By: Natalie Trudel

A standardized, quantified, and  automated employee review process is an essential way to track employee progress and maximize productivity in the workplace. Most managers and human resource departments understand the core benefits of employee reviews. Regular evaluations help ensure recognition for high performing workers, and they help keep mid-level performers on track toward the achievement of reasonable goals. Evaluations also help managers deal with low performers by providing a clear record of all efforts made to avoid termination.

These objectives are all vital aspects of performance tracking and workplace management. But the review process, no matter how valuable, comes with a few caveats. Once your review procedure becomes cost ineffective, its drawbacks begin to outweigh its benefits. The following tips can help to ensure that your evaluation process runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible:

1. Keep the audit principle in mind. Instead of examining every minute detail of every employee’s performance, monitor a small number of details that suggest competence or incompetence across broad areas. For example, if too many customer complaints suggest an underlying problem, use “number of customer complaints” as one of the points in a five point audit. If an employee’s number falls above or below a certain threshold, investigate further. If not, move on.

2. Carefully weigh the benefits before taking steps to increase breadth and objectivity. Many mangers find value in 360 degree reviews, where peers and underlings, not just supervisors, evaluate a worker’s performance. This may be a valuable evaluation tool for some positions. But for others, it simply means that twelve employees instead of one will spend an hour completing the review. Make sure the gains of the review are worth 11 additional hours of lost productivity.

3. Make sure the review process stays brief, measurable, and goal-oriented for managers who have limited personal contact with their direct reports. Keep the process meaningful in these cases, and don’t require absentee managers to provide lengthy comments on unquantifiable or open-ended performance criteria.

4. Focus on automation. Technology moves fast. Re-examine your review workflows at least once every year, and maintain an ongoing search for new tools and new ways to streamline and automate your process. Don’t waste time on record maintenance or data management if you can easily rely on a sophisticated software program to handle this for you. CRG emPerform‘s cutting edge HR management application can keep your review process efficient and cost effective. Click here to request a live demo or click here to view the product tour.