Performance reviews: Is it that time of year already?

Performance reviews (and a payrise?): Is it that time of year already?

Auckland, February 16 2012 - It’s that time of year when many employers conduct their annual performance reviews.

While employees often dread the ritual of sitting down with their manager to evaluate their performance, Randstad, one of the world’s leaders in recruitment & HR Services, says you can avoid the sweaty palms and nerves by being in control and making the most of the opportunity.

According to Paul Robinson, Director of Randstad New Zealand, a performance review should be used as an opportunity to reassess career paths and clarify expectations from both perspectives.

“The overall goal is to build trust and manage expectations. As an employee, it’s important to be honest about what you want from your manager, and those who take responsibility for defining their goals for the coming year will always fair better than those who treat the review purely for salary adjustments and promotions,” he says.

“Performance reviews should not bring any surprises, rather confirm the themes, issues and achievements addressed throughout the year,” adds Robinson.

It’s important to set aside some time to prepare well for the periodic review. Randstad offers the following tips to help you get ready for your next performance review:

• Understand the criteria: Try to determine your company's main focus, the important decision-makers and their criteria for measuring success. Then determine the criteria for your area/division of the business and how they connect.

• Do your homework: Take some quiet time to think about what have been the highlights and low points of the year for you. Be honest with yourself — what has stretched you? What have you found too easy? Where are you struggling? Write down facts and examples. Even better, throughout the year, keep a record of significant behaviours, challenges, critical incidents or anything else noteworthy as they happen.

• Think about what’s next for you: Identify your own development needs and what you would like to get involved with in the coming year. Set goals, objectives and targets.

• Don't be defensive: Constructive criticism from your manager should be expected. When confronted with a legitimate critique, take a solution focussed approach and identify how you plan to correct it going forward and show appreciation for the fact they’ve highlighted it to help you improve. If the criticism is not justifiable, it’s best to stay calm, question it, ask for examples/proof and take it on board. Apologise if necessary and then if you feel the need to respond, do so after the review once you’ve had time to reflect and consult advice around the issue.

• If you feel you are due for promotion: be prepared to show how you have been effective or you have excelled expectations. Come up with a list of all accomplishments achieved over the year. Be as factual as possible in expressing targets met or exceeded, deadlines met ahead of time, new skills acquired, products/processes or procedures introduced. Demonstrate your commitment to ongoing learning, leadership and leadership development as this will help make you stand-out for the promotion.

“Promotions and payrises often go hand in hand and while this shouldn’t be the sole focus of the review, it’s often a favourable outcome,” continues Mr Robinson. “If you plan to ask for a salary adjustment, you first need to ask yourself the question, ‘Do I deserve a pay rise?’”.

In addition to providing tangible information and proof of your achievements, think about whether your role has expanded with more duties and responsibilities. Can you demonstrate a greater rate of efficiency or an increase in revenue generation and/or performance? All of this will help with your request.

So if you’re planning on asking for a payrise, Randstad has some further tips on how to go about it:

• Prepare your case: for why you deserve one. You’ll need to demonstrate how you have gone above and beyond in your role, achieved great things and helped the business meet or exceed their targets.

• Do your research: Find out how much you, your position and your level of experience are worth in the market. Knowing this can add a lot of weight to your request as it shows you have done your research and that your request is fair and reasonable.

• Keep to the facts and be positive: You need to deliver your justification/proposal in a confident and business-like manner. Keep to the facts, don’t talk too much and use clear and concise language to ensure you get your point across. Don’t let your emotions drive your behaviour and avoid being aggressive in your tone of voice. Use positive, active language like…”I am committed to the future of this organisation” or ”I believe my results show I am deserving of a pay rise”.

• Manage your own expectations: if overall the business has not performed well, you may not receive the pay rise until later in the year or the following year, once the business shows improved results. If that’s the case, consider other benefits you might like to receive, as a reward for your great efforts – e.g a mobile phone, ipad, parking etc.

• Don’t offer an ultimatum: This is the biggest and most common mistake made by employees. There is absolutely no benefit in asking for a pay rise in this manner and you are guaranteed not to get one using this tactic.

• Don’t burn your bridges: If you feel your current employer can’t meet your career aspirations, promises have not been kept or you have not been rewarded with a pay rise when you believe you have earned it then yes, it’s time to find another career opportunity. Remember to exit the business in a professional manner with your reputation intact. The old adage is very true…“don’t burn your bridges”.

Robinson also points out that a review is not the only time to ask for a pay rise. “Choose your time wisely. A pay rise could be considered on or before an anniversary of employment service, at the start of a new financial year or when company goals or targets have been achieved.”

About Randstad

Randstad is a Fortune 500 Company and the world’s second largest recruitment & HR services provider. Spanning over 40 countries and representing more than 90% of the global HR services market, Randstad employs over 520,000 people every day with the aim of “shaping the world of work”. Randstad is passionate about matching people with organisations that will develop their potential and matching organisations with people that will take their business to the next level. Visit www.randstad.co.nz or further information.

ENDS

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