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The Importance of Performance Appraisals to HR

Evaluations are incorporated into humanities lives on an everyday basis; from the time

they are born to adulthood, people are evaluated in all aspects of life. In schools, children are

evaluated using a grading system in which percentages are given to evaluate how much

information a student retained during a lesson. Doctors, dentists, and optometrist evaluate their

patience health and use the information to critique, praise, and set some goals to achieve before

their next visit. Evaluations are even found in video games like Call of Duty when a player sees

their statistics (kill/death ratios, ranking, etc.) at the end of a game to see how well (or poorly)

they performed. Humans are constantly being monitored and evaluated, so it should be no

surprise when the same happens in their job and career.

Evaluations and performance appraisals are useful in companies because they reflect the

effectiveness of the company’s objectives and goals (Youssef, 2015). They allow companies to

see tasks and responsibilities employees do well with, but also see where employees need

improvement for the benefit of the company. This job falls on the Human Resource (HR)

department because they are in charge of ensuring an employee’s skills align with the

organizations goals and objectives. HR is more like employee management where they improve

organizational behaviors in order to improve organizational performance of the company (Bao et

al, 2021, p. 13). This is done using performance appraisals or evaluations. HR is in charge of

planning the human component of an organization’s operations, creating job descriptions,

recruiting potential employees, interviewing and selecting a candidate fit for the positions they

designed, and evaluating their chosen candidate to ensure they have made the correct decision.

The HR department’s job comes full circle, which is why performance appraisals are their

responsibility.
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According to Youssef (2015), the four basic components of a performance appraisal

involve employee productivity, employee attitudes, work behavior, and team performances.

Employee productivity aligns with an employee’s job description where there are specific

standards associated with that job. When evaluating employee productivity, HR has to discern if

the employee is costing or saving/gaining the company money. Is the employee completing their

duties and responsibilities or are they sitting on their phones watching Netflix? Employee

attitudes affect their performance and therefore should be monitored by HR for appraisal

purposes. This is not to say an employee will be reprimanded for having a negative attitude now

and then—that is just human nature. However, when cynicism and disengagement become a

habit of an employee, they inadvertently reduce efficiency and performance in not only

themselves but in their coworkers as well. This is an important time for HR to step in and have

an open discussion about the attitude and performance they have been observing to potentially

help. Work behaviors like coaching, being friendly, sharing skills, and helping colleges with

personal problems can also be evaluated in a performance appraisal because they can increase

productivity and create a positive working environment (Youssef, 2015). Although these

behaviors are subjective and hard to observe by HR at all times, a 360-degree feedback method

can help analyze an employees work behaviors. Lastly, team performance can be evaluated by

measuring the effectiveness of a holistic team or every member of the team as an individual unit.

By witnessing employees within these four basic components, HR is able to evaluate an

individual on how they contribute to the effectiveness of the company and if they are lacking in

an area being evaluated, goals can be set to develop that employee. However, it is important for

HR to create an appraisal form that is clear, regularly given, and open ended. Babar et al (2022)

explains clarity, regularity, openness, and rationalized performance rating encourage

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effectiveness and proficiency in employee performance (p. 5). Clarity is a major problem of

performance evaluations because categories like communication are difficult to measure. HR

needs to clearly define what communication looks like within the work place to allow any HR

manager and all employees to understand the difference between an acceptable and needs

improvement rating. By having clear definitions of criteria, regular meetings, and an open

discussion of the evaluation, employees can set goals and HR can provide the proper training and

development in order for them to reach those goals, like being promoted. Performance appraisals

have the ability to motivate employees to perform better in their jobs by increasing morale and in

turn increase their performance (Bao et al, 2021, p. 17).

Consequently, when performance appraisals are not created using clear defined criteria

and predominately subjective verbiage, companies could find themselves in legal scrutiny. Legal

concerns are rising, with more people fighting for their rights to be treated equally. The Equal

Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) maintain performance appraisals must be related

to job description criteria and are nondiscriminatory, documented, and properly recorded

(Youssef, 2015). Evaluations should never be the end all be all of an employee, meaning, if an

employee receives a poor review once, this should not be means to terminate. This is when an

investigation may ensue. Training should always be the first option, and that training should be

document so if the employee continues to perform to an unacceptable standard, the company has

means to terminate without violating EEOC legality.

Evaluations can be the cornerstone of development; however, in recent years, several

companies are doing away with the process because of the changing nature of the workforce (i.e.

working remotely). This is a mistake. HR can use performance appraisals to create job

descriptions, recruit, hire the best candidate for a specific position knowing what they will be
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evaluated on, and enhance training and development to meet the needs of their employees. It is a

practice that is necessary the HR department but also to the company.

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References

Babar, S., Obaid, A., Sanders, K., & Tariq, H. (2022). Performance appraisal quality and

employee performance: the boundary conditions of human resource strength and

religiosity. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources.

Bao, H. J., Cheng, H. K., Vejayaratnam, N., Anathuri, A., Seksyen, S., Bangi, B. B., & Bakar, A.

A. (2021). A study on human resource function: recruitment, training and development,

performance appraisal and compensation. Journal of Global Business and Social

Entrepreneurship (GBSE), 7(20).

Youssef, C. (2015). Human resource management (2nd ed.). Bridgepoint Education.