Streamlining An Appraisal Workflow: 5 Tips

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Performance appraisal time is one of the most stressful times in a company. Organization and rewarding the right people are key to making appraisals effective. That’s why it’s important to have a streamlined appraisal workflow.

A workflow is a great way to ensure that you and your team are doing anything and everything to save time and improve efficiency in the company. So, when you place a workflow in your appraisals, then said appraisals can be more effective whenever it comes time to congratulate employees for their hard work.

With that in mind, we will first show you why streamlining an appraisal workflow is key, and then explain 5 helpful tips on creating such a workflow.

Why Having An Appraisal Workflow Matters

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First, why is an appraisal workflow for your company. In truth, there are four major reasons:

• First, one appraisal per year is simply not enough – not when you have more than one person working for you.
• Every employee is different. Therefore, your employees shouldn’t be treated like commodities.
• While there are many factors to consider when evaluating your employees, again, every employee is different. You don’t want to send the wrong message to employees. AND;
• Not everyone has the time or energy to actually congratulate people for their hard work.

Now, these are only a few things to think about when talking about appraisals. There are many other factors to consider with appraising your employees.

With that said, an appraisal workflow can do wonders for your company. In this way, all of your employees will be appreciated and accounted for in the company.

Here are 5 helpful tips on streamlining a good appraisal workflow:

1. Hire Someone To Assist With The Appraisal

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“Before streamlining an appraisal workflow, you’ll need to appoint someone to oversee that workflow,” says Jesse Calloway, a project manager at Dissertation Services and Subjecto. “Rather than simply hiring a typist to type out reports for the appraisal, you’ll need to consider hiring an appraisal assistant. Typical, an appraisal assistant does more than type out the appraisal. They also tackle other duties like managing email and phone inquiries, creating files, conducting preliminary research, scheduling appointments, and delivering the report. In this case, the appraisal assistant will be wearing many hats when ensuring that this workflow sees the light of day.”

2. Address Any Challenges

No company is perfect, and neither is anyone in your workforce. In fact, challenges happen on a regular basis. So, how can you ensure that your company won’t be bombarded with challenges, especially when it comes to appraisals?

First, you must address any challenges that come with appraisals. Ask yourself these questions:

• Who in the company isn’t getting much attention?
• How do you define a “good employee”?
• How can you reward people effectively for their hard work?
• What do employees suggest to make appraisals more desirable?

Asking yourself these questions allow you to be open and honest with employees, and help to create a more positive environment in the company.

3. Update Goals Regularly

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Goals are essential parts of a company. In fact, things like project management require that you set goals for the company. This is so that things can stay on track, and people know what to do throughout the course of a project.

Therefore, like anything else in the company, you have to have a set of goals for appraisals. Without any goals set, you’ll risk giving out appraisals blindly. Remember: You’re looking at how employees are performing in their works.

In addition, you’d want there to be a routine or a cycle in place, so that employees know what to expect when appraisals are being issued. If you see a lot of employees unable to keep up with the standards proposed by that cycle or routine, then take the time to change it up some.

4. Be A Good Listener

Another thing to remember is that you – management – must listen to your workforce.

The truth is, listening is an important part of effective collaboration and communication. As a major part of building an agile team, listening is essential to collaboration and communication. Why is that?

While it’s important for people to listen to you, you should still give them that courtesy in return. In fact, appraisals come from what you’re expecting of them. In that case, they’re trusting that you’ll listen to them, when it comes to feedback, concerns, and so on.

Therefore, always be a good listener to your employees. Chances are, they can be valuable sources for great advice, or simply great people to talk to on your off-time. In this way, you can get a good sense of his or her character.

5. Don’t Apply Pressure With Career Opportunities And Salaries

Finally, understand that money isn’t the only thing that employees will work for. In fact, employees want validation – a sense of being appreciated for their work.

“While career opportunities and salaries are great perks to motivate employees, those things can actually work against your appraisal workflow,” says Christine Walters, a business blogger at Resumention and Gradeonfire. “So, rather than using career opportunities and salaries to get the ball rolling in a carrot/stick approach, focus on the problem areas at hand. By showing the ‘gray areas’ in the appraisal that need attention, you’re allowing employees to learn what needs to be done. Instead of them expecting rewards for working, they get a chance to earn said rewards by putting in honest time and effort.”

Conclusion

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As you can see, performance appraisals help you to develop your employees. Therefore, having a workflow that works to maintain good appraisals in your company.

So, just to recap:

• Hire someone to handle appraisals.
• Solve any issues.
• Set relevant goals regularly.
• Listen to everyone on your team. AND,
• Don’t solely rely on career opportunities and salaries to entice employees.

Keep these tips in mind, and you’ll be able to streamline an appraisal workflow in no time! Good luck!

Need more help? Check out the Zentao blog. They have more articles on project management tools, software management, building cross-functional teams, and so much more.

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Author bio :

Jenny Han is a writer and editor at Student Writing Services. As a content writer, she writes articles about tech and marketing conferences, consults businesses, and workflows.