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Why Real Employee Reviews Matter

We all do it. Whether we are booking a holiday, buying a car or the latest smartphone, or looking for a reliable trades person. Reviews matter and we believe them.

But now they’re filtering into the world of work.

The trend for checking reviews before making significant purchases is filtering into the world of work, according to new research by BPS World. It found that jobseekers are increasingly reliant on researching their potential employers online and keen to have a number of job offers on the table before making their decision.

The survey found that more than three quarters of employees (79%) would check out an employer online before accepting a job offer, and 74% of employers doing the same when hiring someone. Facebook ranked the second most likely place a potential employee with LinkedIn and Glassdoor proving less popular choices. Researching potential employers online seems to be a recent trend, with 62% of employees admitting they didn’t check out their current employer before accepting their job offer.

Simon Conington, Founder and MD of BPS World said:

These findings suggest that the open, consumer-led platform of Facebook is preferred for creating a truer picture of what the potential employer could be like, in a similar way to the ‘traveller’s own photos’ on TripAdvisor. There is an honesty about what people share online that often isn’t reflected in the way a company presents its employer brand.

This research proves just how discerning both bosses doing the hiring, and those applying for jobs now are. Both bosses and employees therefore need to think about how their company and themselves are talked about and presented online, and if there’s anything negative, controversial or inflammatory then they need to get it resolved or removed. Ignoring it could mean companies miss out on hiring a talented team member, or that an employee loses out on landing their dream job.

So how can you make sure your employees say nice things about your company? Here are 4 expert tips for you.

1. Be human

Steve Ward, Talent Attraction Strategist, says:

The greatest way to get authentic employee reviews, is to ensure you have an environment that genuinely allows employees to express themselves, be human, and be key contributors in business progress and exposure projects. When companies recognise the need to consider programmes with ‘bottom-up’ in mind, it engages the people at all levels, and when regular employees are the stars of the show, they demonstrate greater authentic pride, and inclined to amplify positively.

2. Educate and encourage

Shaunda Zilich, Global Employment Brand Leader at GE, says:

Educate employees on what candidates are seeing out there before they walk into the company.  Let them know the numbers (traffic, reach, engagement) on reviews (example: over 80% of candidates now look at reviews before making a decision on employment).   I am still amazed at how many of our employees are not aware of these sites or don’t realize how popular they are.

Encourage transparency.  I don’t solicit for reviews with our employees but I do encourage transparency.  This is the reason review sites are so popular and usually the more reviews that are left the more real the story is.

3. Get reviews from current employees

Phil Strazzula, Founder of NextWave Hire, says:

Many times reviews on employee sites are from disgruntled people since there isn’t a mechanism to get reviews from the typical employees in your company (hotels have done a great job of getting their patrons to leave reviews on TripAdvisor by emailing everyone after their stay, so it’s not just the people who had bed bugs).  So, my advice to companies is not to over think it, and simply remind everyone in the company every 6-12 months that reviews are a good way to attract talent and if they have a few extra minutes to please take time to write something.

4. Timing is everything

Will Staney is the Founder & Principal Consultant at Proactive Talent Strategies and says:

The idea is to get your employees to review the company around various company milestones. One of the ways I’ve done this in the past as a TA leader is to incorporate Glassdoor into onboarding practices by asking employees in each new hire class to leave a review of their interview experience.

Other ways I’ve done this is while congratulating an employee on their work anniversary (“Congrats on 1 year at ABC Company! Now that you’re a veteran here, do you mind sharing your experience working here on Glassdoor?”) or when someone is promoted (“Congrats on your promotion! As an example of an employee that is truly making an impact and exuding our values, we would love if you’d take a moment to share your experience and what’s made you successful here on Glassdoor).

Finally, as a follow up to a company event you could send an email out encouraging employees to upload photos from the event to the company Glassdoor page. You might find that while they are there, they leave a review as well.

The Surprising Impact Former Employees Have On Glassdoor Ratings

Whether your company is a tech titan or start up, for-profit or non-profit, job candidates are checking out your Glassdoor ratings. Find out the surprising way former employees impact reviews that influence your recruiting efforts.

Topics: Alumni Management, Recruiting

Whether your company is a tech titan or start up, for-profit or non-profit, job candidates are checking out your Glassdoor ratings. According to a 2016 survey, 70% of people now look to Glassdoor reviews and ratings before making any career decisions. Given the importance of Glassdoor to the jobs market and its impact on employers’ brands, PeoplePath decided to take a closer look at the underlying data. What we discovered surprised us. Maybe it will surprise you, too!

Everyone knows that employees can leave anonymous reviews on Glassdoor. What isn’t as widely known is that former employees can post as well. You need to look closely to see that every review indicates whether it was posted by a current or former employee. We wanted to know if you can break a company’s star ratings out by current and former employees? If yes, then you could measure the relative influence of the two groups on the employer brand.

Sample case

Let’s use Amazon as an example. As you can see in the graphic, Amazon has 20,674 reviews posted on Glassdoor as of March 26, 2018. By clicking on Rating Trends, you access a Ratings and Trends dashboard that summarizes topline information. After looking over the dashboard and reading some reviews, it’s likely most job candidates stop here.

In our analysis, we first removed part-time employees, leaving 19,351 reviews. Next, we filtered the reviews for current employees (12,771 reviews or 66%). Logically, the remaining posts are by former employees (6,580 reviews or 34%). Using basic algebra, we calculated the average ratings for both current and former employees.

If we focus on Glassdoor’s three primary metrics – Overall rating, Recommend to a friend, and Approve of CEO, for brevity purposes, it’s apparent there is a significant difference between current and former employee reviews. For a summary of all the ratings, please see the table at the end of this post.

Threat or opportunity?

Are the results for Amazon typical? In short, yes.

We noticed after analyzing many companies’ rankings on Glassdoor that former employees’ ratings are always lower than current employees’. In many cases, like Amazon, meaningfully lower. Intuitively, this makes sense since they are no longer with the company. However, it also presents an opportunity. If you raise the reviews posted by former employees, it boosts the combined ratings posted on Glassdoor that are viewed by millions of interested job candidates.

Continuing this line of thinking, we wondered if formal alumni programs have a positive impact on companies’ Glassdoor reviews. We didn’t have to go too far to find an exemplar company since I started the Microsoft® Alumni Network in June 1995. It was also helpful for our analysis that both companies are headquartered in Seattle, are in the tech sector, and have the same relative number of total reviews, as well as the split between current and former employee reviews.

For Amazon, the split between current and former employee reviews was 66% and 34% respectively; while Microsoft had a 63% for current employees and 37% for former employees. It should be noted that Amazon does not have a formal alumni program and neither company is a PeoplePath client.

Here’s Microsoft’s Glassdoor dashboard before we started our analysis.

After applying Glassdoor filters and doing the math, we arrived at the breakdown between current and former Microsoft employees (see table). The Overall rating is the same for current and former employees, as is the Approve of CEO rating, and there is only a small difference between the willingness to Recommend to a friend. So, one could reason that, at least in Microsoft’s case, having a formal corporate alumni program has had positive impact on its Glassdoor reviews.

