h. Appraisals

Management of staff is a continuous process and an annual review of an employee's performance is an effective tool for this purpose.  A review gives an employee a chance to talk about themselves, their job and their aspirations, etc. Discussions should be open and two-way communication encouraged.  

Appraisals should take place once a year, and half yearly reviews are also seen as good practice.  This can be more frequent during the probation period, for example, or following disciplinary action.  

It is normal to look at what has been achieved by looking back at performance over the previous 12 months and look forward which will often result in the setting of new objectives.  The objectives set should be SMART - which means:

S    -    SPECIFIC

M    -    MEASUREABLE

A    -    ACHIEVEABLE

R    -    REALISTICS and

T    -    TIMED

An appraisal is best undertaken by a small committee rather than full council and members should receive training on appraisals as part of this role.   See article g. Staffing Committees using this link.

A written record of the discussion should be held on the employee personnel file so that it can be used to form part of the next appraisal.  It is important to also use the opportunity to identify any training and development needs and record these too.  ,

To access a an appraisal template use this link to go to our templates directory use the search function for "Appraisal form" or use the drop down category function and select managing people - scroll down to the template "Appraisal form".

If an employment contract allows for salary increments to be paid subject to, say, satisfactory performance or obtaining a qualification, such as CiLCA, councils should have an annual appraisal system in place.