Employee appraisal template

Countless different employee appraisal templates have been used over the years. Some are brief, others are extensive, with many questions for the employee and leader to prepare from. There is no single right answer, but it is certainly an advantage to think through what you believe is the best approach in your own organisation. How can you most easily provide enough support for the conversations to have value and contribute to development?

Why should we have an employee appraisal template?

Not all leaders immediately see the value of an employee appraisal. This is often because they don't feel comfortable being so close to an employee, or simply because they don't know what the goal of the conversations is. It's then easy for it to become an awkward conversation, just an evaluation going through performance and tasks, or simply a pleasant coffee break. You won't realise much of the organisation's potential this way. So start by checking your leaders' attitudes towards employee appraisals, and work on their understanding. Does top management have a positive attitude towards employee appraisals? What support and training do the leaders need?

This is where the template comes in. An employee appraisal template should provide a shared understanding of the purpose, help everyone come prepared for the conversation, ensure a greater degree of equal treatment and provide support in carrying out employee appraisals, so that nothing important is forgotten.

• Read: Avoid the evaluation trap in the employee appraisal

Tips for preparing the employee appraisal

• Purpose – what is the goal of the conversations? What should they look after and contribute to?
• What should be discussed? – How is the employee doing at work? What did we agree in the last conversation? How have the tasks been handled? Where do we go from here? See our suggestion in the next section.
• Suitable conversation style – The leader must remember that this is “the employee's conversation” and inspire the employee to take an active part in the conversation through open and well-meaningly curious questions. Here you can read an article about the simple technique of “curious dialogue”.
• Have a checklist with concrete points that is used for preparation and as support during the conversation
• Follow-up afterwards – Where is what you agree on anchored? Where is the documentation kept? How will it be followed up until the next conversation?

• Read: The employee appraisal: Creating value through dialogue

Employee appraisal template

1. Motivation

All change, development and task delivery require motivation. That is why it is wise to start by getting to know the employee's perception of where they stand as well as possible.

Below we have listed 8 questions derived from the theory of intrinsic motivation, which give a general picture of a work situation. These questions are well suited as preparation for the employee and as hooks in the conversation. What motivates most? What is less important? How are these areas looked after?

1. How important is it to you that the content of your work is interesting/meaningful?
2. How important are responsibility and freedom to decide for yourself to you?
3. How important is it to you to receive feedback?
4. How important is it to you to have a close and good relationship with your immediate manager?
5. How important is professional development/competenceto you? Do you feel you get to use your competence?
6. How important is it that you get support from colleagues and feel included?
7. How important is it to you that there is good collaboration in the organisation?
8. How important is it to you to feel that you are mastering your work and succeeding?

If the employee feels that the areas they consider important are not well enough looked after over time, it will probably lead to high costs in the form of absence, job changes, conflicts, etc. This can be prevented, as long as we step in early enough.

Based on these 8 areas, Motivati has developed the Motivation Analysis™, which gives leaders valuable insight into the employee's work situation. It shows what matters for the employee's motivation and whether they feel these areas are looked after. Skip the standard template and let the results of the analysis guide the conversation. Read more about the employee appraisal with Motivati.

2. The tasks – the delivery

• What has been delivered?
• How did it go?
• Can we learn anything from what has been done?
• Which goals and tasks should apply for the coming period?

Read: The evaluation trap in the employee appraisal

3. Competence

• What do you want?
• What does the organisation need?
• Where do we go from here?
• What do we do to make sure you get the competence?
• Is anything holding you back – time, motivation, something else?

Read: Competence development – be prepared for tomorrow!