For a growing business that has a large and varied workforce, employee observations and evaluations are one way to make sure all your workers understand the objectives of their jobs, and can do their jobs well. To keep morale high, it is important to write observation reports carefully so that employees have a clear idea of improve their perfomance, and still feel like valued members of the company.
Instructions
1. First, observe your employees on days when they are performing their normal duties. Give them a heads up that you will be observing them sometime the next week, and let each person know when you plan to discuss his or her employee evaluation.
2. Next, have a clear list of aspects that you want to evaluate. This varies greatly depending on the employees´ job duties, type of business, or particular company policies. For example, you might count how many times they say a slogan or phrase, how quickly they work, or how they prioritize tasks.
3. To make the observations more efficient, grade various aspects of their perfomance on a scale of 1 to 3, or 1 to 5, with 1 being to lowest. This will be faster than writing detailed comments for every aspect of an employee's work habits. Jot down notes or comments only when something notable occurs.
This way, when you observe them, your focus will be on the employee, not theform you are filling out.
4. Write an employee´s evaluation soon after you observe him or her in action. This keeps details fresh in your mind.
5. When drafting reports, use the compliment sandwich approach. Open with remarks about positive aspects of their job performance, lead into areas that need work, and finally, make a note of other positive points.
6. For every fault that you observe and report, come up with a concrete method of improvement. For example, if the worker does not say a slogan often enough, don´t just tell her to say it more, tell her specific instances where she can work it into the conversation with customers. Or if an office worker´s attire is too casual, give him a list of specific items he should start wearing. Employees like clear directives.
7. During the next cycle of employee evaluations, be sure to note when your workers have improved in areas that were lacking before.
