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We can't be the only ones always on the lookout for signs of how well we're doing. If you (and your team) are anything like us, you want to feel appreciated – or know how to change your approach to earn that recognition. That's just how humans are wired.
However, it's impossible always to give praise. Companies on the continuous improvement path should stay clear of “ruinous empathy”, which is what the author of Radical Candor calls avoiding discussing improvement to spare feelings. Instead, use a solid employee evaluation template for a fair, standardized way to assess your teams and help them grow.
This comprehensive guide includes all the specifics for assessing job performance and creating a healthy feedback culture – employee performance evaluation form template included!
What should an employee evaluation form include
Employee & review(er) info
Start with the basics – information about both the reviewer and the employee who's being assessed. These examples are pretty self-explanatory:
- Employee name
- Employee position
- Reviewer name
- Reviewer position
- Review period
- Review date
You can include additional information – whatever helps organize performance reviews more effectively, e.g., the employee's department, ID, or years at the company.
Competencies
You can use employee evaluation forms to assess both soft and hard skills. Here are some examples with (bonus!) questions to help you receive specific, actionable feedback.
- Communication some text
- Can the employee convey complex information clearly and concisely?
- How well does the employee listen to others and show understanding through their responses?
- Does the employee handle difficult conversations or conflicts with professionalism and tact?
- Work qualitysome text
- How effectively does the employee manage deadlines without compromising quality?
- Does the employee demonstrate attention to detail, minimizing errors and inaccuracies?
- How consistently does the employee deliver work that meets or exceeds expectations?
- Organizationsome text
- How efficiently does the employee handle multiple projects or responsibilities simultaneously?
- Can the employee effectively delegate tasks and responsibilities to others when appropriate?
- How consistently does the employee follow through on commitments, demonstrating reliability and accountability?
- Teamworksome text
- Does the employee show respect for diverse perspectives within the team?
- Is the employee flexible when working with different team members or in changing circumstances?
- Can the employee effectively resolve conflicts, seeking constructive solutions?
- Decision-makingsome text
- Does the employee analyze available data to make informed decisions?
- To what extent does the employee consider their decisions’ potential risks and consequences before taking action?
- Can the employee identify and evaluate alternative solutions before making a decision?
- Proactivitysome text
- Does the employee actively seek out new opportunities for growth and development?
- To what extent does the employee contribute ideas for improving the company processes, products, or services?
- Does the employee demonstrate initiative by identifying and addressing problems or opportunities before they escalate?
- Emotional intelligencesome text
- Is the employee empathetic and considerate of others' perspectives and feelings when making decisions or interacting with colleagues?
- Can the employee manage their emotions well, even in difficult situations?
- Does the employee demonstrate self-awareness by recognizing their strengths, weaknesses, and areas for growth?
Needless to say, when conducting an employee self-evaluation process, you'd tweak these questions to make them address their own performance. If you need more examples, you can always refer to our tips on using AI as a question generator or check out our other collections of questions:
Rating scale
Start with quantitative data. The rating system should be simple and clear, with the score backed by specific examples (which we'll discuss in the next section).
Here's an example of how you can structure the scale:
- 1 – below expectations
- 2 – needs improvement
- 3 – meets expectations
- 4 – exceeds expectations
- 5 – outstanding
Comments & examples
The rating system gives you a clear, at-a-glance view of the employee's job performance. It's also great for future analysis and growth tracking.
However, it doesn't give you much real information about the what, why, and how of your team's personal and professional development. That's why you should always include both quantitative and qualitative data. Moreover, real-life examples help employees understand how to improve or what to do more of.
One study showed that higher feedback levels lead to almost 90% of people thriving at work, over 60% increased engagement, and almost 80% higher job satisfaction.
Here are some examples of how to provide detailed feedback on an employee's performance (in order of the competencies we listed):
- Communication: Your ability to convey complex information is commendable. For instance, your concise explanation of goals during our last project kick-off helped to keep the team aligned. However, when you were explaining the technical aspects in the recent project meeting some members seemed confused. Consider breaking down intricate concepts into simpler terms to ensure everyone understands them.
