How to Create a Performance Appraisal Form Your Employees Won't Hate

Do your employees groan at the thought of performance appraisals? 

It's time to change that. 

As a People Ops pro, you can create a performance appraisal form that inspires employees. 

In this article, we'll provide you with the tools and tips you need to create a performance appraisal form that employees will actually look forward to. 

We'll show that a strategically designed appraisal form can boost employee engagement, improve performance, and support career development.

Imagine your workforce actually looking forward to their next performance appraisal! 

Plus, we'll share our best tips for how to fill out the appraisal form. 

📈 What is a performance assessment form?

A performance assessment form is a document used for measuring an employee's performance during a specific period. It evaluates the past to envision the future. 

And that's the key – a performance assessment form is only powerful if you use the information to instill change. 

In the performance appraisal form, managers also keep track of each employee's strengths and weaknesses. 

Plus, the inputs collected via the appraisal form can help paint a picture of the competencies within the team and how the coworkers complement each other.

💡 Tips and best practices for creating effective performance appraisal forms

#1: If you include rating questions, describe each rating. 

You need to ensure that both managers and employees share the same understanding of what "meets expectations" means. 

Tip: At Zavvy, we recommend using the Likert Scale with five response options. 

#2: Include open-ended questions to collect qualitative insights and employee comments. 

Tip: We suggest a balance between closed-ended questions that are easier to quantify and compare and open-ended questions that allow respondents to be more granular. 

#3: Consider what style of performance review is more appropriate. 

You should consider your workforce and corporate culture. 

You could do a strength-based appraisal focusing on employee strengths and competencies. 

Research shows that this positively angled approach can motivate employees. 

You'd be wrong to believe that a strength-based appraisal does not avoid constructive criticism. Instead, you'd frame criticism as areas of development rather than weaknesses or mistakes.

Traditional yearly appraisals mainly cover past performance and often rely on rankings. 

Competency-based appraisals are similar to strength-based reviews but focus on competencies. Competencies are a combination of strengths, habits, knowledge, and attitudes that lead to specific behaviors.

360 performance review refers to a review system where employees evaluate each other, themselves, and their managers. The traditional downward feedback (manager-employee) is also present. 

# 4: Add a rubric for the employee achievements.

A boost of motivation never hurt nobody. 😉

#5: Include relevant context to the review. 

Some examples you should consider are: 

• improvements since the last review;
• specific goals;
• KPIs;
• strategic projects.

#6: Consider what the employee would like to improve on.

Include open-ended questions with room for comments. 

Tip: In conjunction with improvement-related questions, ask the reviewee to give concrete examples of how the evaluated person can improve.

#7: Cover the employee's personal and professional goals.

🌱 Learn how to help employees set professional development goals. Discover multiple best practices and examples. 

Tip: Create awareness around how their goals contribute to the business's growth. 

#8: Outline areas for improvement. 

Tip: If you choose a strength-based or competency-based performance appraisal form template, the areas of improvement are deduced differently from a traditional review. 

You can do this by asking what area the employee needs to focus on the most to achieve their goals.

#9: Consider adding role-specific competencies. 

If necessary, link to career frameworks and job descriptions for clarity.

📆 Annual performance appraisal form sample

Employee's name:

Role:

Department:

Manager's name:

Review period:

Date of performance appraisal:

[Closed-ended questions] – Scale: Strongly agree to Strongly disagree (Five options)

Shows motivation at work 

Regularly hit deadlines

Communicates verbally in a clear manner

Communicates clearly in writing

Works independently

Takes initiative

Solves problems fast

Collaborates well

Is productive

Is creative

Is innovative and forward-thinking

Shows honesty 

Shows integrity 

Fits into the group socially

Manages client relations well

Shows technical skills 

Is dependable

Is punctual

[Open-ended questions]

Problem-solving 

• Does this employee seek help when facing a problem? Please elaborate.
• Is this employee able to work independently with minimal direction? Give an example.
• How does this employee solve problems under pressure?

