Recently, annual performance appraisals have been a topic of debate for experts. While a team of expert claims it as an important aspect, the other team has challenged its credibility openly. There was a third group of experts that quotes the traditional appraisals approach as the best technique to evaluate the credibility of an employee.
The critics state that an appraisal is a complete waste of time, efforts and money and are completely ineffective. They also claim that this process is a major threat to the relationship between an employee and his line manager. A research states that out of 2500 companies surveyed, 8 percent companies believe that their annual performance evaluation technique was quality result oriented while resting 58% companies claimed that it wasn’t an exercise worth time and efforts.
The results were similar in case of employees. The result says three out of 10 employees feel unfair and five feel that there were no objectives and expectations.
So what does this mean, should companies ditch the appraisal process completely or revive them to match the current needs of 21st century.
According to a report of CIPD, Companies which ditched appraisal completely felt lack of motivation and lower level of performance on employees hence ditching appraisals completely is not a wise decision.
In terms of performance, UK is already stepping behind other European countries, at such a stage, taking the decision of scrapping conventional appraisal can be a devastating step.
The views:
The experts say that no matter how you conduct your appraisals, it is important to assure that the employees are well motivated and connected with the management and thus feel satisfied in their job. Most of the experts also claim annual appraisals are a vital tool for keeping the workforce alive and thus must not be scrapped altogether rather must be reformed to become more aligned.
The old, manual process is claimed to be flawed and off road. However, the companies are more inclined towards paper based performances and use paper & pen techniques to appraise their employees.
The experts recommend that using a latest, technology based system is the best approach to make employees feel satisfied. It is a quick, transparent and time-saving method to opt. Adapting a cloud based performance appraisal system allows the organizations to evaluate their employees in an objective based manner.
A 360 degree feedback mechanism is also another effective way to ensure that the managers and the employees remain on the same page. In the conventional approaches only the immediate managers were considered to offer the feedback to the management but with these evolving systems, feedback from HR, colleagues and other managers is taken into consideration.
Understanding the system:
It is important that the organizations understand the value of appraisals as well as the secrets of its effectiveness. It is not only a way to evaluate the employees and guide them but also a way to help the employees sort out their issues and overcome the obstacle.
Annual performance appraisals are essential but it is not wise to rely on a single process completely. They should have other reforms to regulate and measure performances for organizational efficiency.
