The why and how to do an employee review
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the Retail Doctor blog.
Employee reviews are one of the most neglected tools a retailer can use to alter their fate.
Some retailers might scoff whether it’s worth the investment, with turnover rates over 200 percent for some. But if reviews are done regularly with some teeth, you’d have a better crew to start with.
Research has also shown that employees lift their performance in response to any increase in attention paid to them. So it is important to stay engaged with your employees, monitoring their progress and finding as many ways as possible for your best to shine.
How to do the evaluation:
- Complete your review the day or night prior.
- Tell the employee this review is just part of managing your business.
- Don’t do it in on a bench in a mall where both of you could easily be distracted. Go over your review in private or somewhere away from other employees’ ears, like a coffeehouse or restaurant.
- I usually ask the employee each of the questions and ask how they’d score themselves — then concur or tell them why not.
- It is important you cite specific behaviors of theirs that support your rating. Don’t just say, “You always have to be told what to do” but add one recent example.
The review should be seen as a review of your management skills as well as their employee skills. New hires should undergo one after 30 days; 90 days after that, and then once every six months.
Your employee reviews make sure you notice the things that make an employee a great employee. It allows you to give feedback on your concerns, hear theirs and, sometimes yes, to reward them with a raise or deliver a reprimand.
Think of an employee review as a chance to get together around a set of questions. You don’t want to set up the expectation that they will get a raise each time or that something bad is about to happen. A review is just part of your process to better your retail sales.
Discussion Questions
How would you rate the value of regular employee reviews at retail? What tips would you add to those in the article around optimizing reviews?
Poll
BrainTrust
Mel Kleiman
President, Humetrics
Steve Montgomery
President, b2b Solutions, LLC
Good points as always, Bob!
The annual performance review is a dinosaur that produces nothing more than some paper to move around, evaluation of the past month at best and justification for some bizarre pay raise tied to yet another year of employment.
For store management teams, the introduction of a quarterly review process that includes a comprehensive evaluation of total store performance produces ongoing improvement in the performance of the individual and the store.
Front-line sales staff should be involved in a weekly or bi-weekly coaching process that essentially sees them coaching themselves when it’s designed right.
The key is an ongoing, frequent approach to both reviews of performance levels and coaching.
Employee reviews can be an important component of the retail process if they provide positive feedback, reward good behavior and offer suggestions for improvement. But to be more effective they need to be combined with management showing an appreciation for employee efforts. This would include paying a living wage and offering a path for advancement. If employees see retail as a means to an end they will not value the job and reviews could be a waste of time.
I am no longer sure retailers actually WANT their in-store employees to stick around unless they decide early on that they’re management material. Then they’d have to pay them raises, and the model doesn’t really lend itself to that.
Now, that doesn’t mean the model is ripe (or over-ripe) for disruption, but the very first questions retailers have to ask themselves are: “What am I willing to spend on an in-store workforce? Will a better workforce create a better customer experience? And will that experience translate into top- and bottom-line results?”
Once they come to that conclusion, then they can start to contemplate things like employee reviews. For right now, they likely and rightly view them as a waste of time.
Paula’s viewpoint hits at the heart of what can make reviews contribute to success in the store — have a reason to conduct them in the first place. It’s like anything else we do in running a business, i.e., think about what it will contribute to the bottom line and go from there.
Employee reviews that create a positive relationship between employees and company can insure loyalty and that “extra” commitment on both sides that means so much to staff and customers eventually. There’s something to be said about “ownership” of results and a conversation about personal, professional and store goals goes a long way to having everyone share the same goals and perspective. And that may just be enough to make the review a win/win strategy, because it will help employers identify those who don’t want to be part of the team, are indifferent to the retailer’s success and for whom this job will never feel worthwhile.
But as Paula suggested the retailer has to first decide how they feel about their commitment to their employees and how much they’re willing to invest (time and money) in their job satisfaction. That is the framework from which to consider employee reviews.
Well said Bob. I am a proponent of employee evaluations. But unfortunately the retail industry has decided it is better for them to have employees work limited hours to avoid any benefits expense. A certain number of hours each week means you are part time, thus no benefits. This has a negative effect on morale and certainly deflates any loyalty. It means they can go next door and get an additional 10 cents an hour for the same work. Until retailers can figure out that motivating employees includes giving them the hours needed to earn a livable income, the need for evaluations might not be necessary at a level below full-time supervisor.
Don’t do employee reviews. If you wait to do a review you have waited too long. When you see employees do something right, give them recognition at that time. When you see them doing something wrong, correct them at that time.
If you want to hold a session with an employee do a session that focuses on expectations and the future. Tell them what the goals are and find out how they want to help you reach the goals.
Don’t review the past set of expectations for the future.
If you aren’t open and honest with your staff on their performance, then you cannot fault them for low productivity. Staff reviews are critical … in every business. Coaching should be consistent and continuous. Give feedback often and in a constructive way. Compliment as often as you criticize. Look for things that they are doing right and acknowledge them to your staff.
“Some retailers might scoff whether it’s worth the investment, with turnover rates over 200 percent for some….”
Might I suggest failure to do reviews — and every other attribute of meaningful employment (pay, benefits, feedback, etc.) — is one reason why a company might have 200% turnover…not the other way around.
One of the many issues with reviews today is the perception that they come with another “r” word — raise. The concept of more frequent reviews is a good idea if done right and that both parties understand the linkage (or lack thereof) between reviews and raises.
As Paula stated, retailers have to determine the value of the position. The issue comes up when a sales clerk is doing a great job in a non-commission environment. At some point their compensation gets capped. They may be worth more but the position doesn’t justify it and they don’t want to become part of management. Then it is management’s responsibility to find additional non-monetary ways to reward the individual.
Regular employee reviews are essential to both retailers’ and the associates’ success. Where they fail is that they are too complex, too detailed, and take an inordinate amount of time in most cases.
A retailer that is smart, focused, and passionate about their business, their associates, and most importantly about their sales, will do them completely differently. They should be more frequent, more focused, and take no more than five minutes and there should be no surprises. The entire review could fit on a 3 x 5 index card and have no more than 3-5 items per associate and the items selected specifically for that associate.
Associates should know where they stand ALL the time — day in, day out, week in, week out.
The entire process would be much more valuable, produce more results, and create much more associate loyalty if they were shorter, to the point, and specific. Get rid of the lengthy consultant-designed processes and get going on success.
Then, as a retailer, you will know that the best employee review is the one you have face to face, unplanned, unscripted and it contains, “Hi Sue, how’s your family?” and “How are we doing with the change we made last week?” or “Are you still championing the change we agreed upon?” … Always, always, always, followed by “Thank you!”
Reviews are very important. Letting employees know they are doing a good job and have opportunity for improvement is a good way to help them focus, feel more valued and learn. That can lead to less turnover and higher employee satisfaction. Some employees (especially in retail) don’t feel they experience the leadership and guidance they need or want. In addition to 30 day, 90 day and six month reviews, team meetings where managers coach the team as a group are very effective.