Anomaly or trend?

Does the difference between Amazon and Microsoft represent an anomaly or a trend?

An examination of the Fortune 1000 companies that have formal alumni programs reveals that all of them have higher Glassdoor reviews from their former employees, like Microsoft, than their peers without alumni programs, like Amazon.

The table below summarizes the averages for companies with alumni programs and without alumni programs. According to Glassdoor, the average company rating on Glassdoor is 3.5. Companies without an alumni program that we examined have slightly higher reviews than the average for the site. On the other hand, companies with an alumni program have a 17% higher rating than the overall average for Glassdoor.

How to take advantage of the findings

In today’s hypercompetitive world, companies need every advantage they can create to attract and retain the top talent. Having a thriving alumni program communicates to both your current and former employees that you care about them while they’re with you and after they leave. Apparently, that message is heard loud and clear. Are you listening?

Complete Summary of Glassdoor Reviews for Amazon and Microsoft

*Amazon and Microsoft are registered trademarks of the respective parties.

How to Ask Employees for Company Reviews

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When I’m scrolling through the web on my phone, I often land on websites where customers are encouraged to leave reviews. There’s a big reason behind that request: A 2017 survey found that 97% of consumers factor reviews into their buying decisions. It’s called social proof.

Just as consumers want to “try before they buy,” job seekers want to see whether employees like working at a given company before they apply. That’s why they check out employee reviews on the ever-expanding list of rating sites such as Indeed Company Pages. In fact, 95% of U.S. workers in a recent Indeed survey say that when considering a new job, insight into the company’s reputation is “extremely” (62%) or at least “somewhat” (33%) important.

For anyone multitasking at home (or bad at math), that’s only 5% of people who say that an employer’s reputation ISN’T important at all.

But what if your organization is small and has only a handful of reviews, some of which are out of date? Or what if you’re with a large company that has some negative reviews because of a problem that has since been resolved? In situations such as these, it makes sense to pursue new reviews to sweeten that bitter cocktail. But asking for them is tricky. If handled improperly, your efforts can backfire — let’s face it, asking for reviews is usually implicitly asking for positive reviews.

Here’s how to ask for employee reviews in ways that are not only ethical but also likely to garner honest, positive feedback:

1. Never ask for positive reviews.

Directly asking employees for positive reviews is bound to make them feel pressured, angry or suspicious of your motives. Don’t do it. Ever.

Plus, some job-review sites have algorithms and filters designed to automatically detect fraudulent reviews. When discovered, these reviews are immediately deleted.

What you can do is craft a message, via email or another format, that helps motivate employees to post a review — as long as you don’t suggest you’re hoping for a positive one.

For example: “Many job seekers read employee reviews to identify places they’d like to work. Authentic reviews from workers like you, listing the pros and cons, can help us appeal to top candidates in this competitive labor market. Please consider contributing your honest feedback.”

2. Time your requests for reviews strategically.

For obvious reasons, if your company just laid off a dozen workers or its stock market share prices have plunged, it’s not a good time to ask for reviews.

A better bet is to time your request around positive employee milestones and key company moments. Here are a few examples:

• Orientation and training: Ask employees in each new-hire class to leave reviews of their interview experiences while they’re fresh in their minds.
• Milestones and anniversaries: When an employee hits a work anniversary (we call them Indeediversaries), congratulate them on the milestone and leverage their experience for a review. You might send them an email with a link to a reviews site, such as, “Now that you’ve been here for a bit, would you mind sharing what it’s like to work here from your perspective?”
• Promotions: When employees receive promotions, give them kudos. And while you’re at it, let them know they’re a great example of people who make a positive impact at the company. Tell them you’d appreciate it if they’d share their honest career path experience online.
• Special events: Did your company just hold a fun event, such as a team-building off-site or sponsor a charitable activity? Ask for employee reviews in the weeks following an event, especially if they were given time off to participate. However, don’t ask during an event, as this could imply that you’re “attempting to lead the witness.”
• Positive company moments: Has your company earned an award? Received a positive mention in the media? Rolled out a particularly strong onboarding program? Each of these scenarios presents a golden opportunity to ask for candid employee reviews, as well.

One caveat: The algorithms of some reviews platforms may flag a flood of new, positive reviews as suspicious. When possible, spread out your requests for reviews over time. You can also limit requests to one department or team at a time, rather than asking on behalf of the entire company. Again, the timing should be organic and make sense for the individual employees, not your desire to raise your company rating.

3. Always respond to negative reviews.

No one expects to see all five-star employee reviews; in fact, that could count as a red flag. Every company can expect negative feedback at some point. Instead, what’s critical is if and how you respond to negative employee reviews.

#ProTip: NOT responding to a negative review is, in fact, responding to that review with silence.

When an employee posts a negative review, respond to it right away. The worst thing you can do is ignore it. Others will see that you didn’t respond and may conclude that you simply don’t care, that the reviewer’s criticism was accurate — or both.

On the other hand, authentic, transparent response to an unfavorable review can actually change perceptions of your company from negative to positive. In the aforementioned Indeed survey, 36% of workers say their perceptions of an employer would be “much more positive” if that employer had responded to a negative employee review, and 36.2% say their perceptions would become “somewhat more positive.” Only 19% of respondents say an employer response wouldn’t change their minds.

Responding to reviews may also encourage other employees to post their opinions since they’re more likely to feel their voices are heard.  

4. Validate – Empathize – Call to Action

In my opinion, here’s the best way to respond to a negative review.

• Thank the reviewer for the honest feedback.
• Show them you understand the criticism.
• Explain what the company is doing, or plans to do, to correct the problem (without making promises you can’t keep).
• Don’t argue with or question the criticism; this can make you look defensive, which is worse than not responding at all.
• Ask for more information if you need it. The context isn’t always clear with double anonymous reviews, so reach out if you need to make changes and even provide direct contact options in your response.

Respond to positive reviews, too, by thanking reviewers for taking the time to provide feedback. This further reinforces the message that the company is aware and appreciative of everything employees have to say. I especially like responding to reviews that were clearly written with thought and detail.

5. Above all, show you’re listening

My advice (in case you missed it) is to never ask for positive reviews; time your requests strategically; and respond to all reviews, when possible — but especially to the negative ones.

When it comes to employee reviews, your primary goal isn’t simply to convince candidates to apply (though that’s extremely important). Instead, it’s to keep the talent you already have feeling seen and heard. By encouraging honest feedback, listening to it with an open mind, responding to it thoughtfully and learning from it, you’ll make your workplace even better than before.

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Bryan Chaney

Bryan Chaney is a global talent sourcing and attraction strategist. He’s worked at IBM and Twilio and currently leads employment brand for corporate recruitment at Indeed. Bryan has worked in recruitment, technology, and marketing, providing him insights into the marketing of hiring, the importance of technology and the buying process that candidates make when applying for jobs. Bryan is a co-founder of the Talent Brand Alliance and can be found on Indeed Resume and Twitter.

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Company Reviews on Glassdoor: Petty Complaints or Signs of Potential Misconduct?

