialogue between the employee and the supervisor about what the employee's last year of work has looked like and gives the employee feedback into their own Performance Appraisal. Many times employees will help the manager write their own Performance Appraisal by filling out a Self Appraisal beforehand. This also insures that the manager does not forget any accomplishments that the employee may remember. In addition, the manager has plenty of warning in advance of the Performance Appraisal Conference that the employee sees his/her performance significantly higher (That 1% mentioned above) than the manger does and the manager doesn't get blindsided in the Conference. At least, it gives the manager some warning and allows the manager to prepare.

I have a very simple, unintimidating ten question Self Appraisal Form I'll send you if you e-mail me.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]

sonny · January 2003

My experience has been as parabeagles. . .ee rates themselves lower. The exception? EE who are doing well or have the holier than thou syndrome. I like them being a part of the process, personally. They can be a starting point for discussion with superviosr and ee.

ThomasG · January 2003

We have all our employees fill out their evaluations first and relook at their job descriptions every year when they do their evaluations and comment about what may have changed or has not in the last year.

Works well

Employee Evaluations

Comments