- Work quality: Your attention to detail and commitment to delivering high-quality work are evident. Your creative alternative solutions during the last client presentation significantly improved the quality of our proposal. However, I noticed a few typographical errors in your recent report. I know you're efficient enough that it would only take you an extra moment to eliminate them.
- Organization: Your ability to manage multiple tasks effectively to meet deadlines helped the team stay on track and meet project milestones. However, there were situations where you overlooked important emails, causing delays in responding to client inquiries. Using email filters or setting reminders could help streamline your email management process.
- Teamwork: Your collaborative spirit and willingness to support team members have been invaluable to our success. During the recent brainstorming session, your openness to diverse ideas fostered a creative environment that generated innovative solutions to challenges. However, there was an incident you may have missed where a team member expressed feeling unheard during a group discussion. Taking a moment to acknowledge their input could strengthen team dynamics.
- Decision-making: Your ability to analyze data and make informed, timely decisions prevented delays and kept the project on track. However, there was an instance where a decision was made without consulting key external stakeholders, leading to resistance during implementation. In the future, consider gathering input from relevant team members to ensure alignment.
- Proactivity: Your initiative in identifying inefficiencies in our current process and your proposed solutions significantly boosted team productivity. However, I know you have it in you to follow up on more personal growth opportunities that come your way.
- Emotional intelligence: Your ability to remain calm under pressure and empathize with colleagues' perspectives helped relieve stress before tight deadlines. However, there was an instance where tensions arose during a team meeting; a more empathetic approach to the conflicting views could have de-escalated the situation.
Source: Symonds Research
Check out our other posts for more examples:
- 360 feedback for managers examples
- Constructive feedback examples
- Employee recognition examples
- Teamwork feedback examples
Additional notes
In this section, you can mention:
- Other examples of exceptional performance unrelated to the evaluation criteria
- A specific professional development plan
- Helpful development resources and training opportunities
- Performance goals met since the last review process
- Areas of improvement for employees
Grab your employee evaluation template 📋
When you put it all together, the employee evaluation form looks something like this.
Download a free, full PDF version here.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14EysgXixOo9c9a42HrQkn57ivVQjZgbUXUf7pPEzFJY/edit?usp=sharing
How to automate employee evaluation with Effy AI
If you're not a fan of having hundreds of pieces of paper flying around, you can switch to a digital evaluation process (or use both). Effy AI is of the best performance management software you can start with. Let us explain why.
First of all, it's simple enough you can run the first staff assessment in minutes. To help you with effective employee evaluation forms and actionable feedback, we've implemented these features:
- Multiple customizable employee evaluation templates
- Automated reminders to get the highest response rates on surveys and self-evaluations
- Anonymization to help address difficult subjects
- Integration with Slack – our performance review software lets your team fill in evaluations directly in the communication platform
- AI-generated reports and summaries that save you hours on analyzing employee evaluation forms
Effy AI works great as 360 feedback software, helping you get multiple perspectives on employee progress, strengths, and weaknesses. It helps you stay on track of project milestones and reward hard work with promotion reviews.
Conclusion
Do you see how structuring feedback fairly and empathetically with a standardized employee evaluation template can pave the way to improvement without hurting feelings? The main things to keep in mind are to communicate performance expectations clearly and support assessments with facts or examples.
If you want to make regular employee skills assessments and feedback exchanges a permanent part of your company culture, give Effy AI a spin. You'll find plenty more ready-to-use employee evaluation forms, plus 360 feedback examples, surveys, and more.
Sign up to start using this performance review software for free.
FAQs
What should an employee evaluation include?
Employee performance evaluation forms should include basic information about the employee and reviewer (their name and position), the date of performing the assessment, the review period, and the assessed competencies (with a rating scale, comments, and examples). Include an "additional notes section" to share additional constructive feedback.
How do you write an employee evaluation form?
Use our downloadable performance review template or use Effy AI to get access to digitized employee evaluation templates. Either way, remember to use objective criteria and language and include specific examples when filling out the employee evaluations.
What is the most common form of employee evaluation?
Performance evaluations are the most common way to assess an employee's behavior and handling of their job responsibilities. They're a structured way to provide feedback and set goals.
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