Corporate scandals often follow a pattern: Whether it’s Theranos and its fraudulent blood testing technology, Wells Fargo and its fake financial accounts, or Volkswagen and its bogus emissions data, a whistleblower eventually comes forward to expose the behavior, and executives are held accountable.

“But what you start to realize is that the problems that have been uncovered have been going on for a very long time,” says Dennis Campbell, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. Far from being just a few bad apples, most business improprieties occur within a widespread culture of bad behavior—or at least, a lot of people looking the other way as misconduct is taking place, he says.

“You think about Wells Fargo, and there were thousands of employees engaging in these practices over many, many years,” says Campbell, who specializes in accounting and control. “But even though this stuff can be pretty widespread inside of companies when it occurs, it’s not getting out in a timely way.”

In an attempt to discover whether these problems could be exposed earlier, Campbell conducted an experiment with Ruidi Shang of Tilburg University in the Netherlands. To find upstream indicators of culture gone sour, they scraped employee reviews from Glassdoor. com, a website where employees can leave subjective anonymous reviews about their employer.

Harnessing machine learning to analyze text, they found that the reviews could serve as canaries in the coal mine of corporate misconduct, pointing to cultural factors that might eventually result in scandal earlier than they would otherwise attract attention. In a business environment where ethics are paramount, the findings may offer managers and compliance departments a new way to stop fraud before it starts.

“We show that this aggregation of information is not only a leading indicator of violations of rules and regulations, but it’s even a leading indicator of the whistleblower complaints themselves,” Campbell says of the study that resulted, which is forthcoming in the journal Management Science.

How bad behavior bubbles below the radar

An employee may not come forward right away to expose wrongdoing at a corporation for many reasons.

In the absence of directly observing egregious behavior by a particular individual, an employee may not think that a general breakdown of values and standards rises to the level where it should be reported to outside regulators or the press. Would-be whistleblowers might also fear possible repercussions against them, or worry they don’t have enough evidence to prove their allegations.

“Research shows there are big risks to being a whistleblower, and people are unlikely to stick their necks out unless they feel very strongly that misconduct is occurring and that there will be some reward for coming forward,” Campbell says.

On the other hand, sites such as Glassdoor allow employees to freely vent about problems within companies that may not amount to criminal malfeasance but can cause problems nonetheless.

“They are not even designed to detect misconduct, which is part of what makes this work—employees feel much more comfortable talking than they might in a narrower platform,” says Campbell.

Searching for red flags

To pick up on the indicators of trouble, Campbell and Shang constructed a dataset of reviews from more than 4,000 publicly traded firms between 2008 and 2016, extracting a vocabulary of 11,772 unique words used in the reviews. At the same time, they obtained a database assembled by the nonprofit Good Jobs First of almost 27,000 violations by the same firms from 2008 and 2017.

They then trained a machine-learning algorithm on the text, letting it independently decide which words were most highly associated with eventual violations. The words that rose to the top ranged from descriptive words, such as “pay” and “promotion,” to clearly negative evaluations, such as “discrimination,” “trouble,” “favoritism,” and “unethical.”

Within the results, the researchers found they could clearly distinguish between firms with high and low numbers of violations by the weighted proportion of those words, even independent of other risk factors such as violation history or financial leverage.

In fact, those indicators rose and fell with remarkable consistency as violations occurred. “When we looked at Wells Fargo relative to the average in the banking industry, we could see it rise and then spike from 2009 to 2013 when their misconduct was happening,” Campbell says.

Even more important, the measure was able to predict violations before they were exposed by whistleblowers or the press. “Where the rubber meets the road is whether this measure says something about future misconduct,” Campbell says. “And [we found that] yes, it does, at least a year ahead of time.”

How firms can spot future misconduct

Glassdoor isn’t the only site that may uncover wrongdoing, Campbell says. The same analysis could be applied to any social platform in which employees are discussing company dynamics. Other sites where employees can review their employers or share feedback about their workplaces are Indeed and Great Place to Work.

These kinds of machine-learning techniques could be used by regulators in deciding where to target scarce resources on which firms to examine, as well as by investors in making decisions about risk.

It could also be used by companies themselves, Campbell says. If executives or board members are concerned about company culture, external or internal employee communications may expose potential issues.

“There could be all kinds of internal platforms where employees are talking and sharing information, and that you could apply this high-level machine learning to in an aggregated way,” says Campbell. “It could help you understand pockets in your organization where these cultural issues are popping up so you can get a handle on them.”

In that way, the most valuable benefits of this approach may not be in identifying future scandals, he says—but in preventing them before they occur.

Feedback or ideas to share? Email the Working Knowledge team at [email protected].

[iStockphoto/EnvisionSrini]

New Study Reveals 10 Percent of Former Employees Lie When Writing Reviews on Glassdoor, Google, Indeed and Facebook

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As companies compete to gain and retain human capital, their reputation is more important than ever. After all, if the right candidates aren’t applying, your business’ future success can be hindered. Online reviews are tantamount.  

In a recent study from a digital growth company, Fractl, over 1,000 Americans revealed the reasons they left their jobs, how their experiences impacted their opinion of the company, and how online reviews will sway their employment decisions in the future. 

The study found that most people are leaving their jobs because of very basic employer shortcomings. The top three reasons Americans quit their job: 

1. Poor management 

2. Found a better opportunity

3. Low salary

In the age of ping pong tables, bean bag chairs, and flexible work hours, employers may be prioritizing the wrong things. All people want is to feel respected by leaders who value their contributions and offer them opportunities (and a good salary to go with it). When a company’s reputation is available online for everyone to see, the simple things are far more poignant than standing desks.    

The bad news: 10 percent of ex-employees lie online

Unfortunately, you can’t always trust that a company’s reviews are truthful. According to the research, more than 10% of people who left a review on Glassdoor, Indeed, Facebook, and Google admitted to lying or “stretching the truth” when giving feedback. When asked why these people were dishonest, these are the top reasons they gave: 

• I wanted to hurt or damage their reputation

• I felt hurt by my managers or colleagues

• I was unjustly fired

• I lied so that my ex-colleagues or managers wouldn’t be able to identify me

This is unfortunate news for employers. While around 90% of reviews are truthful, there may be a few scattered throughout a company’s portfolio that could ruin their rating or turn a prospective hire away.  

Those who lied on an online review of an ex-employer also frequently reported lying about their salary or their boss in the review itself. 

Thankfully, employers can try to redeem themselves and combat any negative or dishonest reviews by replying to a submission. According to Glassdoor, 62% of job seekers say their perception of a company improves after seeing an employer respond to a review. 

Who’s leaving reviews?

The short answer: everyone. The study found that most people who leave an online review have very few positives to share. Of all the people surveyed, over half reported giving their ex-employer 1 or 2 stars, and 22% reported giving their ex-employer 4 or 5 stars. Furthermore, those who leave the worst reviews report having a tenure of less than a year.

