Performance Appraisal Form (With Templates And Sample)

Summary. Performance appraisal forms are tools for conducting effective employee performance reviews. They should include a rating scale for key assessment areas as well as space to create employees’ goals for improvement.

• Performance appraisal forms are used to guide employee performance reviews.
• Appraisal forms serve as guides for what managers should discuss in performance reviews, as well as records of employee accomplishments and growth.
• Include a rating scale and a section for employee goals on your performance appraisal form.

What Is a Performance Appraisal Form?

A performance appraisal form is used to conduct employee performance reviews. This form serves several functions:

• They guide performance review meetings. Appraisal forms provide a roadmap for what employees and managers should talk about during the performance review. This helps all of your performance review meetings with employees stay at least somewhat standardized.
• They improve goal setting. Performance appraisal forms allow managers and employees alike to quickly see where an employee needs to improve. This makes it easier to come up with specific, measurable goals – it also helps cut down on the amount of time spent figuring out what to work on.
• They provide a reference for employee growth. When you have multiple years’ worth of performance appraisals for an employee, it’s easy to see how they’ve grown and improved over the years. Even if you don’t have multiple forms to refer to, you can also use these to track the employee’s achievements during the review period.
• It informs decisions about bonuses, pay increases, and promotions. Often companies use appraisal forms so they have a fair way to allocate performance-based bonuses and raises. In addition, if a manager wants to terminate an employee, this appraisal helps provide justification for that decision.
• It helps employees understand how they’re performing. Not knowing how their work aligns with team or company standards is frustrating to employees. Performance appraisals provide insight into what the expectations are and what they should be working toward, giving employees more security in their jobs and confidence in taking the initiative to achieve those goals.

What to Include in a Performance Appraisal Form

• Key assessment areas. Identify the key skills or objectives that an employee needs to have. Most organizations choose broad areas such as “Attendance” and “Job Knowledge and Skills” that apply to all employees, but some make specialized lists for each department or team as well.
• A rating scale. Now you need to attach a rating scale to the assessment areas you’ve identified. The most common way to do this is with a one to five scales, with five being the best. If you choose this method, though, you need to attach criteria to each number to help keep ratings consistent. Here’s an example of this:

1 – Poor (Almost never meets expectations) 2 – Fair (Sometimes meets expectations) 3 – Good (Regularly meets expectations) 4 – Very Good (Often exceeds expectations) 5 – Excellent (Regularly exceeds expectations)

You can also make more specific scales for each assessment area. Here’s an example of an assessment of “Attendance”:

1 – Is consistently late and/or has regular unapproved absences 2 – Is often late and has more than one unapproved absence 3 – Is usually on time and has no unapproved absences 4 – Is almost always on time and communicates absences well in advance 5 – Is consistently early and communicates absences well in advance

• Find and implement two tips or pieces of advice for leaving the house on time.
• Arrive late to work no more than once per week and no more than 15 minutes after start time.

These goals are tangible, which means the employee can say with certainty whether or not they met the goal, and they’re much more achievable than “Never be late again.”

• Improve Microsoft Excel skills by taking a course in this area.
• Give one quarterly presentation.
• Lead three team meetings.
• Attend three professional development classes or events.

Performance Appraisal Form Template

Employee Name:
Job Title:
Department:
Manager’s Name:
Review Period:
Date:

[Assessment Area 1]
Rating:
1 – Poor
2 – Fair
3 – Satisfactory
4 – Above Satisfactory
5 – Excellent

Notes:

[Assessment Area 2]
Rating:
1 – Poor
2 – Fair
3 – Satisfactory
4 – Above Satisfactory
5 – Excellent

Notes:

[Assessment Area 3]
Rating:
1 – Poor
2 – Fair
3 – Satisfactory
4 – Above Satisfactory
5 – Excellent

Notes:

[Assessment Area 4]
Rating:
1 – Poor
2 – Fair
3 – Satisfactory
4 – Above Satisfactory
5 – Excellent

Notes:

Overall Rating: [N]/20

Employee Achievements During Assessment Period:

Employee Improvement Since Last Review:

Employee Areas for Improvement:

Employee Improvement Goals for Next Review Period:

Professional Goals for Next Review Period:

