What is the Difference Between Job Evaluation & Employee Evaluation?

Evaluations can make your team stronger.

The terms "job evaluation" and "employee evaluation" can be easily confused. A job evaluation and an employee evaluation, however, each has different characteristics and uses in the workplace.

Job Evaluation

Some basic characteristics that define a job evaluation are that it clearly identifies and describes the task, creates the basis for the job description document and relates to a task, not to an employee. (The employee is not evaluated.) A job evaluation also helps to identify areas of weakness in a process or job function as well as to uncover duplicated tasks, gaps or overlap among jobs.

Employee Evaluation

An employee evaluation is exactly what it sounds like: an evaluation of an employee. Employees always should be evaluated using a job description as a guide. An employee evaluation helps to measure areas of job performance that are either exceptional or in need of improvement, and it can help to establish a baseline by which to compare future evaluations. This evaluation measures the performance of an employee regarding a specific task or tasks. As such, it can help to improve a business' overall performance and identify areas that need improvement.

Benefits

Both kinds of evaluation are beneficial to organizations that want to increase productivity, employee output and general effectiveness. By evaluating both employees and the tasks they perform, an employer is able to detect weak areas and correct them. This assists in creating better output, smooth operations and, ultimately, a better bottom line.