Researcher for the project, Domenica D’Ottavio, speculated, “To me, when looking at these results, it makes sense that those who stayed with a company for less than a year were more likely to leave a negative review. Logically, if you left before a year, you either quit freely for one reason or another or were let go. People don’t quit jobs they love, and many people who’ve been fired feel it was unjustified.”

While people are usually only inclined to share their experience if it was a negative one, there is a silver lining. Baby Boomers are most likely to leave a 5-star review, which suggests those who spend the most time with a company have the most positive experiences. 

How much do reviews impact hiring?

A high rating on employment platforms can earn your company some of the most competitive candidates, and a low score can make it difficult to hire exceptional staff. Glassdoor is the most popular online review site, with Google reviews also making the ranks. 

Any and all of these platforms can have a major impact on your reputation, and thus, your hiring pool. It’d be wise to keep an eye on all of them because 84% of Americans surveyed look at online reviews when making a decision of where to apply. What’s more, 1 in 3 people have turned down a job offer based on a review they read of the company online. 

Given that most people can’t even decide on a restaurant choice without checking reviews on Yelp or Google, it’s no wonder Americans are getting more thorough with their employment decisions. And this should be of importance to business owners and hiring managers alike.

Mar 21, 2020

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How to make employee reviews more effective (and fun)

“We need to talk … about your employee performance.”

Managers and employees alike often dread annual performance reviews. The idea of having to do any kind of performance evaluation on another person is awkward for most (regardless of how great or horrible the employee is).

But when employee reviews are done well, they can help your business, your team, and even you as a manager or owner.

So is there really a way to have employee reviews go smoothly, or are they doomed to be a trip to awkward town? As luck would have it, they can be effective and fun as long as you prepare for them properly.

So let’s take a look at how employee reviews help and how you can make the most of them.

The benefits of employee reviews

Employees, supervisors, and companies all benefit from performance appraisals. Employees generally want to understand their employer’s expectations and to have a manager who speaks with them about their progress, encourages their development, and provides opportunities for them to grow.

Research shows that those conditions increase employees’ productivity and job satisfaction. (And who doesn’t like being around happier employees?)

Beyond increasing employee happiness, the review process can also result in employees who are better at their job. This helps them but also helps you and your company perform better.

If you have customers who you regularly interact with, they’ll have a better experience as well, thanks to your properly reviewed team members. Not to mention, your employees will feel more engaged and be more likely to stay with your company.

Supervisors can also use performance reviews to develop their management skills, identify training needs, and build a rapport with employees. The business owner or manager can gather objective information to make decisions about raises, promotions, training, and other personnel actions.

13 tips for effective employee reviews

To be effective, performance appraisals shouldn’t be a standalone annual event, but an ongoing discussion and process. Even during job interviews, employers should talk about the standards and goals for a position. They should share their performance review form with employees during orientation and discuss in detail what they expect.

To make the whole process practical and painless, follow these guidelines:

1. Develop the habit of delivering feedback frequently

Don’t wait for formal reviews to praise or critique performance. Walk around and talk with employees about their work, or set regular times to briefly discuss progress, such as weekly check-ins.

Having regular chats about performance will help you get ahead of shortcomings in employees before they develop into serious performance problems. It will also make your employees more comfortable with the idea of being reviewed, and encourage them to talk to you about areas they’d like to improve in as well.

The only annual aspect of your performance-review system might be filling out a specific form on a work anniversary or implementing raises.

2. Document performance

As you talk with employees about performance, jot down notes for yourself. At review time, you’ll have a full view of the employee’s work, untainted by recent events or selective memory, and you will be able to support your rating of the employee.

You should also be using a form for employee evaluation to ensure things are uniform for all employees. If you develop your own set of criteria for employee performance reviews, make sure there’s nothing on the form that employees would be surprised by. It’s only fair that they know what they’re being evaluated on.

3. Cover the ABCs on your review form

An up-to-date job description will help you decide what to include in the appraisal. A performance review should be accurate, complete, and consistent, providing a fair and objective assessment based on the employee’s job and goals.

4. Hold a discussion

Don’t hand the employee a completed form to read when you aren’t there to put the comments in context. The manager and employee should discuss the appraisal together, and if the employee has completed a self-appraisal, discuss where the two differ. A review should be a two-way conversation.

5. Ask the employee for feedback

Remember that you play a role in the employee’s performance too. During every review, ask your employees what you can do better as a manager or leader.

Meeting your employee’s needs is as important as them meeting yours, and this is a great way to ensure that’s happening. It’s also a good idea to ask for employee feedback on the review process itself.

6. Set goals

Use the review to clarify the employee’s role at the company. Update his or her job description, if necessary, and set employee goals that are meaningful, measurable, and motivating.

When the employee has goals that are aligned with the company’s goals, the employee can feel more motivated, more invested, and more engaged. Most HR professionals agree that employee engagement plays a huge part in how well or poorly employees perform.

7. Allow the employee to comment

Create a section on the review form for the employee’s response and ask the employee to sign the appraisal. The signature documents that the employee received the review, even if he or she didn’t agree with its contents. However, if you’ve held frequent conversations about performance throughout the year, the annual review won’t contain any surprises.

8. Be clear and precise with your language

The worst thing you can do is leave an employee scratching their head after a review. Make sure the intent behind your language is clear and you’re upfront with expectations.

This will help the employee perform better, which again, helps you and the company succeed as well. It also prevents any tension over miscommunication, which is something nobody enjoys.

9. Don’t downplay victories during reviews

Yes, reviews are the time to bring up areas to improve upon. That being said, you should use this time to shower employees with praise as well. If some of your employees have had some huge successes since your last review, bring those up and harp on that for a bit.

These meetings aren’t just about growth, but about keeping your employees engaged and motivated as well.

10. Hide nothing about the review process

Nothing on your review sheet should surprise an employee. Holding your employees accountable for something and not letting them in on that is a surefire way to cause tensions to flare.

It’s likely to leave you disappointed in the progress of your employees, as they won’t be meeting standards that you never told them about in the first place. (And that’s not very nice.)

11. Provide a clear growth path for employees

Once you’ve given your employees feedback, make sure they know what the next steps are.

Does a particular employee need to work on time management or their communication skills? Provide them with feedback and a way to solve that problem — for example, you could have them partner up with human resources or a team lead that excels in those skills.

12. Involve people other than yourself

Even if you’re the one giving employee performance reviews, you should involve other members of the team in the process.

Ask other leaders or department heads for input on the review process, the criteria you’re evaluating, and so on. You also want to involve your employees as well, listening to them and taking to heart their constructive feedback on the process itself.

13. Embrace technology in the review process

The days of the pen haven’t totally gone by the wayside, but there is also performance review software that can help you take employee reviews to new heights.

Shop around and see if there’s any employee review software that sticks out to you, as they can help you consistently track progress, give your employees a way to view their current progress, and more. (Don’t worry, you can still bring a notepad and pen to the review to feel more official.)

You can also incorporate software in the interviewing and hiring process to better-track candidates. If that’s out of the budget right now, make a checklist for evaluating job candidates and keep it handy.

