How to Have an Employee Complete a Self-Evaluation

Attach the employee's self-evaluation to her annual review and put them in her personnel file.

Most companies require managers and supervisors to perform periodic performance reviews on employees who report to them. The assessment requires an employee's superior to document whether the employee fulfilled the requirements of his position. Prior to the annual review meeting, many companies require employees to complete a self-evaluation. As a manager or supervisor, you are responsible for informing the employee about the self-evaluation.

Things You'll Need

• Performance appraisal forms
• Documentation about employee performance

Instructions

1. Make note of when the employee's annual performance review is due. Annual reviews are generally based on an employee's anniversary date -- one year after she was hired. Other companies complete annual reviews at the same time for all employees.

2. Obtain the self-evaluation form from your human resources department. The employee likely already has a copy of the form, which was given to her. The form generally includes a set of questions the employee must answer, such as whether he understands his job expectations and whether he needs clarification, expectations for the review period and how he met them, changes he faced during the review period, his job-related strengths and weaknesses, resources he feels can help him improve his performance and his overall view of how he met his expectations, such as "outstanding," "meets expectations" or "needs improvement."

3. Give the employee the self-evaluation form -- and if applicable -- a copy of her job expectations for the review period. Allow her a reasonable time frame in which to complete and submit the evaluation. For example, depending on your schedule, you may give her the form one week before the annual review date and require that she return it to you within one business day. This will give you enough time to review the form and assess her performance accordingly.

4. Encourage the employee to be honest in his self-evaluation. For example, he may feel that admitting his weaknesses could make you think he's incapable of getting the job done. Explain to him that being truthful enables you to provide him the assistance he needs, which can help improve the company.

Tips & Warnings

• Read the employee's self-evaluation carefully before you complete her annual review. The evaluation may include accomplishments you forgot about. Specifically, it keeps you and the employee on the same wavelength and allows her to be an active participant in the review process.

• Don't just use the employee self-evaluation as the basis for your entire discussion about performance. If you have not done your own preparation, it looks like you don't care about the process or the employee. The self-evaluation can be a valuable part of your preparation but should not be your entire preparation.

References

• University of Maryland: How to Conduct the Self-Assessment
• Success Factors: How to Write an Employee Self-Assessment