3 Non-Traditional Sections You Need to Build in Your Employee Evaluation System

Efficiency is something we hear a lot about when helping organizations take their employee reviews online. Our goal is to get the most information collected through a streamlined and electronic process.

One thing we often raise in this process is the opportunity to collect information beyond just employee reviews.

Three of the most unique and useful examples we have seen in an employee evaluation system are 1. Collecting company feedback, 2. Asking about training and development and 3. An evaluation of a current tool or process.

These three sections allow the company to:

• Collect valuable, non-performance related information,
• Give the employee a unique chance to provide information to management
• Report on the responses

 1. Company Feedback

Reviews are great and all, but what about reviewing the company as a whole? You would be surprised with the gems of knowledge or creative suggestions that can come out of an open response question such as “If you were the president of our company for a day, what would you do?” Run an anonymous (or not) report and open your CEO’s eyes. Some of our favorite questions include:

• What is the one thing you value most about working here?
• Do you see yourself with the company in three years?
• What is one thing you would change about our policies or procedures?

 2. Training and Development

Employees — especially millennials — value training and development as much as compensation. Include a training and development section in your employee evaluation system to figure out what your employees want to learn and how you can facilitate that. The best questions we have seen often include a set group of response options for more concise reporting. These could include:

• Which of the following certifications would be most valuable to your role? ABC, XYZ or 123?
• Which tool would you like to see more training for? Microsoft Excel, Keynote, Visio or Basecamp?
• Would you opt in to a mentorship program? Yes – as a Mentee, Yes – as a Mentor or No.

 3. Evaluation of Current Tools or Processes

Companies get stuck without iteration and fine tuning, so who better to ask about a new process or tool you put in place than your employees who are using it firsthand? This allows them a voice and provides you a look into how they think things are working. Some of the most interesting questions we have seen in action are:

• How was your onboarding process as a new hire? Please rate this on a scale of 1­­–10. Follow-up questions could be: What was the easiest part? What could we improve about this process?
• Do you feel like you have a voice at the company?
• Please rate Trakstar on a scale of 1–5 for ease of use. Follow up question: Was the review process better this year compared to last?

By adding these three sections or even starting with one or two, your employees will be able to share valuable insight back to leadership. Change up the questions from year to year or keep some consistent to track any changes over time. Your employee evaluation system can provide a platform well beyond performance reviews and open many doors in the process.