Performance reviews can be difficult even in normal circumstances. The human brain tends to dwell on mistakes made rather than focusing on successes. For your employees, being asked to review those mistakes with their boss can be stressful.

How to Conduct an Effective Remote Employee Evaluation

Employee performance reviews serve as a meaningful way to track progress. But participating in a remote performance evaluation can create even more anxiety because these events usually follow periods of disconnect. While working remotely you and your employees don’t benefit from regular non-verbal communication provided by in-person settings and sitting across the table from each other. So, how do you make the most of a work-from-home performance review? Check out these 4 tips for productive remote performance reviews.

1. Start with the Purpose of the Performance Review

Leading with the purpose of the review process will help you create the most value for your employee and your company. For most companies, a performance review exists to improve your team and learn how you can better support your team. If these are your goals for performance management, keep them in mind as you design and prepare for each employee review.

Your purpose should inform the:

• Data you use

• Tools you employ

• Goals you evaluate

• Flexibility and leniency given

• Feedback provided

2. Create Tools for Tracking Work-From-Home Performance

One of the issues associated with managing remote employees is that it’s difficult to see small, incremental slips in performance. You might not notice an employee is off-track until they are truly struggling. To prevent this, you need to know what is happening with your team at all times. Yes, we are going to talk about communication (again)! It is always critical to have open and clear lines of communication, and working on corporate culture has never been more important than during a stressful time like we are experiencing with Covid-19. View our presentation on “Navigating the New World of Work,” focused on teamwork and communication best practices for managing a virtual workforce. When you track performance regularly, you are better able to evaluate other essential characteristics: adaptability, resilience, and empathy.

3. Focus on Smaller, Frequent Reviews

As you navigate remote performance reviews, consider making them less all-encompassing, but more frequent. Only you can determine the frequency but implementing employee check-ins in frequent intervals will result in less surprises as well as offer you a guide for how often you need to do them. If your goal is to help keep your employees motivated and on track, recurring check-ins can provide the tools they need to succeed proactively rather than relying on an annual review’s retroactive nature.

4. Personal Reviews are More Productive

The goal of the performance review is to creates takeaways that leave your employee and the company in a stronger position. If you find that the performance reviews are not having a positive effect on your employee, perhaps it’s time to reevaluate your process of how to evaluate remote employees. When you’re considering additional tools to improve reviews productivity, ask your employee! They may very well know what would be the most effective for them.

Are you looking for more resources for navigating the new world of work-from-home employment? Find more advice for managing a remote workforce on our website.