Appraisal forms may vary in format and approach, but they should allow supervisors to identify the outstanding aspects of the employee’s work, specify performance areas that need improvement, and suggest ways to improve performance.

Supervisors should be consistent in applying the terms used to describe an employee’s performance.

Not all supervisors judge employees’ performance accurately, and sometimes a supervisor can damage an employee’s morale by giving lower ratings than the employee deserves. Additional perceptual errors include the leniency error, the halo and horn effects, and other rater biases.

When completing the appraisal form, the supervisor should focus on the employee’s accomplishments. The results should be described in terms of how much, how well, and in what manner. Whatever the choice of appraisal form, it is important that every appraisal be made in the context of the employee’s job and be based on the employee’s total performance. P9658