It’s that time of year again when human resources professionals everywhere begin the task of doing annual employee performance reviews. While this is a necessary aspect of planning the costs of staffing, annual reviews are also a time for employees to reflect on their performance to come up with goals for the upcoming year. It can also be an opportune time to revamp the way your company currently conducts performance reviews, so that this is not so stressful and time consuming.

In this second installment of Davis Staffing’s series on successful performance evaluations, we’ll provide more helpful hints and tips to make your job a lot easier as the HR person.

Focus on Positive. As you begin to conduct annual performance reviews, it may be tempting to have a narrow focus on what each employee has done wrong instead of looking at what the employee has done right. This can make performance reviews seem threatening to employees instead of constructive, which is what they are intended to be. Remember to provide plenty of positive feedback, which serves to motivate rather than discourage employees.

Rate for performance, not popularity. A big mistake that many HR managers make when conducting annual reviews is forgetting the basic fundamental that employees should be rated on performance, not attitudes and personalities. Giving employees higher ratings based on their popularity or great attitude is not an accurate representation of what they actually produce on the job, outside of warm feelings. Instead, review each employee’s job description and then point out areas they need to perform better in, as you compare their work for the year.

Encourage employee ideas. For many HR managers, taking the time to listen to employee ideas seems foreign during the annual performance review. However, this can be the best time for employees to share ideas on how they may improve their performance through small changes. By giving employees the chance to provide new ideas, this empowers them to want to do better. Additionally, being given the opportunity to speak freely about ideas helps to alleviate any stress associated with this process.

Provide incentives for top performers. An employee performance evaluation system without incentives is like a birthday without cake. If you want your performance to increase, then you need to provide incentives to give employees something to work towards. Think about what your employees would respond to in terms of bonuses and incentives to go above the call of duty. Make sure you have a progressive recognition program in place to reward your best performing employees. Follow up after the review process to see how well it’s working.

Looking for more ways to make your workplace a productive and positive environment? Consider all the advantages of working with a professional staffing agency like Davis Staffing.