Growing as a team with employee reviews

Employee reviews don’t have to be the awkward, dreaded event they sometimes are. They also don’t have to benefit only you as the business owner. When done properly, employee reviews are a great way to keep everyone rowing in the same direction, only stronger and faster than before.

Strip away your owner title and become one with your team during the review process. As long as you keep the lines of communication open and remind your employees that you’re there for them, just as they’re there for you, you and your team will only become stronger for it.

Evaluation of personnel in the organization | Personnel assessment – system, methods and criteria for assessment

The performance of any enterprise depends on how competent its staff is. In order to establish the effectiveness of the performance by each employee of the company of their duties, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each member of the team, as well as to fulfill the requirements for confirming the qualifications of employees, it is necessary to assess the personnel. To this end, the enterprise should develop a personnel assessment system that allows not only to assess their skills, abilities, experience, but also to draw up a program to improve work with personnel, improve their qualifications, professional selection and create a personnel reserve.

Personnel evaluation. Why is this needed?

In the process of working at the enterprise, each employee not only applies his existing skills, but also gains experience that is necessary to solve new, more complex tasks. Accordingly, it is necessary that the assessment of personnel be carried out in a comprehensive manner, with the study of the features of a particular labor process. This allows you to determine, first of all, the compliance of an employee with his position, and also helps to identify his potential, which should be rationally used to solve the main goals and objectives set for the company.

Hiring an employee is carried out in accordance with certain requirements established for qualifications, experience, which are confirmed (or not confirmed) exclusively during labor activity. Already in the process of joint cooperation, the skills of the employee declared upon admission to work, additional knowledge are revealed, the characteristics of his personality are manifested. Only in practice it is possible to determine how these data correspond to the criteria of the organization’s production goals.

It is also important that the employee himself assesses his own abilities. As a result of such an analysis, it will be possible to establish how the real abilities of employees coincide with the needs of the enterprise, and what contribution to its success can be made by the activities of each individual.

Only carrying out personnel assessment allows creating a rationally functioning structure, allocating the company’s labor resources in the most efficient way, as well as increasing their efficiency. Constant monitoring and opportunities that open up for each employee as a result of assessing his work allow optimizing the work of each member of the team, stimulating them to perform their work duties with great zeal.

You can use more than just time tracking programs to evaluate employee performance. The multifunctional DLP-system “SearchInform CIB” helps to see who and what is doing during working hours.

Objectives of personnel assessment

Assessment of personnel performance allows to achieve the following objectives:

• to establish the compliance of costs aimed at performing a specific scope of work and the funds allocated for the maintenance of the employee, his workplace. If a certain specialist has low labor productivity, his content becomes unprofitable for the employer. In this case, it is necessary to reshuffle personnel as soon as possible so that this employee takes a job in accordance with his real capabilities and skills;
• identify the functional role of a particular employee throughout the organization in accordance with his skills. There is a possibility that a certain employee does an excellent job of working in a team, actively develops, strives to show his best working qualities. Such a person can become a valuable link in a certain direction of the company’s activities. This can positively affect the economic component of the success of the enterprise, if the appropriate conditions are created;
• evaluate the potential of employee , which can be used in favor of the enterprise without additional investments. A certain number of ordinary employees over the years of work acquire experience, knowledge, and skills that are important for the company, which become a strong base so that such people can work effectively in leadership positions. In this case, the owner of the enterprise does not need to spend money on finding and training new management personnel.

Tasks of personnel assessment

During the assessment of personnel performance, important production tasks are solved:

• a strong personnel reserve is created, consisting of full-time employees of the enterprise, which reduces the cost of recruiting new personnel;
• training of specialists with a high professional level is carried out, potential middle managers are identified directly within the company, their retraining or advanced training is carried out;
• methods of enterprise management are being improved, control of production discipline is being strengthened, the interest of personnel in increasing labor productivity is increasing;
• the staffing table is optimized due to the rational distribution of functions and responsibilities based on the results of the assessment: transfer of employees to other positions, reduction in accordance with the negative indicators of labor productivity identified during the assessment of work;
• introduction of additional motivational levers capable of stimulating employees to increase their level of production competence and qualifications. The result may be career growth, improvement of financial situation, realization of the potential of employees in terms of implementing their proposed projects.

Personnel evaluation functions

The evaluation of the work of the company’s personnel performs administrative, informative, motivational functions.

1. Administrative function is performed to fill vacancies with a reshuffling of personnel, resulting in:

• the employee can be transferred to another position in accordance with the results of the assessment;
• employees are promoted;
• a vocational training plan is drawn up;
• a decision is made to dismiss;
• employees are remunerated.

2. Informative function is implemented to improve management methods for working with personnel by informing about the existing requirements for quality and volume labor indicators. In this direction:

• the degree of loading of production personnel is revealed;
• the effectiveness of his work is determined, the degree of compliance of qualifications with the requirements of the company;
• realized the possibility of increasing wages.

3. Motivational function allows you to increase the interest of each member of the team in increasing labor productivity. Evaluation of production personnel has a positive effect on the development of not only each employee, but also the company, since the presence of feedback is a powerful tool for improving the efficiency of the enterprise.

Stimulating levers of influence are used as motivation:

• career growth;
• the possibility of self-realization.

In what cases is personnel assessment needed?

how to avoid the influence of personal sympathies.

The need for personnel assessment with the development and implementation of the system is most often caused by:

• the appearance of a stable outflow of personnel;
• the absence of a personnel assessment system at the enterprise;
• the need to make managerial decisions on the company’s HRM;
• planned more intensive development of certain areas in the company’s work with the allocation of investments for these purposes;
• change (shift planning) team of the management sector of the enterprise;
• change (planning change) of strategic directions in the company’s work;
• the need to form a project team designed to solve strategic problems;

• the emergence of legal priority grounds for the movement of employees within the company;
• changes in the structure of the enterprise, optimization by reducing the number;
• the importance of optimizing processes in a company;
• the need to restructure the company;
• the need to understand for the formation of the program and training plan how competent the staff is;
• the need to form a personnel development plan, create a reserve of personnel;
• decrease in indicators of labor discipline;
• increased conflicts between employees;
• complaints from the company’s employees against the employer to the relevant inspections;
• the need to change or create an employee incentive system.

