It’s that time of the year again for many organizations. And no, I’m not talking about the holidays. I’m talking about a different kind of season; Performance review season.
If you think about it, these two seasons actually have a lot in common. Both bring about a lot of hustle and bustle, and last minute chaos and stress. While most people are struggling to get their Christmas shopping done, inside the workplace HR is feeling the pressure of getting performance reviews in on time.
But HR isn’t the only ones that feeling the weight. Performance review season can be a hectic occasion for all, employees and managers alike. As HR scrambles to prepare and execute appraisals efficiently and successfully, employees and managers are thinking of ways to recall performance-related events of the past year, and often need help ‘getting past the blank page.’
The good news is that an automated performance review system can help. An automated tool is like the Santa Claus of the performance review season. It comes bringing gifts and goodies that help make everyone’s lives easier come appraisal time, such as:
1. Automatic reminders
This is one thing you won’t get with a paper-based system! Automatic e-mail reminders are the simplest way to speed up the appraisal process and ensure that everyone stays on track. Not to mention, they also take some of the pressure off HR and prevents them from feeling like a nagging parent.
2. Content Libraries
Content libraries help HR professionals build appraisals, as well as help managers and employees complete their evaluations. Content libraries can include anything from rating scales to 360 multi-rater review questions, competency libraries to appraisal templates.
3. Writing Assistants
A writing assistant is a great little feature that often comes with any good automated tool. A writing assistant does just that – assists in the sometimes very tedious writing process. It helps users overcome writer’s block by providing suggestions and phrases appropriate to the topic they’re writing about.
4. Year-Round Journaling
One of the difficulties of putting together an employee review or a self-appraisal is not having enough performance-related documentation. In other words, it’s hard for an employee to think back an entire year and try to remember specific events or situations having to do with their performance. It’s even harder for a manager, who’s job it is to write reviews for their entire team, to do so. Keeping a record of activities and successes throughout the year helps keep track of performance year round, and makes it easier to put those thoughts down on paper come appraisal time.
Not using an automated system? Maybe it’s about time you put that on your wish list for next year. Come take a peak in our gift bag and see what emPerform has to offer!
