Employee Evaluations help employers and employees clearly outline employment expectations. Evaluations cover job goals and performance expectations as well as employee' qualities such as quality of work, timeliness, creativity and communications skills.

Scheduled Employee Performance Evaluations are an opportune time for an employer or manager and their employee to sit down and discuss job expectations, pressure points, pathways to promotions, communication issues, timelines and more.

Other names for an Employee Evaluation:

Job Evaluation Form, Employee Performance Evaluation, Performance Review, Employee Review Form, Employee Appraisal Form

What is the purpose of an employee evaluation?

Most are used to monitor progress, define job roles, set goals and to acknowledge accomplishments. It is a time for employers (or managers) and employees to sit down and have an open discussion about job expectations and goals. Some are combined with yearly raises or performance pay increases, as well.

Ultimately, you define the purpose of the review. Are they intended to discuss merit and raises? Are they to define job roles and performance goals? Are they to discuss pathways to promotion? Is it a way for measuring quarterly progress? Whatever you decide, keep your review consistent and comparable across time to make the most of their usefulness.

Topics covered in our Employee Evaluation Forms

Our forms provide many topics that you can include in your employee review. You can even easily create customized forms per job title. Our Employee Evaluation Forms allow you to rate and comment on the following topics:

• Attitude
• Planning and scheduling
• Quality of work
• Timeliness
• Judgment
• Initiative
• Communication
• Cooperation
• Creative thinking
• Punctuality and attendance
• Training and evaluation
• Communication and execution of goals and objectives
• Leadership qualities
• Personnel utilization
• Company policies

At the end of the document you can cover topics that relate to performance, goals and how progress will be tracked, using these sections:

• Major activities and objectives
• Accomplishments
• Progress
• Recommendations

How often should performance reviews occur?

Most often employers perform employee reviews annually. If you have a lot of employees, it may help to perform the reviews around their hire date rather than everyone at once. Some employers choose to perform reviews more often, such as every six months. Many managers have also found benefits from scheduling short check-ins more often throughout the year to work on goals and discuss roadblocks.

Should reviews be combined with raises and promotions?

Increasingly employers are deciding to not tie reviews with annual raises or promotions. One reason is that it helps employees focus on their performance and goals rather than their possible raise. Either way, you'll need to have raises addressed in your budget. Regardless of how you decide to distribute raises, make sure your employees understand if and when raises are to occur so they are not confused about what to expect with their employee evaluation.

Tips for performing an effective employee review

The best way to perform a good review varies by company and job title, but here are a few general tips to help all managers strive to provide the best employee review.

Define the expectations of the review. Employees should know what the purpose of the review is and that it is not just a formality, but a genuine effort to communicate and improve their contributions to the company. You may even provide them self-evaluation worksheets in advance and invite them to bring questions for you.

Be as honest as possible. Your employees will likely have questions about salary, career paths and the future of the company. Try to answer their questions as honestly and professionally as possible without being misleading. You will benefit from learning in advance what type of information you can release about these topics.

Avoid surprises. An employee should not be hit with any unexpected surprises during the review about performance issues or job expectations. Communications should be ongoing, so they are always aware of what is expected of them and they should know how to (and feel comfortable) relating barriers to production issues to you as they occur.

Take notes throughout the year. It is difficult to remember everything about every employee. You'll be able to put together a better evaluation if you keep notes throughout the year and use them for reference.

Include quantifiable metrics and timelines. Ambiguous goals and deadlines are nearly impossible to meet. Attempt to create reachable goals and deadlines. You may have more success if you work on this section with your employee so you can create goals that they also believe are obtainable.

Is it legal to ask employees to not share salary information?

This is a sticky topic for a lot of companies. Many companies would rather not have salaries shared for a variety of reasons, but can you legally ask your employees to not discuss their salary and raises? As most legal questions are answered, it depends. A 2014 Executive Order called the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) says employers may not prohibit employees from discussing compensation. However, not all jobs are protected under the NLRA.

Additionally, it is also difficult to restrain your employees from posting to anonymous job sites. If you are unsure whether your employees are protected or if additional state laws may apply, you can ask a lawyer for advice about local employment laws.

Interested in learning more about conducting reviews and how to communicate with employees? Check out our HR Guide for additional information. You'll also find numerous employer-employee agreements and document templates in our Employer section of Rocket Lawyer.