Personnel assessment methods

A variety of methods are used to assess the working staff, allowing each employee to be assessed most accurately. These methods include:

• documentation analysis: familiarization with resumes, written recommendations, documents on education, qualifications, characteristics of managers, etc. The reliability of the submitted materials is assessed based on the determination of actual performance indicators related to the duties performed, skill level, experience, achievements, etc.;
• analysis of established requirements of regulatory documents, standards, requirements for internal production processes, quality of manufactured products and compliance with these requirements by personnel. To do this, a standard rating scale is being developed;
• psychological test to obtain the results of the assessment of personality characteristics in quantitative and descriptive form. By quantitative results, it is possible to compare the specific qualities of employees. A survey on personality tests can be conducted by a specialist familiar with the methodology, the processing of the results should be carried out by a specialist trained in the methodology of using specific questionnaires;
• evaluation of working behavioral characteristics , an interview with an employee for his assessment;
• testing on vocational tests for specific working professions, positions, basic skills and knowledge. The development of tests is usually entrusted to the immediate supervisors of the assessed personnel, it is possible to involve external experts who are specialized specialists;
• business essay – assessment of the possibility of solving a certain production problem in a limited time period, identifying the employee’s strategic vision abilities, the ability to find an algorithm for solving specific work issues;
• ranking – conducting a comparative analysis of employees in a particular unit, between structures related in processes, building a rating chain in accordance with pre-selected criteria;
• assessment of personnel in terms of competencies – selected characteristics of behavior, showing how well the assigned tasks are performed in a particular position at the enterprise;
• 360 degrees – processing information about the actions of the employee in the natural working environment, whether he has the necessary business qualities. This data comes from employees, clients, colleagues, subordinates, etc.;
• comprehensive assessment of competencies according to the Assessment-centre method, in which many positions are assessed. The monitoring team monitors the performance of the group’s various tasks. During this process, the actions and behavior of each member of the group are evaluated against pre-prepared, work-related scenarios of behavior. The results obtained are discussed jointly, after which decisions are made;
• MVO (Management by Objectives) – management by objectives, involving the joint (boss-subordinate) setting of key goals for an employee for a certain period of time (from six months to a year). The number of goals should not be large, the main thing is that they reflect the most significant tasks inherent in the position of the employee for the planned period. It is necessary to adhere to certain criteria when setting goals – specificity, measurability, significance, time orientation, achievability of the tasks assigned to the employee;
• KPI (Key Performance Indicators) assessment of the work of the staff according to the main performance criteria. It is necessary to establish how this assessment works as a monitoring of results and improving the performance of staff. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the main goals of the enterprise, the evaluation criteria should be understandable for any employee for whom this method of evaluation is applied;
• personnel audit – allows you to assess the state of human resources at the enterprise, how effectively the personnel management system works in terms of implementing the strategy, tasks, achieving the goals set for the company. This method also allows you to identify areas of risk and development;
• appraisal – assesses how the employee’s activities meet the standard requirements for performing work at a particular workplace in accordance with the position held;
• test cases is a methodology that is a structured description of a specific work situation that an employee must analyze in order to find the most acceptable solutions. This allows you to train or evaluate an employee on certain parameters. In this case, the real state of professional knowledge, skills, competence, personal characteristics is determined.

The choice of personnel assessment method depends on the motivation system that is implemented in the organization. On the theory and practice of employee motivation more…

What is the use of personnel assessment in an organization

The results of personnel performance assessment should be systematized, structured in order to obtain a real picture of the state of human resources in an organization. This procedure allows:

• to establish the current state of personnel competence;
• determine the compliance of the qualifications of labor resources with the tactical tasks and goals of the enterprise;
• evaluate the professional contribution of staff to the effective operation of the organization;
• to apply in adequate amounts the remuneration of employees in accordance with their qualification level;
• identify the compliance of the employee’s area of ​​responsibility with his official duties;
• identify the functional imbalance of the organization in terms of human resources;
• identify priorities during the next staff performance appraisal;
• identify possible legal risks (labor disputes, penalties from inspecting authorities) in accordance with certain regulations;
• analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the procedures used for personnel evaluation;
• to develop recommendations for the elimination of violations identified during the assessment process;
• develop recommendations for improving work on personnel training;
• identify areas for development, pay attention to risk areas of human resources in the organization.

Implementation of a personnel assessment system: errors and difficulties

During the implementation of personnel assessment, it is necessary to choose the right methodology, since often the methods chosen in practice do not correspond to the level of maturity of the organization. Often the assessment system is not tied to the system of motivation – material and non-material. In addition, employees may have a negative attitude towards the implementation of these activities, and managers do not want to spend time on their implementation. Often, the feedback from the managers conducting the evaluation with the employees is low, and the latter cannot perceive it. Some employees have overestimated or underestimated self-esteem, which sometimes makes it difficult to identify real skills and competencies.

The implementation of personnel assessment measures is a serious step that allows you to optimize the activities of the enterprise in each of its areas. As a result, the efficiency of the work of employees and their motivation increase, the staff becomes more competent and productive.

11 basic methods — Career on vc.ru

Personnel assessment plays a huge role in the life of a company: it motivates employees and helps management to identify problems or, conversely, factors that positively affect business development. In times of instability, it is especially important to keep abreast of events within the company in order to be able to respond in a timely manner to emerging difficulties. I propose to consider what methods of personnel assessment can be used. They can be used individually or combined.

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Evaluation by peers

The peer review process is the collection of anonymous feedback about an employee from his peers: other team members and employees in similar positions. At the same time, questions are asked about the success of a specialist in specific aspects of the work.

This method allows you to analyze the professional and leadership skills, capabilities of an employee, and also helps to track how his working relationship with colleagues develops, and evaluate the ability to work in a team. As a result, it is possible to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the employee. This information can be used to make decisions related to the succession of leadership positions, the formation of teams and the transfer of specialists from one position to another.

Self test

Self-assessment by employees of their progress gives them the opportunity to take a more active position, not only receiving feedback from management, but also gaining a voice. This improves communication between staff and management.

When employees themselves participate in evaluating their own work, managers can not only better evaluate their performance, but also understand how employees themselves perceive their work. When self-assessment becomes an integral part of the evaluation system and is conducted regularly throughout the year, it becomes easier for employees to track how certain actions affect their success. As a result, this method allows you to achieve business goals to the maximum extent.

Dmitry Trepolsky

Quantification

Quantification is based on company statistics and uses various standards to track productivity. The process begins with establishing standards against which employee performance data will be measured. It is very important that the standards are written clearly and clearly and do not allow ambiguous reading. There should be no misunderstandings.

The following indicators can be used as quantitative standards:

• task cost standards
• time standards
• task cost standards
• time standards
• revenue standards
• ROI
• productivity level
• business position in the market

This data can be used to measure the achievement of the company’s overall goals and to make decisions about employee promotions and salary increases. The results of the quantitative assessment can also be referred to when downsizing is needed: they will tell you which employees are not achieving enough performance.

Quality score

The quantitative evaluation model is based on statistics, numbers, but does not provide a complete picture of the employee’s performance. This is where quality assessment comes in. It focuses on individual performance measures that cannot be objectively measured in numbers, such as teamwork and communication skills.

To prepare a quantitative assessment, it is necessary to observe how an employee copes with his duties during the working day, and then make informative, detailed descriptive comments about his behavior. In this case, the difficulties and challenges faced by the specialist, daily work habits and successes should be mentioned.

360 degree method

The 360 ​​Degree Appraisal method gives all employees a chance to share their opinion and contribute to the achievement of a common goal. As part of this method, an employee is evaluated by his subordinates, managers, colleagues in positions of the same level, and even customers.

To conduct the assessment, prepare a questionnaire that will cover aspects such as teamwork, leadership qualities, ability to focus on a goal, level of motivation, ability to quickly adapt to changing circumstances. You can conduct the survey anonymously.

