According to an article by Chris Howard, of the Canadian Business Magazine, “No one likes performance appraisals. But if you can’t avoid them, there are ways to get by.” By appraisal values he is speaking about what happens when employees are hired and then go through the appraisal for a chance of a rise.
Most companies do not even have annual evaluations, about 45% of workers. If employees are not appraised for their achievements then they will begin to resent the company in which they work. This type of act is being called the “vanishing performance appraisal” which states that either an appraisal gets done, or it does not get done properly.
Companies are also instilling a new type of appraisal which is done not solely from the past like appraisals usually are. This appraisal would be done together and the employee would set goals for the future with their supervisor. This appraisal would also assess observable behavior rather than abstracts.
With the economy in a recession more and more companies are less likely to give their employees any form of appraisal so they will be able to maintain a positive budget. A new way to the appraisal is by having the self-appraisal concept. This concept would make the supervisor’s job much easier. Staff would check with other coworkers to determine how their performance is being ranked. When time for appraisals comes around then the employee want be as shocked if there is something nasty to be said.
A lot of companies do not seem to take appraisals very seriously and base their rewards on other merit factors. Within the organization of Oakton performance appraisals are taken somewhat seriously, but it all depends on who is your supervisor. If you have a manager who is aware of the budget and the incoming amounts then the appraisal and compensation the employee gets may be a little more difficult. Employees usually get compensated nicely for their actions throughout the year. However most supervisors do not know or remember what happened throughout the year leading up to the review.
There is a lot of cynicism surrounding performance appraisals and most of it seems well deserved. Older executives seem to take these appraisals a lot more serious then younger employees. How can this be changed so that all employees are on the same page when it comes to appraisal time? Cleaver writes “it’s no wonder, then, that mangers don’t give the appraisals-or the employees being scored-the care they deserve: a thought to consider, the next time you pen flits down that tidy column of boxes, bouncing randomly between “very good” and “excellent.”
