What does a Work Appraisal Entail?
This tends to be one of the least anticipated meetings that most employees will face on an annual basis. Appraisals tend to be a yearly affair and they are normally used to offer feedback on how management perceive that the previous year’s work has been done. They can be quite a nerve-wracking affair for employees as they can face having their whole year’s performance being put under the microscope and discussed.
It is understandable that so many employees approach the annual appraisal meeting with a hint of trepidation. If you haven’t managed to hit a particular target in your key performance indicators, this is almost certain to be when it is brought up and addressed. Even employees who are normally quite confident in their abilities can have a bit of a wobble around this time of year.
Having said that, for the most part, annual appraisals tend to be more of a discussion about how both the employee and employer are finding their time working together. This is a good time for an employee to raise any concerns that they have or any suggestions on how things could be improved in the workplace. It is also the time to mention potential career progression or a pay rise as it is rare to get time alone with management to discuss matters of mutual interest.
Annual Appraisals
There are generally a few different aspects of work that are covered by annual appraisal meetings and we have outlined these below.
Feedback on the Employee's Work
This is probably the most common way that people have to think about annual appraisal meetings. They will tend to picture a stern-faced manager or member of the Human Resources team talking to the employee about how they can improve upon their performance in the year to come.
It is true that this does happen but not all appraisal meetings look like this. In many appraisals, employees receive praise for the work that they have accomplished in the previous year and are encouraged to keep up the high standard that they have been setting in the workplace.
The employee is free to dispute what the manager says about their work and if they are concerned about a particular statistic painting them in an unfair light, they should spend some time preparing for the meeting. It is worthwhile to put some effort into explaining away anything that they think unreasonably takes the shine off their overall performance.
If the employee feels that they could do with some additional training in a particular area of their job, this is also a good place to have a chat about it and ascertain whether it is an option. This can be a good thing to suggest if your manager feels that your performance is suboptimal in a particular area. Showing that you are keen to improve in areas you are considered to be deficient in can greatly improve the tone of the meeting.
360 Degree Feedback
As well as being a place for management to talk about the performance of the employee, it is also the place for employees to raise any grievances or worries of their own. If they feel that they are being worked too hard in comparison to their colleagues, potentially to the point of burnout, now is the time to bring it up.
This is an excellent opportunity for a quiet conversation about any potential bullying situation that is worrying them or to suggest positive changes that may be implemented to help the work culture to improve. It may be that the employee feels that the company would benefit from doing more to build a team and that some days doing fun activities is the solution.
If there are concerns about a particular member of the management team not being able to adequately fulfil their duties, this would also be the place to raise the matter. Just be careful if you do decide to go down this road, as most of the more senior people in a company will know and socialise with each other at the very least, so it may not always be to your benefit to bring it up.
If you believe that you would be more productive working more flexibly, this would be a good time to raise this request as well, while you have a captive audience for a while.
Career Progression
This can be a very tricky thing to know when to raise in a workplace environment and it is usually at an annual appraisal that such conversations should rightly take place. If you are going to suggest career progression, ensure that you are not going into the meeting to have your performance in the last year criticised. If this does happen your subsequent talk of career progression may seem somewhat premature.
If you wish to pursue career progression, you should think about what you want to say in relation to this beforehand, and perhaps take some notes into the meeting with you in order to help you to focus on saying what you would really want to.
Outline your experience at the company and let them know that you would like to express an interest in moving to the next level in the company. Depending on how this is received, you should have a good idea how likely this is to happen any time in the near future.
It is possible that there may not be any chance of career advancement at your company for the foreseeable future and if this is the case, your manager may say this to you directly, or ask that you broach the matter again at your next annual appraisal. If you do, and you are still no further forward, it may be prudent to conclude that you are being fobbed off and that career advancement is not something that is in the company’s plan for you. At this point, you must decide whether to persevere with the company or begin to look elsewhere for your career advancement.
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