This method helps the employee to understand how his work is evaluated by colleagues at different levels of the organization and clients. This motivates you to work harder and with more commitment.

Competence scale

This is one of the most widely used personnel assessment methods. It means that each aspect of an employee’s individual performance is evaluated on a scale, such as from 1 to 10. The evaluation can include many criteria, including:

• productivity
• customer service
• teamwork
• work quality
• safety concerns (consumers, production, etc. )

The scale can use not only a system of points, but also, for example, a descriptive assessment of the work of employees: from unsatisfactory to outstanding. One of the advantages of this method is that it allows employees to quickly evaluate several of their colleagues at once.

Continuous feedback

This method replaces the annual personnel performance report. At the same time, it is important that continuous feedback is a practical methodology that helps to determine what specific steps need to be taken and what tasks to set in order for the business to develop in the right direction.

The advantage of the continuous feedback method is that the assessment is not given after the fact, but in the course of daily interaction between managers and their subordinates. Thus, managers have the opportunity to intervene in the work of an employee in time if he starts having difficulties. This approach prevents the situation from getting out of control.

One letter, message, call or conversation in the office may be enough to remedy the situation. It is not necessary to have long conversations every day – a few minutes of informal, but regular communication will suffice. As a result, an initially negative situation can lead to a positive outcome that contributes to profitable growth and development of the entire organization. In addition, a recent Gallup study showed that it is important for employees to receive regular feedback from leaders and supervisors.

Dmitry Trepolsky

Evaluation based on outstanding case

This technique is used mainly in cases where the employee coped particularly well with the task or, on the contrary, did not cope at all. In this way, management manages to record how certain behavior of an employee positively or negatively affected the result.

Assessment requires a description of the task and surrounding circumstances, as well as other assessment formats: continuous feedback, qualitative assessment and real-time feedback. Analysis of the situation should be carried out as quickly as possible, and not after the fact. This allows, for example, to intervene at a critical moment in a situation that could potentially turn into a catastrophe.

Profit assessment

One of the most difficult aspects of valuation for a business of any size is profitability. The success of a business is determined by its ability to consistently generate income. Therefore, it is important to identify risky projects in a timely manner in order to prevent activities aimed at making a profit from leading to losses.

Assessing the profitability of employees is a rather difficult task, involving meticulous processing of numbers for several months. To determine the profitability ratios, you need to multiply the total time spent on the project by the hourly wage rate of the employee and compare with the allocated budget. If the value of the time spent exceeds the budget, the project is losing money, and the situation needs to be intervened as soon as possible.

Evaluation of productivity

The profitability of a project can be severely affected if teams or employees spend too much time on any particular project. Understanding what time is spent on allows you to more clearly and easily manage the goals of the project. By comparing the profitability of the project with the results of the assessment of the personnel who were involved in it, one can get a fairly clear idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwhy the desired profitability was or was not achieved. This method allows you to identify shortcomings that need to be corrected in order to improve the overall result.

Customer satisfaction score

Consumers and customers are the backbone of any business, regardless of industry. And satisfied customers are loyal customers, so the lack of customer service becomes a serious problem for the company.

Customer satisfaction surveys can be conducted asking questions related to:

• overall satisfaction with the service, such as “How satisfied are you with our service?”
• customer loyalty, such as “Are you willing to recommend our services/products to friends and family?” or “Do you plan to use our services again?”
• with individual metrics, such as “How important is delivery speed to you?

Author: Dmitry Trepolsky, Pronline. ru Development Director

Personnel assessment: why does business need it?

Qualified employees are worth their weight in gold. Are you sure that only professionals work in your company? Staff assessment will help you reasonably answer this question. What it is, how it is carried out, whether your business needs it – we tell in the article.

What is personnel assessment?

Personnel assessment – regular analysis of competencies, efficiency, professional growth and performance of an employee in the company with the provision of feedback. Personnel assessment is part of the Performance Management System, which includes all work interactions between an employee and a manager.

Sometimes the term “ personnel assessment ” may be confused with “attestation” – a legally prescribed test that determines how the level of training and qualifications of an employee is suitable for his position. “Personnel appraisal” has a broader meaning. It analyzes not only the relevance of an employee in a given workplace, but also his effectiveness in achieving goals and how they affect the well-being and development of the company or, conversely, cause damage, for example: financial losses due to failure to complete tasks, not sharing company values, negative impact on the atmosphere in the team, etc.

Personnel assessment is a continuous cycle that consists of the following HR stages:

• planning: goals, desired results and competencies are developed in advance, prescribed for each position;
• monitoring: monitoring employee progress, performance and compliance with competencies;
• development: development of an individual training plan and work tasks;
• rating: analysis of ratings and summing up;
• reward: recognition of good results and verbal/material encouragement.

We have figured out what a personnel assessment is. Time to understand what goals a company can achieve with the help of this HR tool.

Personnel assessment goals

Personnel assessment allows the company and management to achieve such important goals: .

Benefits personnel assessment

Personnel assessment is a certain investment of the company in its well-being, the resources spent on it can be justified by the benefits for employees and business:

1. Productivity improvement. 92% of employees say that even negative feedback, given correctly and correctly, can motivate an employee and, as a result, increase productivity and efficiency.
2. Correct business development planning. Knowing the qualifications and perspective of their employees, leaders and managers can correctly build a development strategy and understand whether there is enough human resources or whether it is necessary to hire an additional team or specialists.
3. Reduce employee turnover. Companies that provide regular feedback to their employees have 14.9% lower employee turnover than organizations where employees do not receive feedback. Create a positive work environment. 68% of employees who receive feedback from peers and supervisors report job satisfaction. In addition, the assessment allows you to find out how each employee works in a team.
4. Identify weaknesses. Interviews, tests, games, questionnaires, like litmus paper, show what knowledge and experience a specialist needs to gain in order to successfully work in his position. Based on this, the management understands whether it is worth additionally training the employee or will act differently, in the interests of the company’s development.
5. Effectively improve skills. Often trainings or workshops are held for all team members. But often for many workers this is already known material, and such training simply wastes time. To avoid such a common mistake, first study what knowledge a team member lacks and only then select the appropriate training. So you save the time of the employee, and for the company – money.
6. Hire or fire professionals and never regret it. Evaluation of employees reasonably shows which employee is in his place and how much the values ​​of the organization and employees coincide, and which employee will be more comfortable in another company.

Are there any disadvantages?

A medal always has two sides. We have already talked about the advantages of employee evaluation, it’s time to talk about the possible disadvantages. We hasten to reassure you, there are not so many of them:

• Preparing for an assessment can take a long time, but fortunately some of the routine processes and analytics can be automated using HRM systems;
• because of likes or dislikes, employees may evaluate a colleague unfairly;
• distrust of the assessment can lead to disagreements in the team;
• for a particular company, you need to select your own method, all methods cannot be equally practical for widespread use;
• Certain evaluation methods may only be carried out and analyzed by certified specialists.

