Every company wants hard working and goal oriented employees. Every Organisation desires success. What does an employee wants? What are his goals.? All an employee wants is appraisal for his/her hardwork and performance that he/she is producing.Further in this article you will be able to completely understand about appraisals, goals and legalities attached with it.

Lets understand about appraisal of employees and needs of appraisal.

An employee performance appraisal is a process—often combining both written and oral elements—whereby management evaluates and provides feedback on employee job performance, including steps to improve or redirect activities as needed. Documenting performance provides a basis for pay increases and promotions. Appraisals are also important to help staff members improve their performance and as an avenue by which they can be rewarded or recognized for a job well done. In addition, they can serve a host of other functions, providing a launching point from which companies can clarify and shape responsibilities in accordance with business trends, clear lines of management-employee communication, and spur re-examinations of potentially hoary business practices. Yet Joel Myers notes in Memphis Business Journal that “in many organizations, performance appraisals only occur when management is building a case to terminate someone. It’s no wonder that the result is a mutual dread of the performance evaluation session—something to be avoided, if at all possible. This is no way to manage and motivate people. Performance appraisal is supposed to be a developmental experience for the employee and a ‘teaching moment’ for the manager.”

Lets look at goals of appraisal system.

While the term performance appraisal has meaning for most small business owners, it might be helpful to consider the goals of an appraisal system. They are as follows:

1. To improve the company’s productivity
2. To make informed personnel decisions regarding promotion, job changes, and termination
3. To identify what is required to perform a job (goals and responsibilities of the job)
4. To assess an employee’s performance against these goals
5. To work to improve the employee’s performance by naming specific areas for improvement, developing a plan aimed at improving these areas, supporting the employee’s efforts at improvement via feedback and assistance, and ensuring the employee’s involvement and commitment to improving his or her performance.

What are the types of appraisal and assesment terms.? Lets list them out

1.Traditional

2.Self Initiated reviews

3.Self appraisal

4.360⁰ feedback

In developing an appraisal system for a business, an entrepreneur needs to consider the following:

1. Size of staff
2. Employees on an alternative work schedule
3. Goals of company and desired employee behaviors to help achieve goals
4. Measuring performance/work
5. Pay increases and promotions
6. Communication of appraisal system and individual performance
7. Performance planning

Lets understand legal issues related to appraisals.

Besides providing a written summary of the appraisal to the employee, a business owner would be well-advised to ensure the following with regards to the system at large:

• Job expectations as well as the appraisal system and its impact on employee’s work status are adequately communicated to all employees
• Performance measures are related to the job being performed
• Managers or co-workers providing input into the appraisal must be sufficiently trained as to be able to provide objective input
• Employees are given timely feedback on performance and a reasonable amount of time and support in improving their performance.