Whether or not you have a formal appraisal system, the likelihood is that you will be monitoring how your staff are performing on a regular basis, be it weekly, monthly or annually.

However, if it is not something that you do formally, we would suggest that the review is done either once or twice a year and on a more formal basis. This is because it gives both the firm and the employee an opportunity to discuss the employee’s performance, plan development within the company and highlight any training needs.

In order to get the most from the process, it is important that both the manager conducting the appraisals and the members of staff prepare carefully for the meeting. The main objectives are to review past performance, to help improve current and future performance, to identify training needs, to improve communications and to give the employee the opportunity to raise any concerns or issues they may have. It is important to remember that this meeting should not develop into a capability disciplinary meeting or a grievance meeting. If the employee does raise concerns which could be classed as a grievance, it may be more appropriate to deal with this via the company’s grievance procedure.

Before the meeting both parties should complete an identical performance review form. Points to be discussed could include performance statistics from work carried out during the year (output, targets, error rate, etc.); specific details of achievements and/or problem areas; specific details of any new knowledge and skills acquired during the year; feedback from clients (specific, not vague or hearsay evidence); feedback from team members and/or other departments; and training. The manager should consider what comments they intend to make with examples of the particular behaviours they have observed and based their assessment on. At the same time they should consider what objectives they will set for the employee, any changes they wish to see and any training/development needs they have already identified. It is important that the meeting is not just seen as a form filling exercise and that the meeting is as productive as possible. At that meeting make notes of the discussion and make sure that the objectives for the coming year have been agreed, including both business objectives and personal development goals.

* Gillian is head of employment law at Ingrams Solicitors