Employee Requests for Manager in Meeting Goals:

Manager Comments:

Employee Comments:

Performance Appraisal Form Example

Employee Name: Joy Bandle
Job Title: Customer Service Representative
Department: Apparel Sales
Manager’s Name: Chris McLean
Review Period: Q1 – 1/1/2023, through 4/1/2023
Date: April 7, 2023

Customer Service
Rating: 4
1 – Poor
2 – Fair
3 – Satisfactory
4 – Above Satisfactory
5 – Excellent

Notes: Joy is always polite, compassionate, and enthusiastic when handling customers’ questions and complaints. She remains calm under pressure and always treats people with courtesy, no matter how they respond to her. Her skills in this area will continue to improve as she becomes more knowledgeable about products and policies.

Problem-Solving
Rating: 4
1 – Poor
2 – Fair
3 – Satisfactory
4 – Above Satisfactory
5 – Excellent

Notes: Joy is an excellent problem-solver. If she doesn’t know something, she works quickly and tirelessly to find the answer. She could improve her skills in this area even more by becoming even more efficient at finding the information she’s looking for, but that will come as she gets more comfortable with the job.

Organization
Rating: 3
1 – Poor
2 – Fair
3 – Satisfactory
4 – Above Satisfactory
5 – Excellent

Notes: Joy keeps her workspace tidy and keeps a calendar and to-do list to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. She could further improve in this area by making more efficient digital and physical filing systems.

Teamwork
Rating: 5
1 – Poor
2 – Fair
3 – Satisfactory
4 – Above Satisfactory
5 – Excellent

Notes: Joy is always ready to help her teammates at a moment’s notice, whether that’s staying late to help them find information, covering a shift when someone calls in sick, or encouraging others as she encounters them around the office. She has been a great addition to our team.

Overall Rating: 16/20

Employee Achievements During Assessment Period: Joy implemented an online chat system which has streamlined customer communication and increased customer satisfaction. She also regularly receives four- and five-star reviews from clients and successfully handled highly complex, tense customer interactions with poise and professionalism.

Employee Improvement Since Last Review: During her last review, Joy’s goal was to memorize the company’s five return policies. She met this goal and is now working to further her knowledge of less-used company policies.

Employee Areas for Improvement: Joy could improve her file organization system. She will also naturally continue to improve her knowledge base as she gains more experience in this role.

Employee Improvement Goals for Next Review Period: During our review, Joy set the goal of organizing her digital and physical files by our next review.

Professional Goals for Next Review Period: During our review, Joy said that she would like to improve her negotiation skills. She is going to do this by taking a class on negotiation and communication in customer service.

Employee Requests for Manager in Meeting Goals: I am going to help Joy reach her goals by providing her with organization materials, ideas for file-organizing systems, and time and funding to take a class on negotiation.

Manager Comments: Joy is a wonderful addition to our team. She is a natural at customer service and never gets flustered by difficult customers. She is a fast learner, and while she isn’t afraid of solving problems herself, she knows when to ask for help from someone who is more experienced.

She gets along well with the rest of our team, is always on time, and is overall very easy to manage. With time and experience, she will go very far in this organization.

Employee Comments: I have enjoyed getting to know the team and getting used to the job. It was overwhelming at first learning how to keep everything straight, but I have learned a lot, and now organizing my materials better will help with that too.

Employee Performance Appraisal FAQ

1. What are the KPIs for employee performance?KPI stands for key performance indicators, and these are quantifiable metrics used to measure employee performance. For example, here are a few common KPIs:
   • Sales quotas
   • On-time project completion
   • Customer satisfaction reports
   • Absences
   • Units processed or resolved within a certain time frame

Since these indicators are attached to numbers, they’re useful tools for measuring employee performance across a department or organization, as well as individual employee improvement. Many companies use KPIs as a part of their performance reviews.

Just be sure your performance appraisals cover more than KPIs, as many valuable soft skills can’t be measured this way.

• To provide employees with feedback on their performance.
• To give employees tools for improving their skills and performance.
• To inform managers’ decisions about performance-based pay raises, bonuses, and promotions.

Final Thoughts

Performance appraisal forms are key to conducting constructive performance reviews. If your HR department doesn’t have one of these forms in place, consider making one for your team.

References