Employee burnout is common due to the challenges of balancing work and personal life. Can performance review questions inspire and engage tired employees?
Effective performance evaluations celebrate achievements and identify areas for growth. Research shows increasing CEO focus on employee performance.
To resonate with today’s workforce, performance review questions need careful consideration. Employers must redefine effective performance, adjust expectations, and refine their approach. This post will explore questions to maximize the benefits of performance reviews.
- What Questions Should You Ask During Performance Reviews?
- Sample of Employee Performance Review Questions
- Performance Review Questions for Managers
- Questions to Ask Employees During Performance Reviews
- Questions for Self-Appraisals
- Employee Performance Reviews During (and Post) Covid-19
- Performance Reviews for Remote Employees
- Don’t Put Employee Performance Evaluations on Pause
- Customizable software for performance reviews 🚀
What Questions Should You Ask During Performance Reviews?
Determining which questions to ask is not always a straightforward process. However, we’ve created some general guidelines to help you decide.
- It is not enough to just go by numbers, but don’t ignore them either. There should be a mixture of questions that take into consideration both quantity of work and quality of work.
- Ask about an employee’s career growth and goals. It is impossible to separate performance, motivation levels, and overall career goals.
- Take a holistic approach while assessing employee performance. Think big picture and small picture. It’s important to get an idea of what kind of work the employee is doing now and where they will go in 5 years.
- Think about the employee’s position in the context of the company. What kind of value do they add? Are they team players? At least some of your performance review questions should reflect how the employee helps to reach the company’s objectives.
- Ask them about how their job could be better. This will give you insight into any problems that might exist and also motivate your team. Feedback is central to cultivating a healthy workspace and a high-performance culture.
Sample of Employee Performance Review Questions
Here are our favorite performance review questions to get at specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based goals. Below, you’ll find examples of performance review questions for managers and employees alike. We’ve also included some examples of questions for self-appraisals and one-on-one performance reviews.
Before performing a performance review, managers should ask themselves the following:
Questions to Measure Adaptability
- Does the employee help develop strategies in line with our changing business priorities?
- Has the employee been able to face this year’s challenges with grit and grace?
Questions to Evaluate Problem-Solving Skills:
- Does the employee collaborate with peers and team members?
- Do they help facilitate open conversation and an inclusive atmosphere?
- Has the employee helped streamline routine processes or find unique solutions for adding value?
- Is the employee able to practically implement creative recommendations?
Questions to Measure Change Management Capabilities:
- Does the employee communicate with management about changing priorities or resources?
- Are they responsive to changing information and able to pivot away from a pre-planned course of action?
- Does the employee look for novel applications of new technologies in order to increase efficiency?
- Is the employee able to effectively translate strategies into action plans?
Performance Review Questions for Managers:
The following performance review questions are intended to help managers assess different employee skill sets and competencies. In order to get a complete picture of employee contributions, managers should remember to ask themselves about an employee’s interpersonal skills and teamwork.
- How has (employee name) helped to contribute to the team’s success over the past quarter?
- What are (employee name)’s strong points? In which areas do they excel?
- How does (employee name) plan and organize their time?
- How does (employee name) carry out projects?
- Where are opportunities for (employee name) to grow in their position?
- How does (employee name) interact with other members of the team? In what ways do they offer their support?
Questions to Ask Employees During Performance Reviews
This list of questions can help managers gain insight into how the employee feels in their current role and how they would like to develop as professionals.
- What are some of your biggest achievements this past quarter?
- Do you feel on track to achieve your professional goals?
- How can I better support you?
- Which goals were difficult for you to reach?
- What part of your job do you like the most?
- Which goal or project would you like to work on over the next quarter?
Questions for Self-Appraisals
Here is a list of questions that work especially well for self-appraisals. The following questions give employers insight into both employee performance and potential. Performance review questions should help employers understand where the employee is now and where they would like to go. Additionally, a 9-box grid can further help managers to analyze potential and performance on a scale.
- How can your manager/supervisor better support you?
- Are you satisfied with your current position at (company name)?
- What are some of the projects that you have worked on this quarter?
- Have you met company goals this quarter?
- In what ways would you like to improve?
- What does your projected career path look like? Do you feel like you are on track?
