Contents on this page:

• Things to bear in mind during a staff appraisal
• Looking back (feedback)
• The current situation (status update)
• The future (planning)
• Documenting staff appraisals

Things to bear in mind during a staff appraisal

• Telephones should be switched off.
• Raise agreed-upon issues.
• Put on hold any issues that require time to resolve and do not have a direct relation to the intentions of the appraisal. 
• Listen actively. Ensure that you understand each other. 
• Respect each other’s opinions and experiences.
• Do not make promises that will not be fulfilled.
• The conversation should take place in confidence. Agree what, if anything, will be passed on.
• End the conversation by evaluating together what worked and what can be improved on next time.

Conduct the staff appraisal from three time perspectives:

1. Looking back
2. The current situation
3. The future

Looking back (feedback) 

Follow up and give feedback on what has happened since the last staff appraisal by reviewing the previous year’s objectives and professional development plan together: 

• Evaluate the activities that were supposed to be carried out according to the last staff appraisal.
• Follow up on previously set objectives and what has affected the outcomes of these.
• Get the employee’s view of the past year.
• Give constructive feedback on work performance.
• Evaluate the interaction between manager and employee.

The current situation (status update)

Conduct a review of the current work situation together, including:

• Work duties: main tasks, own performance and results, hoped for change – are professional skills being used in the best way?
• Participation in the workplace: internal meetings, seminars, workplace meetings, active engagement, changes.
• Work situation: working atmosphere, stress, anxiety, equal treatment.
• Physical work environment: equipment, facilities, aids.
• Collaboration with others: colleagues and students.
• Conditions: resources, decision-making powers, time, influence.
• Personal responsibility: engagement, initiative, taking responsibility, treatment of others.

The future (planning)

Create a mutual understanding of the employee’s work duties and how to prioritise them, objectives and areas for development. 

The organisation’s objectives are broken down and provide a basis for the objectives of the individual. It is a good idea to discuss the organisation’s objectives beforehand in the team and make the employees familiar with the organisation’s planning. Objectives should be concrete, clear and possible to execute and follow-up.

As individual goals are set and the employee’s work duties and remit are specified, it is important to discuss the employee’s skills and professional development needs. This should then be documented in the professional development plan.

Skills, in brief:

• Consist of knowledge, ability and willingness to act.
• Are formed in the interaction between different individuals and their values.
• Develop further through personal reflection, experiences and the desire to learn.

In a broad sense, skills can be defined as the ability to cope with the various demands of a given situation in a given organisation. Skills are developed when a person is driven by curiosity, a sense of purpose and the motivation to learn.

Professional development goals can refer to both the skills needed to perform given work duties, as well as skills development that enables an employee’s career progression.

Documenting staff appraisals

On the basis of the conversation, goals for the individual are set and the professional development plan is updated (templates can be downloaded in the right-hand column). The plan is used as a basis for follow-up during the year and the following year’s staff appraisal.

As the document is the foundation for further discussions between the parties and serves as a starting point for the performance and results to be assessed in the subsequent salary review, it should be clear what the parties have agreed. Should there be a change of manager during the financial year, clear documentation makes it easier for the new manager to take over from the previous one.

Keep in mind that documentation from a staff appraisal may constitute a public document and sensitive information should not be recorded here. If there is a need to document sensitive information, this should be recorded by other means. Issues of a private nature, rehabilitation, misconduct, etc. are best raised in another conversation and documented in a manner appropriate for that purpose, for example in agreements on tests, written reprimands and so on. If in doubt, contact the HR officer at your faculty or equivalent.

Both the manager and the employee should sign the documentation to confirm that the content reflects what emerged from the conversation.