5 Common Performance Review Mistakes Managers Make

As one of Dade County’s top staffing agencies, Future Force knows that employee performance reviews play an important part in managing your people. When they understand what they’re doing right and areas to improve upon, they’ll be far more likely to meet your expectations and company goals.

But when it comes to conducting these reviews, there are many common mistakes that employers make. Here’s a look at a few so you can avoid them:

Not sending out a pre-review questionnaire.

Before your scheduled review date, you should send out a questionnaire for each employee to complete. These should include questions about their accomplishments, past feedback you’ve given, time management, short and long-term goals, and personal strengths and weaknesses.

This will get them thinking about their performance over the past year and areas where they’d like to improve or grow. As a result, you can have more productive conversation where they’re not blindsided by any of the topics you bring up.

Not scheduling a private meeting.

A performance review isn’t something you should wing or conduct on the fly. Instead, to get the most from the conversation, it should be scheduled weeks in advance in a private setting where you feel comfortable offering feedback. That way, you’ll be giving your employee plenty of time to prepare.

Not offering productive feedback.

When it comes to giving feedback, it’s tough to do when it’s negative. However, you need to handle it in a sensitive manner; not one in which you’re embarrassing your employee. If you do, they’ll either tune out or get defensive, rendering the conversation useless and harming your relationship in the long run.

Not giving employees a chance to offer their thoughts.

A review is a conversation between you and your employee. So they should be given a chance to offer their own thoughts and perspectives, especially when it comes to issues with performance and goal-setting. Don’t let it become a one-way street where it’s no longer a discussion.

Not following up.

Giving feedback and reviewing performance shouldn’t be a once-a-year event. Instead, you should be regularly monitoring performance and offering feedback on a consistent basis. When you do, your employees will better understand your expectations and how to meet them, leading to a stronger team overall.

Employee reviews are critically important since they let your workers know where they stand. Just make sure you avoid the above mistakes so they’re as productive as possible.

Need help hiring employees to review?

If you need to add to your team, but don’t have the time or resources to handle recruiting and hiring, turn to the experts at Future Force. As one of Dade County’s top staffing agencies, we can help by providing you with fast access to the high quality employees you need, whether on a full-time, part-time or temporary basis. Contact us today to learn more.