Ideas for Writing Performance Reviews

By Curt Smothers

Writing a performance review is probably the most important task any supervisor or manager has. That is because the written review becomes the most important element in the employee’s documented work history.  Supervisors and managers need to take great care with performance evaluations, which are much, much more than a periodically annoying administrative task.

Many organizations have their own format or performance review forms, but the advice below can be tailored to about every employee evaluation situation. Here are some suggestions in writing performance reviews.

1. Speak to the employee’s actual work performance in terms of accomplishment of the organization’s (the company, the department) goals and mission. After all, the employee is paid to contribute to and support that mission.

2. Describe how the employee met (or fell short of) mutually agreed upon objectives and goals that you and the employee set at the beginning of the period covered by the evaluation. To do this, of course, you should have already confered with the employee and agreed upon what those goals and objectives are. Before the aforementioned goal setting session, ask the employee to bring a personal list of the goals and accomplishments that the employee would like to be evaluated on.

3. Describe how the employee contributes to morale and teamwork. Include a description of how the employee gets along with coworkers both inside and outside the local work area. What do other workers and supervisors say about the employee? Make some calls and confer with others whose good opinion you value.

4. If applicable, evaluate the employee’s written and verbal communication skills. How does this employee represent you and your organization during telephone calls, contacts with the public, etc.? Has the employee’s writing contributed in any way to how well your organization runs?

5. Evaluate the employee’s potential to assume greater responsibilities. Describe situations where the employee actually worked “above pay grade” to accomplish difficult and time-sensitive tasks and projects. As a supervisor you are a mentor and responsible for developing your subordinates. A positive evaluation in this area will ensure the employee’s continued loyalty and help groom a future leader and continuing contributor to your organization.

A word on unsatisfactory performance evaluations

If you have done the initial goal setting with the employee as described above, but the employee has failed to meet both expected goals or even minimum work standards described in the employee's position description (if any), it may be your unpleasant duty to write an unsatisfactory evaluation. Here are some tips:

1. Base the evaluation on a factual description of either failure to meet normal job expectation or lack of accomplishment of organizational goals and objectives. Include specifics that are backed up by quantifiable performance measurements. 

For example, the employee was late for work x times with an average lateness of at least x minutes. Or the employee failed to meet x job deadlines with consequences that affected the organization in specific ways.

2. Make sure the employee is well aware of an impending unsatisfactory evaluation. That awareness must be through appropriate and timely counseling that is appropriate and documented in a manner prescribed by your organization. It may be a letter of warning or even a special performance evaluation. Whatever form that counseling takes, it is vital that it occurs before the employee’s record is damaged by an unsatisfactory evaluation.

The bottom line

So writing a performance evaluation is not a task that supervisors should take lightly. It needs to be done thoughtfully and well. A performance evaluation is the very best leadership and management tool you have to document and reward good and loyal performance. It is an employee counseling and development tool that is indispensable to any well-run organization.