Employee evaluations shouldn’t be annual event

Small business owners with some down time this summer might be thinking about compiling annual performance evaluations for their employees.

Good idea – but don’t make the mistake of thinking that feedback and evaluations are an annual event only.

http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_2398638

”Almost as bad as not doing it is doing it only once a year and having it be just a one-time formal exercise where you sit in judgment of the employee and the employee gets defensive,” said Leigh Branham, owner of Keeping The People Inc., a human resources consulting firm.

”It should be a constant, ongoing thing,” Branham said of feedback. He said one of the major reasons why employees leave a job is because they don’t get the feedback they want and need, and ”feedback is one of the top five things that make a job satisfying.”

Gen Xers and millennials especially want feedback.

”They’re just conditioned to multitasking and getting instant feedback,” said Branham, who has written The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave.

Providing feedback and evaluations is likely to help your business run better too.

”Employees want to be good at their jobs,” said Amy DelPo, who has worked as a labor law attorney and co-authored books including Dealing with Problem Employees. ”If you can foster that desire, you’ll see a lot of good come out of that.”

Employers should give feedback and evaluations to protect themselves legally.

”It’s a good idea to have a record of how your employees are doing so you can justify the decisions you make in the workplace,” including promotions and dismissals, DelPo said. But, she said, focusing on the positive, providing feedback and evaluations means ”you’re going to head off a lot of employment problems before they begin.”

Branham and DelPo advise business owners to look at the evaluation process as two-way communication, not just an employer passing judgment on a worker – an atmosphere that is as uncomfortable for the boss as it is for the worker.

”You also can get information from employees about the workplace and make things work better,” said DelPo, whose book includes a section on performance evaluations.

Giving feedback and putting a performance evaluation together can be unfamiliar territory for a new entrepreneur. There’s help for these owners, including books that deal entirely with feedback and evaluations.

Branham has two recommendations: Abolishing Performance Appraisals: Why They Backfire and What to Do Instead, by Tom Coens and Mary Jenkins; and Coaching for Improved Work Performance, by Ferdinand F. Fournies.

If you work with a human resources consultant, that’s a natural resource. Another, and free, avenue of help can be the retired executives at SCORE, who give advice on a variety of topics including employee relations. You can reach a SCORE counselor through the organization’s Web site, http://www.score.org.

You also might want to take advantage of basic management courses offered at local colleges or Small Business Development Centers. SBDCs, which are sponsored by the Small Business Administration, can be located at http://www.sba.gov/sbdc.

Feedback and evaluations should be about goals, and how to help employees attain them. This will help keep you focused on running your business well.

”It’s not just about rating [an employee],” Branham said. ”It’s about planning what they’re going to do for the next year.”

Branham also suggests quarterly sitdowns with employees. Doing it less often means that important information can become outdated.

He again advises open communication as you set goals.
”You get the employee’s perspective, you give your perspective, merge them and come up with an action plan,” he said.

And keep the atmosphere as positive as you can. DelPo suggests encouraging workers when they’re on track to meeting their goals, and seeing what help you can offer them if they’re falling short of your expectations.

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Joyce Rosenberg writes about small business for The Associated Press.