Evaluating Employees

Employee Self-Evaluation

An employee self-evaluation can be a useful tool for annual reviews. We'll tell you why employee self-evaluations are important for your workers and how you can launch a self-evaluation process in your business.

Employee review processes are often stale, dull events with little real value or lasting impact.

It's not that employers don't think they're important - they're just unsure about how to gather the information that is necessary for a meaningful evaluation of workers with whom they have little daily contact.

Employee self-evaluations can be a helpful tool for providing the raw data necessary for a successful employee review. By requiring your employees to conduct a personal self-assessment before their annual review, you force them to reflect on their job performance and clarify their career goals. You also generate potential conversation pieces for the annual review meeting.

Although you can't rely on employee self-evaluations as the only source of information in the review process, a well-constructed self-evaluation form can make your job a lot easier and encourage your workers to become more engaged in their annual reviews. Here are some of the issues that you'll need to address in your company's self-evaluation forms.

• Job description review. Ask the employee to review their job description and to comment on whether it accurately describes their normal activities in the workplace. Discrepancies between the job description and normal activities could indicate that the job requirements have changed or that the employee has an inaccurate understanding of their role in the company.
• Job accomplishments. Self-evaluation forms should lead off with a discussion of the amount and quality of work the employee performed over the past year. Ask the employee to identify major accomplishments, goals achieved and any available metrics that demonstrate their role in helping the business achieve its strategic objectives.
• Job & career development. At some point, the self-evaluation form should give the employee a chance to discuss on-the-job growth areas and shortcomings. The purpose isn't to discourage the employee, but to give him the chance to identify career development goals and to engage him in a conversation about possible resources or opportunities.
• Personal improvement goals. In addition to career development goals, most workers have personal improvement goals that affect their performance in the workplace. Some employees may have a desire to spend more time with their families while others may be interested in continuing their education. As the employer, you can increase employee retention rates by helping your workers achieve their personal goals.
• Suggestions. Self-evaluation forms typically include space for the employee to discuss suggestions for improvement in the workplace. You might not act on their recommendations, but at least they'll know that you have listened to their suggestions.

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