Performance review phrases

A job performance review is a chance for you and your employee to sit down and have a conversation about his work over the past period. As consultant Judy Capko says, “A performance evaluation system can motivate staff to do their best for themselves and the practice by promoting staff recognition and improving communication.” Develop a list of performance review questions to ask your employees when you meet. If you start with a few key questions, it will help you brainstorm additional questions to ask during the review.

How Do You Think You’ve Done?

One of the first questions to ask an employee at a performance review is how he thinks he’s done over the past year. Of course you have your own opinion, but it’s helpful to get an idea of how the employee feels he’s performing. Ask about how he’s using his skills, knowledge and training to complete tasks. If you find that the employee believes he’s performing his best in certain areas, you can build from that and suggest ways that he can do even better. It’s important to give constructive feedback that is based on information, issues and observations but still has a positive angle.

Questions about Coworker Relations

One question to ask your employee at the job performance review is how she relates with coworkers. Coworker relations is a major issue to discuss with workers because you need to ensure that they are working effectively as a team. Ask how the employee gets along with coworkers. You can also ask feedback questions to understand more about the dynamics of the department, like, “Who do you believe is your most productive coworker?” If you know of a conflict between the employee and another worker, you can also ask specific questions about that issue to try to resolve it.

Are the Tools Sufficient?

As the manager you might not have much experience with the tools used on the work floor, but you can find out about them at performance review sessions. Identify all of the tools that the worker uses, such as software, equipment and hardware, and then pose specific questions about whether the employee finds them helpful. With this line of questioning, you can identify new and more effective tools that you can integrate into the business to increase productivity.

Areas of Improvement?

A job performance review is about more than just identifying issues with the employee’s work. You should also use this time to discover ways to make the business better. So another question to ask each employee is what actions he feels will improve the department or company in general. Quiz the employee for information. For example, the employee might have heard industry news about a new service with better features that could pose a threat to the business. He could also know of a weakness in the production process that’s limiting the company’s productivity.