Your Ultimate Guide to Year-End Reviews

A year-end review assesses an employee’s performance over time, recognizes achievements and goes over areas for development and improvement. When properly set up and approached as an ongoing conversation, year-end appraisals become part of the continuous performance management system throughout your organization. Your employees and you can reflect on their self-evaluation and your assessment and plan for future development. Here’s your ultimate guide to year-end reviews.

Topics

Talk about a variety of topics in year-end reviews. For instance, discuss how each employee displays company values in their approach to work. Focus on subjects that matter most to your team. Bring up role-related questions that evaluate job-specific competencies relevant for each employee’s level in the company. Discuss company goals to see what was planned and achieved and what went off course. Focus on whether the goals were too easy or difficult, which coaching is needed to improve development and whether the context of the goals is clear and relevant for the business.

Self-Assessment

Provide each employee with a self-assessment well before year-end reviews. Share the information on the self-assessment so employees have time to prepare. They need to know which topics will be addressed so they can add to the discussion.

Collaboration

Encourage an open conversation with each employee. They should have completed a self-assessment that considered peer feedback and recognition received over the last period to provide a balanced picture of performance. Promoting discussion about an employee’s self-assessment encourages autonomy and responsibility going into the talk. You provide coaching and suggestions from your experience to help the employee develop.

Honesty

Allow each employee to acknowledge what they improved without fearing punishment. You’ll promote trust in both you and the company. Point out what’s been going well and specific ways the employee can improve. Celebrate employee wins to show support.

Action Plan

Determine what action each employee should take to improve performance. For instance, share company goals and how they apply to individual staff. Outline steps to achieve them. Offer training and support. Provide clear measurements for success.

Outcomes

Establish what will happen with each employee’s information after year-end reviews. Include who will see the review and what each employee is expected to do. Being transparent about the process and following up on the actions you agreed to take promote trust and respect.

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