Appraisals - what's the benefit?
Employing an individual is a crucial period for any organisation. As a recruitment consultancy, we understand that the process takes time, money, resources and for those of you attempting to fill a vacancy alone, the recruitment process can sometimes take a back seat when more pressing priorities arise.
With this in mind, once an offer has been made and you’ve secured top talent into your team, it’s a feeling of euphoria – the hiring process is complete and your new recruit can hit the ground running.
But the dedication to the process shouldn’t end there.
Many businesses are guilty of making the assumption that all employees are happy within their roles unless they speak out. However, as recruitment experts who communicate regularly with our registered and placed candidates, we know that this isn’t always the case.
The commitment between a hiring manager and employee should be mutual, with each equally investing into one another, resulting in the overall success of the brand. Understanding how or what your employee’s are thinking lies within a different (more spooky) industry entirely, but we put it down to one simple technique: appraisals.
An appraisal is a helpful tool designed to assess an employee’s overall progress and performance in their current position. Yet unlike regular catch ups, an appraisal takes a formal approach examining work load, career goals, objectives and overall job satisfaction which in general should leave employees with an effective development plan.
With extensive experience across the industry, we find it is often a breakdown of communication that causes an individual to leave, resulting in employers beginning the recruitment process all over again. Many of these departures may have been avoided if an appraisal and follow up review had been used to highlight positives and implement a plan to support on any areas needed.
It’s not just our passion for recruitment and retention making us biased, the ER Team are great ambassadors of regular one to ones and appraisals, often managing upwards to ensure they are completed! The reasoning for this is not because they simply love time with the management team, but because it is valuable time invested to ensure they can become the best versions of themselves whilst offering a platform to privately express ideas, concerns and future ambitions.
Discussing how appraisals have enhanced her own career, our Specialist Katy said ‘each of my appraisals has been a key contributor to my development. Covering previous goals and targets helps me to realign and set new ones, and has given me the ability to focus on moving forward and develop as a leading individual within my sector”.
Whether a business is large or small, there are multiple benefits an appraisal process can provide to both employers and employees including:
The improvement of communication and strengthening of relationships between employees and managers
One to one time invested solely on the other person away from other distractions/team members
The private opportunity to discuss matters which may require confidentiality
The ability to set clear goals and vision for a designated period ahead
The chance to praise and reward an employee’s hard work and truly make them feel valued (this may also be an appropriate time to discuss salary or provide an incentive)
As a dedicated recruitment partner, we work alongside each of our clients to promote them as an employer of choice. A strong retention rate is just one feature that attracts new employee’s and keeps current team members satisfied with a noticeable and easy way to control this retention rate through regular updates and appraisals.
If you are keen to implement an appraisal scheme, or you require additional tips on how to recruit and retain your staff, get in touch with us for a free business consultation.
