What Is the Meaning of Employee Evaluation?

Employee evaluations are when managers study and assess employee performance.

Performance management is an important part of any business. According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, performance management is the strategy and process that an organization uses to involve employees and improve the organization's effectiveness in accomplishing the company's goals. A significant piece of performance management is the evaluation of employees, as this can tell business managers how employees help the company's success.

Definition

Simply put, employee evaluations are studies of how productive, efficient, effective and dedicated employees are when it comes to their work. Managers study employees over the course of a given time period and can conduct evaluations quarterly, annually or as often as the manager determines is necessary.

Function

Employee evaluations are a way for managers to assess the quality of an employee's performance and gauge how they fit in with the organization's mission. According to an August 2006 report by the University of California at Berkeley, employee evaluations can help employees understand how their performance and productivity contributes to the success of their department and the organization as a whole. Employee evaluations allow managers to identify areas of excellence and areas for improvement.

Significance

According to the University of Tennessee, employee evaluations or performance evaluations are beneficial tools to the employer and the employee because they provide feedback on the employee's efficiency and effectiveness, as well as provide career guidance.

Features

Employee evaluations contain questions about an employee's performance, time management skills, individual goals, ethical behavior, productivity, knowledge of their job and professional accomplishments. Scoring systems, such as numeric scales, are usually built into the evaluation forms.

What to Expect

Managers will conduct their evaluations, document their outcomes on an evaluation form, assign a final score and then meet with the employee to discuss the results of the evaluation. Managers usually will review their scoring methodology with their employees, so employees can see how their managers came up with the scores.

What Happens Next?

After an employee evaluation takes place, managers will forward the evaluation form to the human resources department, where the form will be filed into the employee's personnel record. How an employee scores can help determine possibilities raise, a promotion or a demotion.

References

• U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Performance Management
• University of Tennessee: Performance Evaluation
• University of California at Berkeley: Performance Appraisal