Workforce Guides

The venerable performance review remains an essential part of the managerial task list. It is vital to ensure employees receive the meaningful feedback they need to grow as a professional. Keeping your workers on the right track helps inspire their loyalty and productivity.

If you were recently promoted to management, giving performance reviews is likely a new experience. Consider these tips and insights to make the practice as productive as possible for both you and your employee.

Treat the Review Process as a Year-Long Activity

Simply putting together some employee feedback at the last minute is a poor strategy for a performance review. Tracking your staff’s work throughout the year helps you give a more meaningful assessment. Sufficient planning and effort is necessary to ensure your employee receives the constructive feedback required for their growth.

Depending on the nature of your company’s business, implementing some form of employee tracking system gives you the hard data required for a good review. This dovetails nicely with taking a year-long approach for providing employee feedback.

SMART Goals Are the Key to Optimizing Employee Performance

Of course, analyzing employee performance becomes easier when meaningful goals exist. The SMART acronym works well in this regard. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-oriented, and Time-bound.

Setting goals relevant to the employee’s office role is also essential. Annual goals need to be considered, as well as quarterly or even monthly. That latter time period is especially useful for new hires.

Make sure each employee’s goals are documented in writing. This facilitates the process for writing their annual review. It also gives your worker a roadmap to follow throughout the year.

Meet with Each Employee Every Few Months

A quick meeting every quarter helps track employee progress towards meeting their annual goals. Informal meetings suffice, especially if the worker fully understands what is expected of them. Having the goals documented along with the performance metrics mentioned earlier also helps the process.

Most importantly, you shouldn’t wait until the annual review to offer constructive feedback to your staff. Taking a year-long approach to the review process ensures everyone on the team knows where they stand. Ultimately, a more productive and engaged office is the result.

When you need additional advice on building a great team for your organization, talk with the insightful group at PrideStaff Houston. As one of the top general staffing agencies in the Southwest, we can help you reach higher levels of success. Schedule some time with us as soon as possible.