Appraisals

A performance appraisal is a structured and recurring evaluation process aimed at assessing an individual's contributions within a team. It involves a subjective assessment of the employee's performance relative to their peers over a specific period, integral to an organization's performance management system.

For optimal effectiveness, appraisals should be conducted regularly and focused on short, defined timeframes to ensure that each team member's contributions are still fresh in the minds of their peers.

As the appraisal process is subjective, each team member may have slightly different evaluation criteria. However, it's crucial for all members to understand that the primary purpose is to provide feedback and recognition to motivate desired behaviors within the team.

While it's typical for more skilled team members to make greater contributions, it's equally important to acknowledge the efforts and improvements made by less skilled members. Recognizing their contributions can encourage them to tackle challenging tasks and alleviate burdens on other team members.

Given that everyone experiences fluctuations in performance, it's normal for member rankings and rewards to vary from one appraisal period to another.

Appraisal sessions typically fall into two methodologies: Merit Money and Top Down.

Appraisal Methodologies

Merit Money

In a Merit Money session, each team member participates in evaluating every other team member. The evaluation process is completely secure and confidential. Once the designated answering period concludes, the meritboost application processes all evaluations for each member, generating a session summary.

If any member fails to respond during the designated answering period, their evaluation will be automatically assumed to distribute equally among all members.

After the session is processed, you'll be able to view the total aggregated Merit Coins you've received. However, the specifics of how many coins each member awarded you remain undisclosed. Additionally, you'll gain insights into your standing within the team for that particular session.

Top Down

The Top Down appraisal session follows a conventional approach where a manager provides evaluations of their team members. Unlike the Merit Money session, only the manager has the authority to evaluate team members in this methodology.

Merit Money vs Top Down

Which appraisal method should you use?

If you have a group comprising at least 4 members and no more than 12 members, who need to collaborate closely to achieve a shared goal, then the Merit Money method is recommended.

However, if your team consists of more than 12 members, it may become challenging for each member to accurately assess the contributions of others, potentially leading to unfair evaluations. In such cases, consider dividing the team into smaller groups to ensure that no group exceeds 12 members.

For individuals who predominantly work alone or in small groups of 2 or 3 people, the Top Down method is more suitable.

Keep in mind that each person can participate in multiple teams, and each team may adopt a different appraisal methodology.

The Appraisal Screens

When you navigate to the Appraisals section from the side menu, you'll find two tabs: Appraisals and History. By default, the Appraisal tab is selected.

Appraisals Tab

The Appraisals tab is split into two sections.

The first section displays upcoming sessions, including session status, associated teams, and response deadlines. If a session is currently in the response period, you'll see a "must respond" label until you've submitted your response.

The second section lists past sessions that have been closed and processed, providing easy access to their details.

History Tab

In the History tab, you can view past sessions spanning a specific timeframe, enabling you to review historical session details.

Session Details

Upon selecting a session, you'll access its details. During the response period, you can submit and modify your response as needed. Once the response period ends, the session will close and undergo processing, with the results displayed in the session results section on the right-hand side.