Writing Employee Appraisals

Writing the Appraisal

Here are three reasons why you need to be specific in writing appraisal text:

To get agreement. By backing your points up with specific examples of what the employee did or did not do, you can avoid misinterpretations and defensive reactions.
To get results. For an employee to improve performance they first need to know exactly what they did wrong.
To avoid legal trouble. If you combine vague appraisal language with an employee demotion or dismissal, a lawsuit may follow. To protect yourself and the organization, take the time to add specific examples to descriptions of below-average performance.

How to describe a problem

To describe a problem you want to solve, take the following steps:

Describe what happened.
Describe the employee's actions and the results of those actions, then explain how those results differ from desired results. Use numbers whenever possible to contrast the desired and actual results. If this is a performance issue for which you've never set agreed-upon standards, take the time to do that now.
Describe why change is needed.
Explain why performance needs to improve, and how the employee and team will benefit from that improvement.
Describe what needs to change.
Work with the employee to define what the employee will do to solve the problem.

An example of good appraisal writing

What happened: While Sally makes the effort to meet customer expectations, she sometimes promises more than she can deliver. An example of this was the Acme Widgets order in August. Because she did not notify the warehouse before promising delivery of 1200 units, the delivery was 2 days late.
Why change is needed: To increase customer confidence and promote long-term customer relationships.
What needs to change: Sally should focus on an "under-promise, over-deliver" strategy in the future and keep in closer touch with the distribution team. Specifically, she should target 100% on-time delivery in the month of November.

Working with Strengths and Areas for Improvement

Identifying key strengths and areas for improvement. The strategy is to address the two or three areas that are most closely related to the employee's ability to reach personal objectives and contribute to the team. By moving past less important issues, you can keep the employee evaluation focused on the key success topics and avoid potential negative feelings. Your goal is to identify and describe issues or problems that are:

Important.
Directly related to the employee's past actions.
Within the employee's power to solve.

Five questions to ask yourself

To identify the areas for improvement that should receive the most detailed attention, ask yourself the following questions. By answering these questions you will be better prepared to discuss the issue with the employee and address the most common objections ("It wasn't my fault", "It wasn't my responsibility", "I don't see why it's such a big deal", etc.)

Is the problem affecting the overall performance of the employee or the team?
Is this a one-time problem or a recurring problem?
Is the problem directly attributable to this employee and directly related to his/her responsibilities?
Is there anyone else who could or should have acted to prevent the problem?
Are there actions the employee can take to solve this problem in the future?

Using SuccessFactors to get results

SuccessFactors has two key features that will help you write performance appraisals that get results:

Use the Document Center (e.g. notes) to record specific examples of employee performance throughout the year. When appraisal time comes around again, you can focus on the most important issues that came up during the year, not just the things that happened in recent weeks.
Use the Writing Assistant to accurately and clearly describe the behavior.
Use the Coaching Advisor to offer specific "next-step" advice to the employee. Besides providing direct advice for the employee, the Advisor's examples can help you drill down into possible causes of a problem.