Performance reviews shouldn’t leave employees dreading their meetings with their managers: employers can improve this by adapting new, more constructive ways to evaluate employees to create an effective review. However, knowing what type of performance review will work best for your business can be hard to pinpoint, as there is no one-size-fits-all approach to evaluating and appraising employees for their work.
This article will review and summarize common employee review types that can help boost your employees’ future performance, workplace morale, and effectively track and record key employee metrics tied to their overall performance.
An employee performance review, sometimes referred to as a performance appraisal, aims to assess the quality of the employee’s work and their overall contribution to the company. Providing insightful feedback that supports the employee’s professional development is the core of a performance review.
Traditionally, these are the core aspects of any employee performance review:
There are several ways employers can choose to deviate from a classic employee performance review, some types offering different
Some of the most effective employee performance review types include:
Tracking and managing employee performance throughout is best done with a performance management solution that leverages automation tools and charts to measure employee development.
What is it: OKRs are goals set by an individual employee or a team of employees to achieve using quantifiable performance metrics to gauge success on the goal set. OKRs are designed to monitor goal achievement progress using clear-cut metrics, emphasizing employee accountability and transparency of their work, and encouraging employees to upskill to achieve their set goals.
Example: A sales rep sets a quarterly OKR goal to increase the quarterly sales of a certain product by 15% compared to last quarter. The sales rep will want to evaluate the quarter-over-quarter sales revenue of the product, the number of units sold, and the percentage change in sales.
Best used for: OKRs can be used in many different ways, whether they will be evaluated regularly (annual, semi-annual, etc.) or on an infrequent basis to check in on employees or teams. Any performance review designed to set regular goals will benefit from utilizing OKRs.
Tech companies, start-ups, and non-profit organizations benefit the most from performing OKR performance reviews. Employees in sales, marketing, or supply chain management are just some employee positions that frequently use OKRs for their review.
What is it: MBO performance reviews are similar to OKRs, only these goals are set collaboratively between employees and managers, usually privately and more tailored to an individual employee. MBOs generally are flexible towards qualitative and quantitative results, depending on the goal.
Examples:
Best used for: Any organization or role can utilize MBO performance reviews as long as the business can schedule ample time to discuss the goals being set and what metrics to look for to achieve success.
What is it: For a more independent approach to the performance review, a self-assessment review is generally done annually only by the employee, and is designed to allow the employee to reflect on their overall work, reviewing their accomplishments and areas for improvement.
Example:
These examples are from the perspective of a software engineer:
Best used for: Having employees fill out a self-evaluation performance review can work in nearly any role or any field, as it encourages employees to evaluate their strengths, weaknesses, and accomplishments before meeting with a manager. However, employees who have more independent roles, creative roles, or are managers themselves would benefit the most from this style of performance review.
What is it: This employee performance approach is focused on discussions and feedback from peers in the workplace, managers/supervisors, and any other administrative employees that may be involved. Generally, 360 feedback reviews are often done anonymously for each participating peer or manager. The actual review itself includes a questionnaire about the employee being evaluated, typically with rating scales on certain subjects and a chance to provide direct comments.
Example: A lead team coordinator’s performance evaluation would include feedback from their:
The feedback each person provided involves the lead coordinator’s leadership skills, collaboration, and critical thinking skills, to name a few.
Best used for: 360 Feedback Reviews can be a worthwhile addition to any employee performance review, though, unlike self-assessments, 360 feedback reviews are particularly beneficial for employees who work closely in teams. Employees who spend a considerable time working together will have a lot of insightful feedback for the members closely tied to their group.
Customer service representatives, event coordinators, and web developers are all examples of employees typically working in teams that would benefit most from this style of performance review.
What is it: Depending on the job role, some employees are evaluated by their clients or customers directly, whether it’s through testimonials or reviews posted on websites or forums. This performance review builds off of the 360 feedback review, but only focuses on what customers and clients have to say.
Feedback from customers can also be structured in a questionnaire format and can be used to evaluate quantifiable results from the employee evaluated, such as a Net Promoter Score (NPS) or a Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT).
Example: A waitress’s performance is measured through customer satisfaction surveys and direct client comments over a semi-annual period, with goals such as maintaining a CSAT score of 4.5/5 or higher and achieving an NPS of +50 or above.
Best used for: This particular feedback approach to employee performance generally only works for job roles where the employee is directly interacting with customers or clients. Waitstaff, account managers, customer support reps, and sales reps are prime examples of employees with job roles that best fit a customer-aggregated performance review.
What is it: A more casual and sporadic performance review; check-ins are short, informal meetings that focus on the employee’s goals, company goals, and overall performance to gauge long-term results. Each check-in, the manager should refer back to the discussion from the last check-in to gauge changes between the two periods.
Even though check-ins are largely informal, it’s important for managers to track these discussion points as notes to help reference the progress for the employee being evaluated.
Example: A product designer meets with their manager periodically every 2 weeks for a 20-minute check-in to discuss current project progress, challenges encountered, and any support they need to stay on track. Each meeting builds on the last, following the gradual progress of the project.
Best used for: Check-ins are very versatile performance review types, often being used in fast-paced working environments or for new/onboarding employees. Most job roles can benefit from check-ins as the informal nature eases both employees and managers when it comes to time spent per evaluation and the stress of a more in-depth performance review.
The only job roles that may not benefit from a check-in approach include employees with long-term project cycles, such as research scientists and academic scholars.
What is it: A behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS) performance review emphasizes employee behavioral patterns and includes a mix of qualitative and quantitative data that represents specific behaviors to a certain number grade.
Example: A call center employee’s “Customer Greeting” skill is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, where a 5 is defined as:
Best used for: The strengths of a BARS performance review often come in the form of matching the raw data of the review with the behavior observed, creating less bias when evaluating the employee. Employers evaluating job roles that do not have defined ways to measure success will find this performance review approach helpful, such as measuring an employee's knowledge of a specific program or understanding the quality of an employee’s tasks at hand.
There are many ways employers can measure employee performance and overall success, no matter their job role or industry. Mixing and matching different types of performance reviews throughout the year or scheduling them regularly can make a substantial impact on your employees, which can elevate the entire workforce's performance and culture.
If you need more insight or need help implementing these performance review methods into your performance management process, contact us today.