Performance appraisal of employees is similar to exam result of students just like exam results shows the performance of the student during an academic year in the same way in case of employees performance appraisal is an evaluation of the performance of employees at the workplace for a specific period of time which is usually 12 months. Performance appraisal has supporters as well as critics while supporters argue that it is a source of motivation for employees while critics argue that it is a futile exercise yielding no results, before you decide to take the side of supporters or critics you should read the advantages and disadvantages of performance appraisal –
Advantages of Performance Appraisal
Clear Misunderstanding
The biggest advantage of appraisal is that it helps in clearing the misunderstanding between the employees and the management because it is through appraisal management can explain the roles and responsibilities which employee has to perform in order to get good appraisal and employees can also give their feedback regarding the work performed by them and also the loopholes in the working of the company.
Source of Motivation
Another benefit of appraisal is that it can be a good source of motivation for all the employees working in the company because employees know that if they work hard they will get an increase in salary and promotion in the company due to yearly performance appraisal. In simple words suppose there are two races while in one race reward for the winner of the race is handshake from politician whereas in the other race reward for the winner of a race is $10000 then you are more likely to put more effort towards winning second race as opposed to first race.
Tool for Action against Non Performers
It can be excellent tool for action against those employees who are not performing well because not all employees are honest and serious about their work in the company and when appraisal times come company can identify such employees and take action against them by not increasing their pay and demoting them to lower position which in turn will serve as an example for all the employees thinking of not doing their work sincerely and honestly.
Disadvantages of Performance Appraisal
Time Consuming Process
The biggest problem of appraisal is that it is a time-consuming process and human resource department of the company remains engaged for months due to this exercise and since effectively this process does not increase either productivity or efficiency of workers appraisal critics considered this to be a futile time-consuming process.
Creates Rift
It creates a rift between the employees which in turn makes the whole working environment of the company stressful. Hence for example if two workers are working in the same department in the same position but during appraisal one worker gets 10 percent rise in salary while other worker gets only 5 percent rise in salary than there will be rift between the two employees besides the other employee will not work with same zeal and sincerity due to him or her getting bad appraisal as compared to his or her peers.
Risk of Biasness
Performance appraisal is done on the basis of feedback from superiors and that is where the risk of biasness can come as superior can be biased towards some employees leading to them giving a good opinion about such employees even when those employees are not good workers which in turn will be an injustice to performing workers. In simple, there is no 100 percent guarantee that appraisal is done in a correct and unbiased way by the company which puts a big question mark on the whole process of appraisal.
As one can see from the pros and cons of performance appraisal that it will remain a debatable topic because there can’t be a consensus among all employees that it is good or bad as every employee has a different version of thinking about the appraisal methods and process adopted by the companies.