Personnel assessment criteria

There are many methods of personnel assessment, but they all have a number of common characteristics. Here are the main personnel assessment criteria that will confirm that you are doing everything right:

1. Clear goals: The goals of the assessment should be announced to all participants so that employees understand why this is being done.
2. Support from management and employees: Evaluation should be positively perceived by all members of the company, and possible costs such as: evaluation forms, employee time, training, etc. was approved by management.
3. Predictability: The employee must know in advance when and how the personnel assessment will be carried out.
4. Obtaining feedback: discussing the evaluation results is one of the most important steps that should not be missed.
5. Tailoring Valuation Methods: Valuation methods should be reviewed regularly to ensure they are right for your business.

How is the personnel assessment carried out?

New methods of personnel assessment appear regularly. This does not mean that all of them are ideal for every business and will be able to solve absolutely all problems. Each approach has its own goal and a way to achieve it. We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the most popular methods so that you can choose the best one for yourself.

Do you want to know more and more about personnel assessment methods? We have prepared an article for you with a description of each technique. Enjoy reading: [Guide] Personnel assessment methods

thinking pitfalls and other HR mistakes

In 2015, the head of the HR department of the training center S. Voropayeva Marina Kiseleva from the pages of the book “Personnel Assessment” ¹ shared a story that reveals the cause of a common HR mistake.

During the training, she divided the participants into two groups, handed out a photo of the same person and asked him to describe. The trainer told the first group that this man was a scientist, and the second group hinted that he was in trouble with the law.

After five minutes of discussion, the first group stated that the wide forehead of this person is a sign of a developed intellect, and narrowed eyes indicate insight. And the second noted the evil, suspiciously boring eyes and the determined chin of a man who rarely has doubts and easily crosses the line.

The phenomenon that M. Kiseleva spoke about, psychologists call priming ² is the formation of a hidden attitude from memory, which imperceptibly affects the individual’s judgments.

Priming should be avoided by recruiters, assessors, and employees who are responsible for conducting employee appraisals in the company, because priming is a type of cognitive distortion that leads to serious errors in personnel appraisals.

What cognitive errors do HR specialists make when conducting personnel assessment? And what mistakes are made at the stage of communication with the staff about the upcoming assessment? What other types of errors and inaccuracies can be in the personnel efficiency system? The answers to these questions are in the new Yva. ai article.

Let’s remember the main thing: effective personnel assessment is…

This is, first of all, about setting goals. Methodologists note that most often HRs evaluate personnel in 4 cases:

• recruitment,
• development,
• optimization,
• certification.

In order to get a working system for evaluating the effectiveness of personnel, it is necessary to work out goals and specific tasks at the start. Based on this, you will be able to select appropriate evaluation criteria, best methods and tools ³ .

You can read more about all this in article “Employee competency assessment checklist: how to constructively communicate the need for development?” . Here you will learn about 8 steps that will help in creating an effective evaluation system and get some tips on how to constructively communicate with employees whose evaluation results are not expected.

And in this article, we will take a closer look at the mistakes that HR specialists and those responsible for the assessment of company officials most often make along the way.

Cognitive and not only: typology of HR errors in personnel assessment

Methodologist for the development of modern training programs and business coach Natalia Chukhrova identified the following groups of typical errors in the personnel performance assessment system 90 588 4 90 589 :

900 22 theoretical – this group includes semantic and terminological errors in the theoretical base that formed the basis of the assessment, errors in the choice of tools (without compliance with the goals and methods of the procedure),

• measuring – these are all errors associated with errors in observations, when recording or summarizing the results obtained; they are the result of haste, inattention or an increased workload of assessors,

• technical – these errors are caused by technical failures in employee testing programs and incorrect processing of results, they are usually dealt with by IT specialists for technical support of assessment tools,

• human factor errors – a group of errors associated with psychological effects and cognitive distortions in assessors,

• organizational – mistakes made by the organizers of the assessment during the assessment: lost focus, substitution of the template, demonstration of the assessor’s attitude, different assessment conditions for the assessed, etc.

Human factor errors are the most diverse and common group of HR errors, let’s dwell on them in more detail ⁵ . Usually one or another type of distortion leads to them, which in the 70s. The 20th century was actively studied by Israeli psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman.

What are they?

• Bias and partiality – the tendency of a particular assessor to underestimate or overestimate the assessment points in general or in relation to some employees. This division into favorites and outsiders is not uncommon in the work environment.

• Averageness – the evaluator’s desire to derive average results or avoid extreme values ​​of indicators. HR managers and executives can avoid extreme estimates to save themselves the trouble of explaining them.

• The “charisma” effect occurs when an assessor is influenced by a positive or negative impression of a person and makes grades in accordance with this impression. So, other things being equal, a charming employee can get a higher rating than a gloomy colleague.

• The halo effect can be observed when the assessor has a cognitive distortion, and he overstates or underestimates the assessment under the influence of some bright feature of the assessed employee.

• Error prioritization – happens if one or more qualities of the assessed employee influence the assessor when setting the overall assessment.

• In case of temporary error HR , the employee’s activity is evaluated not for the period for which the personnel evaluation is oriented. People in this or that period work with different returns. Productivity can be reduced due to poor health, accumulated fatigue, stress, and burnout, which is why it is so important to correlate employee performance with a specific period of time.
• Grouping occurs , when the total result of the evaluated team (department, project group) is automatically transferred to each of its participants, although their contribution to the common cause may differ significantly;
• The mirroring effect occurs if the assessor tends to overestimate employees who share his views and beliefs or underestimate those who think otherwise.
• Error comparison happens when employees are compared to each other. When conducting an assessment, it is necessary to compare the compliance of the activities of specialists with the criteria and standards of work.

Errors in personnel assessment can be random episodic and random ⁶ . Sometimes they take on a systemic character and distort the results for a long time or penetrate the evaluation process of all employees, also reducing the reliability of the results.

In order to prevent random errors from entering the system, let’s figure out how they can be found and eliminated in our own work.

Personnel assessment checklist

Step #0 This will avoid organizational errors that are easily preventable, but – if they happen – can send your evaluation report to the trash can.

Step #1 Specify the objectives of the employee evaluation . Personnel assessment is worth conducting if you want to identify key team members, form a talent pool, plan or have already carried out employee training, personnel rotation, etc. ⁸ Make sure that all responsible and interested people in the company have the right expectations from the results of the assessment.

Step #2 Assess the compliance of the assessment objectives with methods that you plan to use. Combine assessment methods with each other. For example, tests and questionnaires are good for testing theoretical knowledge.

Combine them with a business game and you will get an idea of ​​practical skills. And if you want to understand what strengths and development areas the team sees for each employee, use smart surveys based on the principle 360 ​​.

Step #3 Check the assessment tools for relevance and correctness . If you are using the good old tried and tested test, make sure the questions in it are relevant to the realities of the market and your company. And if you are launching a new high-tech tool, do not forget about such a step as piloting (testing) its work. This is important to avoid massive technical errors.

Step #4 Go through the job descriptions of employees that you are going to assess. Functionality 9 must be assigned to each position 0019 and the level of knowledge required for it , professional competencies and personal qualities . If there are no job descriptions and competency profiles, it is worth developing them before conducting a systematic assessment of personnel.