How to submit an employee self performance review

A performance assessment or evaluation is a parameter for the senior management to assess and judge the health of the company's employees. This is a document for anyone to analyse and compare the performance of various employees at the same level. This sets a base for setting the performance targets for the next year. A performance review meeting can be full of stress as managers might find it difficult to communicate the exact needs of the organisation to the employee and the employee might not come out with all details of performance and feedback out of fear of a negative review from the manager.

Self Appraisal

The companies have thus, devised a procedure of self-appraisal wherein the employee measures his performance against the targets allocated to him at the start of the year. He gives an account of accomplishments to support the parameters set for him, be it financial, operational, knowledge sharing or process related. The employee is given an opportunity to give his own performance feedback and rate himself, specify the problems faced and also specify his training needs for the next year. The variable pay, salary revision, promotion and image building are dependent on the rating during the performance review.

Performance review is a basically a three step procedure
Self-appraisal,
Appraisal by the immediate reporting authority and
Appraisal by the super senior who decide on the final rating vis-à-vis employees of the same cadre in other departments or units.
The measurement of performance of the employee begins with his own rating which forms a base for the senior's review. Hence, this step of self-review during performance evaluation is the most important phase which needs to be prepared and submitted with great care and caution.

Be to the point

The term self-appraisal is misunderstood by many employees and they start blowing their own trumpet. They tend to exaggerate things to such an extent that the superior might not consider any of the performance claims made in the document. It is to be remembered that the immediate reporting authority has been reviewing the employee performance throughout the year and exaggerations might be harmful at this stage. Some employees try to be very down to earth and just fill the basic details and do not explain their achievements clearly. The superior might have been a witness to all the performances throughout the year, but it is not possible for him to list out all the achievements of every employee in the team.

Be honest, provide quantitative and qualitative data

This makes the step of submission of self performance review very important for all employees in an organisation. The self- appraisal should be such that the management is forced to notice the employee through his honest feedback and ratings. The employee would have noted a list of all achievements in a notepad during the course of the year. He should add annexures to the review form to provide facts and figures in detail for all the accomplishments. The weaknesses should also be stated in a polished manner that the manager takes it in a positive manner.

Importance of attitude in submission of self-performance review

The employee would have kept a detail of every achievement and performance related detail in a notepad since the beginning of the year; worked very hard in providing the details of accomplishments; would be fully aware of the company’s policies and systems and prepared the self-appraisal form accordingly and meticulously. But does just handing over the form and coming out work in employee's favour or can an extra effort be taken to establish his position?

Main questions to be considered after preparing the self-review form :

What should the employee do before submission of performance appraisal form?

What should be said during the review meeting?

What questions need to be asked during the performance meeting?

Let's have a look at the important points to be reviewed in the self-appraisal form before submission to the reporting authority:

Establish yourself when the self-appraisal form is being submitted

The employee should have a clear idea of what he has to say when the performance review form is being handed over to the superior. This can have an effect on the atmosphere during the actual performance review meeting.

Author Steven Coy has stated in his book "7 habits of Highly Effective People" that one should always "Begin with the end in mind". One should know what he wants from the initiation of an activity and should direct all efforts towards the goal.
The manager will also have to do some homework before arranging a performance review meeting and provide appraisal feedback form rated by the employee. This might include matching the performance against the targets set for the position, comparison of quality and quantity of performance vis-à-vis other employees, feedback from customers, colleagues, subordinates about the employee. The difference in the reporting authority's review would depend on how the employee positions himself during this intermittent period. Hence, during this period, what the employee says and how he says it makes a difference.

What can an employee say while submitting the self-review

Showing a need for guidance on self review

The reporting authority can be told that the employee has done his best while preparing the self appraisal by making a list of all possible achievements but the employee is open to any further suggestions or improvements that the reporting authority could suggest.

Inclusion of customer feedback

The employee can state that he has taken feedback from all important customers and their specific feedback has been stated in a separate attachment but the reporting authority could suggest further specific review from the customer apart from comments on the existing feedbacks included in the self-review.
The reporting authority gets a feel that the employee is aware of the outside world and it's response to the services offered by the company as a whole.

Gentle reminder of the goal

The employee is set some target at the beginning of the year and the fulfilment of target comes with an assurance of specific rating. If the employee has achieved the goals set for him and has explicitly detailed them in the self-review, it is better to gently remind the reporting authority that he has his sight on the goals and the specific rating promised by the reporting authority.

Need for feedback

Good managers need not be reminded about this aspect as they generally provide feedback in clear and quantitative terms. But bad managers talk in general and vague terms during the review without any specific feedback about the employee and later blame others for the poor rating. Such managers need to be told in gentle terms about the expectations during the review meeting. This gives a hint to the manager that he has to come prepared with details during the meeting.

Additional details

If the employee has details of the performance data during the course of the year, it is better to include them in the self evaluation sheet. It may not be possible to include all details in the review sheet but an annexure can be added to help the reporting authority to have all details in support of employee's rating.

Open questions to the reporting authority

The managers generally do not come out with all facts but it is worth a try by asking if they have any doubts or questions in the self review document. It should be stated that any concerns regarding inputs in review sheet can be discussed during the review meeting. Approaching the review meeting with full preparation and support material will definitely help in changing any negative views in the mind of the manager.

Conclusion

This process of self-review and submission of the document involves hard work. Need for usage of right phrases while handing over self review to the manager is very essential. All this might consume a lot of energy and time preparing for the perfect review document but this is not nice a year which decides the salary or position for the next year. All efforts and communication required to achieve the goal of a good rating should be taken without any hitch.