PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL FORM AND USERS GUIDE

Completing the Performance Appraisal Form

Section I: Employee Data
Providing constructive feedback in Performance Appraisals is essential. This feedback should
be non-offensive, informative, and show the employee how they can further progress and gain
new skills without feedback it would be difficult to do so. Be aware of differences in employee
attitudes, perceptions, experience and cultural differences in order to position your message as
effectively as possible. Ultimately, the purpose of giving feedback is to direct behaviour,
motivate employees, and improve performance.
In order to complete the first section of the Performance Appraisal (PA) form, you will need the
following information:

Correct spelling of Employee Name as it appears on official employment documents

Employee or Payroll Number
Position Title (title of current job)
Current Department Assignment
Employees Start Date with the company
Employees Current Salary or Hourly Wage
The time period that the appraisal covers (i.e. Jan 06 Dec 06)

It is important that the basic information about an employee be accurate. If there are errors in
this information it can be interpreted by the employee that the company doesnt care enough
about them to even know how to spell their name or when they started to work there.
Section II: Summary of Ratings
The ratings that appear on the PA form focus on the performance of the employee with respect
to the accountabilities and objectives of the job. They can be used regardless of how basic or
complex your job descriptions, competencies and annual employee objectives are.
They have also been designed to stay away from alpha-numeric rankings such as A, B, C, D,
etc, as there is often an emotional response from employees given a C rating, even if it is
stating that they met their performance targets, because of the letter grade system used in
school. It can be difficult for someone who received As in school to understand and accept that
a C is a good rating.
Section III: Ratings and Feedback
There are three areas within this section: Specific Accountabilities, Know-How and Human
Relations. Each area is related to a different aspect of the employee and how they perform their
job.

Specific Accountabilities focus directly on what tasks the employee is responsible for completing
or performing. The three performance elements / behaviours pre-loaded into the section offer a
high level overview of an employees ability to meet the performance requirements of their job.
The first question can be left at the overview level, or it can be replaced with a series of
elements that relate to specific areas of job responsibility.
The Know-How area is focused on what the employee knows with respect to the performance of
their job. This area relates to their knowledge and ability to use the systems, technology and
tools required to perform their job. Once again, the first performance element is at an overview
level and can be replaced with more detailed ones.
Human Relations is focused on the employees interpersonal skills and ability to establish
positive and productive working relationships with peers, superiors, other departments and
people external to the company including vendors, consultants, clients, etc. Once again, preloaded elements are at a general level and can be replaced with ones that are more specific to
relationships that the employee needs to establish in order to effectively perform their job.
The pre-loaded elements used in this form are very general and are designed as a first step for
companies/managers who do not currently have a performance appraisal process in place.
While this form provides the basics, you should look to develop a more robust performance
appraisal approach, as you get more comfortable with the formal feedback process.
Establishing specific performance objectives with each employee (see: Developing SMART
Objectives in this section) will make the feedback and performance appraisal process even
more effective.
Determining Ratings Once you are comfortable that the performance elements / behaviours
that are being used are appropriate for the job for which the employees performance is being
evaluated, you can now proceed to determine ratings for each element. Using the descriptions
in the Summary of Ratings section, consider each performance element and select an
appropriate rating. You should be able to reference specific examples to support your
performance rating, which you may wish to include in the Comments section of each area and
certainly be able to discuss during the performance appraisal meeting with the employee.
You should note the rating for each element in the space provided beside each element. Your
comments for each area should expand on the specific ratings through examples and/or provide
additional feedback.
The following tips will assist you in writing your comments:

You are writing the performance appraisal on behalf of the company; therefore, you
should not use I (i.e. I have noticed that, I feel that, etc) in describing or commenting on
performance. Avoid personalizing the comments; rather use descriptive terms such as
the employee (or use the employees name).. This is especially important if critical
feedback is being given, as you do not want to create a personal issue or friction with the
employee by making them or allowing them to feel that it is just you picking on them.
Start on a positive note in this section and then provide any critical feedback and
suggestions for improvements in areas of concern.
Focus on specific behaviours rather than personal characteristics. For example, rather
than saying Eunice has a weak command of the English language and has difficulty

following instructions, site a specific example when Eunice did not follow instructions
correctly.
When providing feedback, be descriptive rather than evaluative.
Look for areas of improvement rather than concentrating on what went wrong.
Focus on desired behaviours.
Provide advice, guidance, and specific steps that can be taken to improve performance.
Site specific examples of performance and use quantitative examples when possible.

