Everybody who works for you needs to know where they stand andhow they are doing compared to your expectations of them. Manycompanies have formal review systems to let employees know howtheir performances stack up. Reviews may be conducted as often asevery three months, but annual reviews are most popular.
Each review should go over the goals that were set when theemployee started the job or during the last performance evaluation.Then the review should examine how well the employee has donetoward reaching these goals. The employee should be asked to ratehis or her performance, in addition to relying on objectivemeasurements such as sales figures. You and the employee shouldthen discuss the desirability of trying to reach goals that haven’tyet been achieved, and you should both set goals for thefuture.
But reviews and evaluations are–often justifiably–viewed aslittle more than formalities that accomplish little or nothing inthe way of true feedback. To make formal evaluations go moresmoothly, and to eliminate any surprises on the employee’s part,give feedback at the time something occurs to warrant it.