Communication

• How well does this person communicate with clients and third parties? 
• When holding presentations or group discussions, does this employee regularly check that everyone is following?
• How well is this person able to clarify complex or technical information?

Goal alignment

• How does the employee show awareness of the organization's goals? 
• Do they show curiosity and interest in the organizational goals? Give examples.
• Give an example of when the employee showed motivation to reach the team/project goals.

Decision-making

• How would you rate this person's ability to make decisions under pressure?
• Does this employee consider the opinions of others before making a decision?
• Are they aware of the short-term and long-term impact of their decisions?

Interpersonal skills

• Does this employee use active listening? 
• How does this person take constructive criticism?
• Do they show respect for colleagues with differing opinions?

Most prominent achievement: 

Professional goals:

What is the one crucial thing the employee should focus on to hit their goals?

Actions taken since their previous review:

Employee's comments:

📝 Simple employee review form

Employee's name:

Role:

Department:

Manager's name:

Review period:

Date of performance appraisal:

[Closed-ended questions] – Scale: Strongly agree to Strongly disagree (Five options)

[Objective 1]: [rating]

[Objective 2]: [rating]

[Objective 3]: [rating]

[Objective 4]: [rating]

[Objective 5]: [rating]

Achievements:

Areas of improvement:

Actions since their previous review:

Top 3 goals for the coming evaluation period:

Employee's comments:

💼 Performance appraisal form for senior management

Manager name:

Role:

Department:

Supervisor's name:

Review period:

Date of performance appraisal:

‍

1. Does Not Meet Expectations: Does not meet most of the principal expectations of the position, leaving considerable room for improvement

2. Meets Some Expectations: Meets some expectations, but not all, leaving room for improvement. 

3. Meets Expectations: Meets expectations without any significant exceptions.

4. Meets All, Exceeds Some: Meets all and exceeds some expectations constituting above-average performance.

5. Exceeds Expectations: Exceeds the standard expectations for their job and has demonstrated exceptional performance in several key areas.

General

• The manager keeps a professional attitude toward their work and colleagues. 
• The manager respects private or sensitive information. 
• The manager puts organizational needs before their own.
• The manager accepts ownership and responsibility.
• The manager takes accountability for their performance.
• The manager establishes and maintains effective working relationships with other departments and employees.
• The manager manages time effectively to accomplish their goals. 
• The manager completes performance appraisals for employees on time.

Technical skills

• The manager demonstrates expertise in the skills and competencies needed for their role.
• The manager masters relevant software and tools.
• The manager shows a positive attitude toward changes in technology/systems.

Diversity and Inclusion

• The manager promotes the value of diversity to everyone in the workplace.
• The manager takes the initiative to host diversity, equity, and inclusion training.
• The manager takes action to increase diversity in the workplace and challenge outdated traditional practices. 
• The manager reflects on their biases and behaviors to avoid stereotypical actions or responses.
• The manager is a role model for inclusive behavior.

Inspiring engagement

• The manager takes action, makes decisions, and prioritizes team efforts to reflect the organization's vision and values.
• The manager develops inspiring and challenging goals that stretch the employees to outperform themselves.
• The manager cultivates a culture of openness, innovation, and change. 

Leading with integrity

• The manager can make difficult decisions when they are the right thing to do.
• The manager displays openness and transparency and deals with conflicts instantly to maintain a good atmosphere.
• The manager builds trust by authentically relating to others and empowering them to do their work.

Building relationships

• The manager develops and cultivates strong working relationships with others to reach goals.
• The manager initiates opportunities and events for relationship building.
• The manager demonstrates self-awareness and awareness around the relationships within the team.
• The manager takes necessary actions to improve team relationships. 

Learning and Development activities:

Learning and Development activities for the next period:

Areas of improvement from the last period:

Supervisor's comments:

🧕 Sample performance appraisal form for HR executive (Trait-based appraisal form)

The following is an example of a trait-based appraisal form applied for an HR executive. 