Section IV: General Comments

In the General Comments section, share your overall thoughts of the employees performance.
Again, use this opportunity to reinforce the positives and highlight achievements. You should
also include recommendations for training programs/courses, specific actions that need to be
taken to correct deficiencies (i.e. reduce absenteeism, lateness, conflict with peers, quality of
specific elements of work, etc.), where the employee has improved or fallen behind since their
last performance review, etc. Again, when providing comments, follow the tips provided above.
Section V: Overall Rating
When determining the overall rating, you should use both your overall impression of the
employees performance as well the individual ratings you assigned in Section III. You should
not use a simple exercise of adding up the Section III ratings and using the one that appears the
most as the overall rating. You should consider the weighting and importance of each area and
element within each area to the job and/or the employees goals when choosing the overall
rating.
Section VI: Manager Signatures
Before presenting the document to the employee, you and your manager (if applicable) should
sign it. It is important to include the signature of the next level up manager from you as it
reinforces the feedback and having a more senior signature indicating their agreement with the
feedback further de-personalizes it from you.
Section VII: Employee Comments and Signature
You will be providing a signed copy of the performance appraisal to the employee during the
performance appraisal meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting, you should request that the
employee consider the discussion you just had and the feedback contained in the performance
appraisal and add any comments they might have in the Employee Comments section. The
employee should also be requested to initial the appropriate statements and provide their
signature.
You will need to edit the second read and initial section so that it reflects the names of your
major policies that you wish the employee to acknowledge on an annual basis. These can be
policies such as respect in the workplace, sexual harassment, discrimination, guidelines of
conduct, confidentiality of trade secrets, etc.

Company Name
Performance Appraisal
Employee Name: __________________________________ Payroll Number:
_______________
Position Title: ____________________________________
__________________

Department:

Start Date: _____________________ Current Salary or Hourly Wage:

____________________
Date of Appraisal: ____________________ Appraisal Period:
___________________________
Summary of Ratings:
E Exceptional: Performance has clearly and consistently exceeded job accountabilities
and objectives. Contribution recognized as outstanding.
QH - Quality (High): Performance has met and often exceeded job accountabilities.
QS - Quality (Solid): Performance has consistently met job accountabilities and objectives.
QD - Quality (Developing): Performance has met most job accountabilities and objectives,
as
employee has been on their job for a short period of
time, and solid performance is expected going forward.
I - Improvement Required: Performance has not consistently met the job accountabilities
and objectives. Plans need to be and/or are in place towards immediate and sustained
improvements

Specific Accountabilities
______

Performs assigned tasks of the position in an accurate, efficient and timeeffective manner.

______

Effectively escalates problems and keeps management informed of significant

issues as appropriate.

______

Responds effectively to direction and coaching of management.

Comments:
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Know-How (Practical/Specialized/Technical)
______Demonstrates familiarity with the systems, technology, tools, equipment and processes
utilized in the performance of the position.
______Demonstrates familiarity with the business and products/services of the company.
Comments:
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Human Relations
______

Develops and maintains effective working relationships with peers.

______

Develops and maintains effective working relationships with other groups,

including outside vendors, contractors, etc.

Comments:
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General Comments:
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Overall Performance Rating: ______________

Manager's Signature:________________________

Date: ___________________

Dept. Head Signature:________________________

Date: ___________________

Employee Comments:
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Please read and initial the appropriate box:
I have read and:
___ am in general agreement with the contents this appraisal
___ disagree with the contents of this appraisal (please explain in section above)

Please read and initial the following statement:

___ I have read, understand and agree to be bound by [Company Names] [specific major
policies that you wish to have annual acknowledgement of].
Employee's Signature: ____________________________________
_____________________

Date:

My signature acknowledges that I have had the opportunity to review and discuss my
performance appraisal with management.