As the name suggests, employee self-evaluation involves an employee self-appraising. It is an exercise undertaken by an employer where he/she asks employees to rate their job performance and accomplishment. It may be undertaken during yearly performance reviews or any other performance management system instituted by a company.

This process usually precedes performance evaluation meeting between employer and employee. Employee self-evaluation and self-appraisal is a go-to tactic for employers looking to engage workers in the performance evaluation process and those looking to help workers set job and career goals. Some managers consider employee self-evaluation as a means to encourage employees to set bigger goals and aim higher through self-evaluation and self-reflection.

In most cases, a self-evaluation sheet includes questions which the worker is supposed to answer with reference to his job description, performance and goal attendance. A manager will usually ask an employee to use the same assessment or grading blueprint that he/she (the manager) will use to evaluate the employee. Through self-appraisal, a staff member is able to focus on the various aspects of his/her performance and compare his current performance level against the desired or recommended level.

Purpose of self-evaluation

The basic role is to engage the worker in the performance evaluation process and open communication channels for performance related issues. It also helps employees plot their next steps for development on personal and business levels.

Benefits of self-evaluation

A component of modern-day staff management, employee self-appraisal has various touted benefits for both worker and employee in the constant fight to achieve goals. Some of them include:

  • Giving an employee the chance to self-evaluate communicates to him or her that job performance assessment is a team effort and not a judgment that a manager metes down on an employee. This enables workers to open more and be as much receptive to criticism as they are to praise.
  • If self-appraisal is a practice that the management adopts in regular cycles and not when trying to make an employee see his/her mistakes, then workers accept it. This is important because it makes the employees self-evaluate throughout the year even before the actual self-evaluation comes around. If a company is able to condition their employees to not only accomplish their tasks but also monitor themselves and self-correct, then they have hit the proverbial management grail.
  • When an employee has already covered the self-evaluation sheet and understands its dynamics, then the review meeting will be shorter and not monotonous.