Tips on Writing an Annual Employee Evaluation

If there’s any job a manager loathes, next to firing a wayward employee, it’s having to think up tips on writing an annual employee evaluation for every worker in his charge. At least if the manager has to let an employee go, it’s the kind of unpleasant task that has to be attended to quickly. Not so with employee evaluations.

There is probably a manager somewhere who relishes writing up those long essays on how the workers under him have fared, but that’s a rare manager indeed. In fact, it’s much more common to find that writing an annual employee evaluation is probably the most dreaded and procrastinated task a manager undertakes. You can usually tell by the large stack of unwritten evaluations, languishing on his desk.

So what to do? How do you get up the gumption to tackle the project, but at the same time, do justice to both your underlings and yourself?

Tips on Writing An Annual Employee Evaluation

First, recognize that you have to do it, so it’s best to treat it as part of your own job, rather than a horrible chore to rush through at the last minute. You do neither yourself nor your employees a favor by putting it off until the last minute.

Keep a file of notes on your employees, with the date an event happens. This doesn’t have to be when the employee makes a mistake, which is probably something you’ll know enough to keep track of anyway.

For example, suppose a worker comes up with a timesaving idea that makes a difference in your department’s productivity. Make sure you jot that down, along with the date of when it happened.

The idea of remembering the good things your workers do, as well as the areas for improvement, will put you in a better frame of mind to start writing that evaluation.

You Don’t Have to Wait To Start

In fact, if an employee comes up with a good idea, or if he shows that he’s working hard to correct an issue he’s been having problems with, use that uplifting behavior to start the evaluation. You can always rewrite it when it’s due (if you insist on waiting until the last moment), but it’ll put you in a generous mood.

Remember, the evaluation is supposed to be a fair assessment of your employee’s work through the year. Many companies base raises and bonuses on good evaluations, and a fair-minded evaluation, taken in the right spirit, can do much to help an employee work on correcting bad habits before they become major problems.

You do you both a favor by approaching the evaluation in the right frame of mind. These tips on writing an annual employee evaluation should do much to help alleviate that burden.

Presenting the Evaluation

Make sure you set aside enough time for the employee to read the evaluation, and for both of you to discuss it. Select a quiet office where you won’t be disturbed. This is particularly important if the evaluation isn’t completely positive.

Truth be told, there are few employees who get a bad evaluation who aren’t aware that their job performance is lacking. Assuming you want to keep the worker on staff, give him a chance to digest what you’ve written, and to compose himself before you both discuss the results. 

Be Fair

Not everyone takes criticism well, but if you’ve been fair with your employee, that will do a lot to make an unpleasant evaluation easier for him to take. Your next task is to make him see that while it is serious, the issues that gave him a less than stellar rating are also behaviors that can be changed and  improved.

Your employee will take his lead from you. Make sure you give him time to reply, and make sure you listen to what he has to say.

Most problems, we think, have obvious causes. However, there is the rare case where something unforeseen can be keeping an employee from giving his job his all.

Give him a chance to “come clean” if there’s a problem. Him being open and forthright can make the situation easier for both of you to take. These tips on writing an annual employee evaluation will help.