Employee reviews are a key part of any employee development process. It’s crucial to provide regular feedback for employees on what they are doing well, what they need to improve upon, and what you and the company see as their future in the organization.
Companies use a variety of forms of employee reviews. Perhaps the most basic is to simply have the employee’s manager do the appraisal. Other companies use 360-degree feedback and solicit input from the employee’s coworkers, subordinates, and anyone else who might have input.
But what about having employees themselves contribute to their own reviews? While your initial reaction might be, “they’ll just give themselves a glowing review,” there are actually some real potential benefits to this approach.
Get Insight into Employee’s Perception of Their Performance
Many managers might be surprised at how employees see their performance. If an employee thinks he or she is doing well in an area where the manager feels he or she is struggling, this represents a good opportunity to reevaluate expectations.
Similarly, if an employee feels he or she is struggling in an area the manager feels he or she is doing well, it could be a sign of someone with potential for new challenges.
It Gets Employees Thinking Critically About Themselves
It’s certainly the case that it’s a manager’s responsibility to provide feedback to their employees. But employees should also be encouraged to do some self-reflection as well.
Providing employees with the metrics that their manager will be using to evaluate them shows them what factors the company values and helps them think about their performance in that framework.
Avoiding Surprises
One of the last things any manager wants in a performance appraisal is a surprised employee. Employees should have a good idea of how they are performing before they walk into their review.
If they don’t, the manager hasn’t been doing his or her job when it comes to providing feedback. Periodically asking employees to objectively tell you how they feel they are performing is an opportunity to adjust that perception if the manager doesn’t feel it’s accurate.
Feedback on an employee’s performance can come from a number of sources. Employees themselves may not initially come to mind as one of those potential sources but, as we’ve seen, there can be multiple benefits to this approach.