Staff Performance Appraisal

An appraisal is a two-way process of looking backwards to analyse an employee’s past job performance, and looking forward into the future with a view to improving his or her future performance. Most employers have a yearly or twice-yearly performance review process.

There is no legal requirement to carry out appraisals but they can undoubtedly benefit both employers and employees by improving job performance, by making it easier to identify strengths and weaknesses and by determining suitability for development.

The Simply-Docs suite of appraisal documents help employers to develop a structured and objective approach to the appraisal process. A fair approach is essential in order to avoid claims of discrimination, particularly if the appraisal process is linked in any way to performance-related pay or a performance-related bonus.

Employers must also be sure to account for the impact of any disability that may impair an employee’s performance. Reasonable adjustments should be made in the appraisal process in order to ensure that a disabled person is not treated less favourably in this context because of his or her disability.

In line with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), appraisal records should be held confidentially and kept for no longer than necessary. In some cases, data collected may include special categories of data (e.g. information about an employee's health), in which case even more stringent rules apply.