Top 10 Do’s and Don’ts for Epic Performance Reviews

Here is advice from Bernadette Kenny, chief career officer of Adecco Staffing North America, and from Robert Gilmore, a partner in Kohrman Jackson & Krantz’s Labor and Employment Law Group, in Cleveland, Ohio.

DO:

1. Focus on the employee’s good work and good behaviors, being as specific as possible.
2. Hold reviews in a private place where you won’t be interrupted.
3. Communicate regularly with employees about the state of your business. “You don’t have to give exact revenue numbers,” says Kenny. “But you can say, ‘We’ve lost 25 customers and this isn’t good for our company.’ It gives people the information they need, and it eliminates nasty surprises if you have to lay someone off.”
4. Offer constructive criticism that focuses on performance, not personality. “Say, gee, I’ve told you to get back to customers in 24 hours, and that’s not happening.” Not: “You have a bad attitude.”
5. Use reviews to set the stage for termination, if necessary. Say: “These are the behaviors I’m seeing. I need to see these behaviors turn around in the next month—or in the next week, if the situation is severe,” Kenny says. “Tell them: “If I don’t see positive and sustained changes in these behaviors by that time, you can’t work here.”

DON’T:

6. Provide feedback that relates to race, sex, age, national origin, religion, disability, or any other area protected by discrimination laws (for a detailed list, see http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/qanda.html).
7. Be vague. Instead of saying, “I need you to take more initiative,” say: “I need you to attract at least one new client per quarter.”
8. Get drawn into negotiations about raises, bonuses, or promotions; they should be discussed at another time.
9. Violate your own employee handbook. If it’s your policy to give annual reviews, then follow through. “If somebody sues you for wrongful termination and you didn’t obey your own rules,” says Gilmore, “it calls into question the company’s actions.”
10. Sugar coat things. “A lot of managers don’t want to give bad news, so they give average or above-average reviews to people who are performing poorly,” Gilmore says. If those people wind up getting terminated—and take you to court—there’s little or nothing on record to justify your actions.