Employee performance review phrases

Employee performance review phrases
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Performance review guides
Whether it's quarterly, biannually, or yearly, nearly all employees receive a performance review from
their managers and bosses. Performance reviews, also known as performance appraisals or evaluations,
are a way for an employer to give constructive feedback to their employees on the job they are doing.
While some are more formal than others, performance reviews give bosses and managers an
opportunity to detail both the good and bad aspects of each employee. From the work they produce to
the attitude they display, all parts of an employee's performance are under review.
The goal of a performance evaluation is to give workers feedback on what they are doing right and what
needs to be improved. While regular dialogue with employees is important for managers in order to
ensure their employees are staying on task, formal reviews can come with much greater consequences.
Good reviews can help determine which employees deserve raises or promotions, while a poor one can
give an employer the proof they need to demote or in some cases terminate a staff member.
In addition to judging an employee's past performance, reviews also provide an excellent time for both
the employee and employer to look forward. Evaluations should include goals for the future. By setting
goals in a formal manner, employees will better understand the objectives that need to be met in order
to achieve positive reviews moving forward.
Writing a performance review
While managers might not enjoy spending time writing their employee evaluations, they do see the
benefits that come from them. A recent study by the staffing firm Accountemps revealed that more than
90 percent of executives feel their performance reviews are effective.
"The success or failure of an appraisal depends on how clearly both performance expectations and
feedback are communicated to employees," said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps.
Performance review phrases comments/ free download examples Page 1

When writing a performance review, bosses should avoid criticizing an employee in general and should
not sugarcoat any problems, but also not focus solely on negative aspects of a staff member's
performance.
Those conducting performance reviews should instead look at the following steps provided by
Accountemps as an example of how to conduct effective employee performance reviews:
 Provide constructive feedback on specific performance issues so staff members know exactly
what they need to improve on.
 Be upfront about areas that need improvement.
 When discussing the review, managers should engage their employees. It should be a two-way
conversation.
 Employees should be required to conduct their own self-assessment as a way to judge how well
they think they are performing.
 Bosses should also be telling staff members what they are doing well as a way to recognize
accomplishments and reinforce positive performance.
 Bosses should ask for feedback from other colleagues for a more well-rounded review.
Richard Grote, author of "The Performance Appraisal Question and Answer Book: A Survival Guide for
Managers" (AMACOM 2002), advises that instead of using terms such as "good" or "excellent" in a
review, employers should opt for more measurement-oriented language. He told HRCareers.com that
action words such as "excels," "exhibits," "demonstrates," "grasps," "generates," "manages,"
"possesses," "communicates," "monitors," "directs" and"achieves" are much more meaningful.
Ken Lloyd, author of Performance Appraisals & Phrases For Dummies (For Dummies 2009), offers a
range of words and phrases managers could be using for each type of employee responsibility, including:
 Quality and quantity of work: accuracy, thoroughness, productivity and goal attainment
 Communication and interpersonal skills: teamwork, cooperation, listening, persuasion and
empathy
 Planning, administration and organization: goal setting, prioritizing and profit orientation
 Leadership: accessibility, responsiveness, decisiveness, collaboration and delegating
 Job knowledge and expertise: knowledge base, training, mentoring, modeling and researching
 Attitude: dedication, loyalty, reliability, flexibility, initiative, energy and volunteering
 Ethics: diversity, sustainability, honesty, integrity, fairness and professionalism
 Creative thinking: innovation, receptiveness, problem solving and originality
 Self-development and growth: learning, education, advancement, skill building and career
planning
Performance Improvement Plan

Employees whose performance is deemed subpar during an evaluation are often subjected to a
Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), which is designed to boost an employee's performance by setting
clear expectations and goals for the future. It gives an employee the opportunity to improve
performance before more drastic steps, such as being fired, are taken.
According to the University of Texas at Dallas, an effective Performance Improvement Plan will:
 Specifically identify the performance to be improved or the behavior to be corrected.
 Provide clear expectations and metrics about the work to be performed or behavior that must
change.
 Identify the support and resources available to help the employee make the required
improvements.
 Establish a plan for reviewing the employee's progress and providing feedback to the employee
for the duration of the Performance Improvement Plan.
 Specify possible consequences if performance standards as identified in the plan are not met.
II. Performance review tips
1. The employee should never hear about
positive performance or performance in
need of improvement for the first time at
your formal performance discussion meeting,
unless it is new information or insight.
Effective managers discuss both positive
performance and areas for improvement
regularly, even daily or weekly. Aim to make
the contents of the performance review
discussion a re-emphasis of critical points.
2. No matter the components of your performance review process, the first step is goal
setting.
It is imperative that the employee knows exactly what is expected of his or her performance.
Your periodic discussions about performance need to focus on these significant portions of the
employee’s job. You need to document this job plan: goals and expectations in a job plan or job

expectations format, or in your employer's format. Without a written agreement and a shared
picture of the employee’s goals, success for the employee is unlikely.
3. During preparation and goal setting, you need to make how you will evaluate the
employee’s performance clear.
Describe exactly what you’re looking for from the employee and exactly how you will evaluate
the performance. Discuss with the employee her role in the evaluation process. If your
organization’s performance review process includes an employee self-evaluation, share the form
and talk about what self-evaluation entails.
4. Avoid the horns and halo effect in which everything discussed in the meeting involves
positive and negative recent events.
Recent events color your judgment of the employee’s performance. Instead, you are responsible
to document positive occurrences such as completed projects, and negative occurrences such as a
missed deadline, during the entire period of time that the performance review covers. (In some
organizations, these are called critical incident reports.) Ask the employee to do the same so that
together you develop a comprehensive look at the employee’s performance during the time
period that your discussion covers.
5. Solicit feedback from colleagues who have worked closely with the employee.
Sometimes called 360 degree feedback because you are obtaining feedback for the employee
from his boss, coworkers, and any reporting staff, you use the feedback to broaden the
performance information that you provide for the employee. Start with informal discussions to
obtain feedback information. Consider developing a format so that the feedback is easy to digest
and share by the manager.
6. If your company uses a form that you fill out in advance of the meeting, give the
performance review to the employee in advance of the meeting.
This allows the employee to digest the contents prior to her discussion of the details with you.
This simple gesture can remove a lot of the emotion and drama from the performance review
meeting.
7. Prepare for the discussion with the employee.

Never go into a performance review without preparation. If you wing it, performance reviews
fail. You will miss key opportunities for feedback and improvement and the employee will not
feel encouraged about his successes. The documentation that you maintained during the
performance review period serves you well as you prepare for an employee's performance
review.
8. When you meet with the employee, spend time on the positive aspects of his or her
performance.
In most cases, the discussion of the positive components of the employee’s performance should
take up more time than that of the negative components. For your above average performing
employees and your performing employees, positive feedback and discussion about how the
employee can continue to grow her performance should comprise the majority of the discussion.
The employee will find this rewarding and motivating.
9. The spirit in which you approach this conversation will make a difference in whether it is
effective.
If your intention is genuinely to help the employee improve, and you have a positive relationship
with the employee, the conversation is easier and more effective. The employee has to trust that
you want to help him improve his performance. He needs to hear you say that you have
confidence in his ability to improve. This helps him believe that he has the ability and the
support necessary to improve.

Employee performance review phrases

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