Choose the Right Method of Performance Appraisal

Every organization that has employees has to do performance appraisals on a regular basis to evaluate the employees’ performance in consideration with the standards set by the organization. When and how the performance appraisals are done by the management depends on various needs and requirements of the organization. Performance appraisal is the systematic evaluation or review of the job performance of an employee which is documented and used to identify how an employee can be rewarded or if there is any need for training and development for the employee. If an organization does not have enough human resources to deal with performance appraisals, then, this task can be outsourced to able HR agencies that can complete the job for the organization.

Performance appraisal methods:

There are various methods that are adopted by different organizations for performance appraisals. Some methods are effective for some organizations depending on the need for the performance appraisal. Each method has its own strengths and weaknesses which may make it suitable for an organization and unsuitable for another organization. An experienced HR consultant is required to understand the need for an appraisal in an organization and the method that has to be adopted. Let’s see some of the methods used in performance appraisals:

Ranking method: This method is one of the oldest and simplest one in which an employee’s performance is compared with that of the other similar employees instead of a standard performance. This method is usually preferred by the HR consultant when evaluative decisions have to be taken like who is the top performer, who has to be given a raise among a team.

Paired Comparison: In this method, an employee is compared with the other team members on a one-on-one basis which is usually done based on only one trait of the employees. In paired comparison method, the evaluator is given slips with each slip containing a pair of names and the evaluator has to select one of the two in the pair. The employee who is considered better in all the combinations of pairs the maximum times is determined as the best employee.

Grading method: In this method, the employees’ worth is determined according to certain set categories like outstanding, meeting expectations, satisfactory etc. Every employee is allocated a grade that best describes his/her performance.

Checklist method: In this method of performance appraisal, the evaluator is handed a checklist of statements that describe employee behavior on the job and these statements help in deciding the employee performance. Human resource consultancy professionals can help organizations with this kind of performance appraisal as the value of the statements may be weighted equally or some statements may carry more weight than the others.

Critical Incidents method: In this kind of performance appraisal, the manager who deals with the evaluation of an employee prepares a list of statements or incidents that show the behavior of an employee and his or her performance. The manager has to keep a record wherein the statements are recorded periodically as and when applicable. At the time of appraisal, these recorded statements whether positive or negative are evaluated to check the performance of the employee.

Though this is not a comprehensive list of the various methods used by different HR agencies for performance appraisals, these are some of the common methods. Each and every organization needs a different method of performance appraisal to be adopted depending on its needs and purpose of the appraisal. Consult our experts at Accuprosys, the best human resource consultancy in Hyderabad that can solve all your appraisal issues.