In addition to the general questions from the annual or simple forms, consider adding the following questions adapted to the role:

[Closed-ended questions] – Scale: Strongly agree to Strongly disagree (Five options)

• This person is ethical and discreet when approaching human resource challenges.
• This HR executive shows that they value the key capital of any organization: its people.
• This executive's passion for HR and people comes across through their work.
• This person enables and elevates our human resource capabilities.
• They build trust in and bring credibility to the human resources department.
• This employee shows an excellent capacity for coaching and encouraging the staff to perform better.
• This HR executive is competent in finding the right recruit for any specific role.
• This person shows a passion for furthering the HR profession.
• They handle the coordination and communication between candidates and managers well.
• This executive is skilled in leading employment interviews that accurately represent the organization.
• This HR executive always cares about the well-being of the employees.
• This person sees the best in each employee and encourages them to excel in their roles.

✍️ What do you write in an appraisal form?

By now, you have the ingredients for the perfect questions. 

But that's just half of the equation. The other equally important part: how do you come up with the best answers? 

Correctly delivered feedback helps increase employee performance, highlights improvement areas without being discouraging, and motivates high-performers. 

Stay objective

Avoid letting personal preferences or past conflicts color your feedback. 

Give clear and concise feedback

Appraisal forms are the perfect opportunity to show off your written communication skills by sharing the core of your message without any fluff.

Ask for more details if needed

Suppose you're unsure about something related to an employee. In that case, it's better to ask or be candid that you don't know than to assume and give inaccurate feedback.

Do your research

Read through what you covered during the last 1-on-1s with the employee.

Be honest – but encouraging

When possible, frame shortcomings as growth opportunities.

💡 If you want to learn more on this topic, check out our guide to the best practices for performance reviews.

➡️ Develop your people's potential and performance with Zavvy

Creating employee appraisal forms and keeping track of each employee's progress can be quite a task. Especially when your company is growing quickly. 

Personalizing forms for each staff member and keeping everything organized can be difficult. 

But there's a way to make this process easier. 

You can improve and streamline your performance management system and ensure rewarding experiences with Zavvy's performance review software:

• Our ready-to-use templates make it extremely easy to get started. 
• Our learning scientists will support you with proven best practices from academic research and successful companies.
• With our feedback automation, you can automatically use your employee data to trigger review cycles. 
• You can use our training features to teach your employees and managers how to give constructive and actionable features. 

Let's partner up to develop your people and take your business to the next level – check out our demo to get started!

❓ FAQs

Should employers get appraisal forms?

Yes, it is a common practice for employers to use performance appraisal forms to evaluate their employees' job performance. 

Performance appraisals can help employers assess an employee's strengths and weaknesses, set goals and objectives for future performance, identify areas for training and development, and share feedback with employees. This feedback can help employees grow professionally and make contributions to the organization.

However, employers need to use performance appraisals as part of a more extensive, ongoing performance management process. 

Performance appraisals should not be the only way employers communicate with employees about their performance. 

Likewise, these forms should not be the sole basis for making important employment decisions.

What should be included in an appraisal form? 

In general, it's essential to include questions assessing hard and soft skills. 

We also recommend having open and closed-ended questions and looking at past performance and future goals.

Which format should I use for performance appraisal forms? 

1) 360-feedback form

Benefits: Gives a well-rounded and potentially more fair picture since each employee is evaluated from different dimensions: peer-to-peer, upward, and downward feedback is exchanged. 

Potential challenges: 360 feedback can be time-consuming to organize. It might be more relevant in a larger organization – especially if the peer reviews are anonymous.

2) Management by Objectives (MBOs)

 This type of feedback evaluates performance objectives and personal development objectives. 

Benefits: MBOs instill commitment and give clarity by having tangible goals.

Potential challenges: Since MBOs focus on individual performance, employees can feel pressure to reach goals. Goals can become more important than a healthy workplace culture.

3) Narrative/Essay appraisals

A type of appraisal for highly individual or creative roles where quantitative goals aren't as relevant. It's a freestyle type of evaluation. 

Benefits: The participants can get everything off their chest and share feedback freely without the restriction of questions.

Potential challenges: The feedback can get complicated, biased, and hard to evaluate.