Managers typically groan when completing annual performance reviews.  Yet, performance reviews not only provide employees with objective feedback and help them set future goals, they may also serve as evidence in later employee-employer disputes.  For these reasons, Keith Clouse, a Dallas employment lawyer, provides the following tips for drafting solid performance evaluations:

• Keep records year-round.  By maintaining a file for each employee with the employee’s previous review, monthly performance measures, and brief notes regarding the manager’s observations, a manager can both draft accurate reviews and provide ongoing feedback.
• Be honest.  Although giving an employee a weak evaluation is difficult, that task is far easier than trying to explain to a jury why an employee was terminated “for cause” when the employee received a positive evaluation only a few months earlier.
• Be specific and provide concrete examples.  Instead of describing an employee’s performance as “good,” a manager should describe the performance descriptively and provide specific examples to buoy his position.  Doing so will increase a manager’s credibility with employees and serve as support in any challenges to the review’s validity. For example, rather than writing that an employee has “good oral communication skills,” a manager should explain that the employee handled himself with ease during contentious staff meetings and responded thoughtfully to questions posed during a particular presentation. 

For more information on how to draft employee performance reviews, contact the employment lawyers at Clouse Dunn LLP at info@cdklawyers.com.