- What are your top 3 priorities for next quarter? For the next year?
- What training and skillsets would you like to have?
Employee Performance Reviews During (and Post) Covid-19
This year has been difficult for everyone. Managers have probably already had to adjust expectations and goals to meet their teams’ new limitations. But is that enough?
It is worth remembering that the past few years have had a disproportionately large effect on women’s careers as mothers take over homeschooling and childcare responsibilities. Many women have already been forced to seek positions with less demanding hours or even to leave the workforce altogether. Managers are thus facing a unique challenge. How to reward employees who are going the extra mile during these crises without penalizing those who have needed to take care of other priorities?
While compassion and empathy are always important, good vibes alone will not be sufficient to support the fatigued workforce. Employers must take concrete steps to modify performance management systems in order to fairly evaluate employees.
Performance Reviews for Remote Employees
Performance reviews can be stressful for both managers and employees even in the best of times. Here are our best tips to help managers meet remote employees where they’re at.
Rethink employee goals
In these difficult times, managers must redefine the criteria for success. The business’s priorities may have shifted profoundly since last year’s performance assessments. Further, all workers have had to take on outsized responsibilities and work hard to persevere in difficult circumstances. Performance evaluations need to reflect these shifts.
Make sure to concentrate on factors an employee can control. For example, with family and home-life demands, many employees do not currently have much power over their flexibility i.e. their ability to work different hours or take on more tasks. They do, however, have control over their adaptability, i.e. their willingness to overcome obstacles and take advantage of new tools in a virtual work environment.
Tackle biases
Unfortunately, unconscious biases can play a big role in the performance management process. That is why it is important that managers clearly define metrics for success. Ambiguous criteria can leave room for implicit biases to affect performance reviews while more specific measurements even the playing field.
To avoid biases, try not to measure employee success in vague terms, like visibility and innovation. You need a new vocabulary to take more accurate measurements. Instead of asking about innovation (not measurable), ask about an employee’s ability to encourage idea-sharing and problem-solving. Pay particular attention to sometimes overlooked skills that have become important, such as managing team infrastructure by sending out meeting minutes and checking in on colleagues.
Get the whole picture: 360-degree appraisal
With all employees working remotely, there’s a lot going on that you can’t see. That’s why it is more important than ever to try to get the whole picture. When conducting an employee performance review, be sure to consider not only the manager’s perspective but also the perspective of the employee’s colleagues and direct reports. That 360-degree appraisal will provide you with a 360-view of the employee’s contributions, collaborations, and development.
Does trying to manage so many perspectives sound daunting? Use performance management software in order to streamline and centralize your performance management process. Supervisors can select reviewees and as many reviewers as they need. They can create multiple-choice, short-answer, or ratings questions. Employees will answer directly on the platform while supervisors track their progress.
Change the format
How to do performance reviews remotely? If your workforce has turned into a swarm of Zoombies tired out by video meetings, another video call might seem like a lot to ask. However, having face-to-face (or screen-to-screen) contact during these interactions is very important to add a much-needed sense of humanity.
It may be difficult to see how your words are landing so be sure to check in often. As Rebecca Knight presciently points out in HBR, the question is often “Did you just crush your employee’s soul? Or is their video just frozen?”
Next, consider doing away with traditional numerical rating systems that may have served in staff evaluations past. Who among us has sufficient self-esteem to look cold-hard numbers in the face? Remember to always end on an upbeat note.
Don’t Put Employee Performance Evaluations on Pause
As they have been facing unprecedented personal and professional challenges over the last year, you may (rightly) feel that your employees deserve a break. But the employee performance review is not the place to reduce the workload.
Done well, a performance appraisal can help employees feel more engaged with the company culture, prioritize according to the business’s key goals, and work more productively. Leverage your performance reviews to make a performance improvement plan for employees.
If your business is still using an annual performance evaluation, it may be time to update your model. Studies show that more regular check-ins can boost productivity and engagement. Rather than checking in once a year, make time for a future-focused discussion of goals and employee development. Update your employee performance review with software that will make checking in with employees easy. These are difficult times and performance management software can help prepare your team for the long road ahead. As luck would have it, Factorial’s performance management software just got even better:
