Articles From the Team

Appraisals in the work place.

Appraisals are no ones idea of fun whether that be the employee or the employer, but most, if not every organization evaluates the performance of its employees in some way, whether that process is formal or informal, or on a regular or an ad-hoc basis. Chantel Gallagher, Consultant with BCL Legal in Birmingham offers her opinion on appraisals in the work place.

One attribute that tends to be the same for appraisals is that they focus on the person, not the situation. In most industries you will find at the same time of the year there is a decrease in productivity, i.e. summer and Christmas. Organizations could achieve greater accuracy in evaluating employee performance by considering both the person and the situation. However, this is rarely done.

Appraisals allow a manager to identify underlying factors that may be affecting employee performance, whether this is the product or internal issues such as IT or not understanding the product/market place. It may be the case that two employees sitting in adjacent work spaces are assigned different geographic regions, or different populations of potential customers. A solicitor may be working on a single highly complicated case whilst his colleague is working on a simple case.

I personally feel that appraisals are beneficial as it highlights training needs you may require and it gives your manager the opportunity to evaluate your performance, whether this is positive or negative, any feedback is better than no feedback. However without appraisals or any kind of performance management how do you know if you are doing your job to the best of your ability?

If you are looking to secure a new job and would like a confidential discussion contact Chantel Gallagher at BCL Legal on 0121 230 1850 or email chantelgallagher@bcllegal.com