Types of Employee Evaluations

Employee evaluations are used to gauge the performance level of an employee. The type of employee evaluation should be determined based on the role of the employee within a company. As an example, a 360-degree review gives a manager's employees the opportunity to express how effective they feel their manager is in helping them succeed and do their jobs.

Top-Down Employee Evaluations

The term "top-down" means that someone above the employee in rank is preparing the employee's performance review. Having the direct supervisor prepare and give the review is most effective practice, as that manager is available to answer any questions that the employee might have about how he was evaluated and what he can do to improve in each area. Some companies have a member of the human resources department present the reviews and then relay any questions that can't be answered to the manager. Other companies have the manager give the top-down employee review with a member of human resources present as well to answer any human resources-related questions based on the review.

Matrix Employee Evaluations

A matrix employee reviews gives multiple managers an opportunity to evaluate the employee's performance. Each manager rates the employee on a set of scores and then the scores are averaged for a total score in each category. Matrix employee reviews work well for companies in which multiple managers work together managing a team, an employee changes managers in the middle of a review period or employees are shared between different teams or departments.

Peer-to-Peer Employee Evaluations

Peer-to-peer employee evaluations are completed by coworkers at the same level as the employee being evaluated. This type of review is a solution to the issue that some employees raise, saying a manager is too far removed from their role and does not understand the challenges that employees face in the job on a day-to-day basis. This can also be beneficial if a manager joins a company with managerial experience but has never done the job of the employees that he is supervising. There are negatives about peer-to-peer evaluations, including the chance that coworkers will rate each other unfairly if they are in competition for a raise or promotion with one of the other employees doing the rating.

360-Degree Employee Evaluations

360-degree employee evaluations allow multiple people that employees work with to give feedback on the employee instead of just the manager. The manager has input, but the 360-degree review is conducted by the human resources department to get the input from others. This allows both coworkers and subordinates of the employee to give input for the review without fear of repercussion. The employees providing input are commonly allowed to remain anonymous in exchange for their input. Other individuals that will be asked for input on the employee's performance as well could include customers and outside vendors that interact with the employee on a regular basis. The scores are tabulated and scored by the human resources department and presented to the employee by the human resources department.

Self-Assessment Employee Evaluations

Employees can fill out a self-assessment evaluation before being given any of the reviews listed in this article. By completing a self-assessment, the employee and evaluator can compare notes in each of the categories used for scoring. This can be especially useful when it is revealed that a manager and employee's evaluation in a category are significantly different. By thinking critically about his own performance during the review, an employee can discuss areas of improvement that he would like additional training in. Sometimes an employee can be pleasantly surprised when he finds that he evaluated himself much tougher than a manager did.