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UW Pediatrics

Performance Reviews

The University of Washington is dedicated to offering employees ample opportunities for personal and professional growth. This process starts with clear and continuous feedback while working together to problem solve and establishing attainable goals.

Annual Performance Evaluation Resource for Managers

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  ‌"A successful performance management program helps an employer retain talented employees, keep employees engaged, enhance employee learning and build a winning culture." – Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) 

Throughout the year, regularly engage with your staff.  As a manager, you should be communicating expectations clearly. Offer regular, timely, and constructive feedback: recognize successes and achievements. You should be addressing performance issues in a timely and proactive manner. Remember: any concerns a manager has should be well known to the employee in advance of the actual performance review, it should never be a surprise. And document throughout the year. Suggestion: keep a folder of your employee's successes/achievements/and your feedback throughout the year that you constantly add to. 

Prepare for the annual review process and be intentional.  Pull notes and documents from work performance over the last 12 months. When ensuring your employee completes the self-evaluation portion, this would be a suitable time to email the UW policies including the Privacy, Confidentiality, and Information Security Agreement and updated telework agreement if applicable. When you schedule a meeting with your employee, do you want the review to take place virtually or in-person? 

Set goals for next year, identify opportunities for growth. Assess the employee’s competencies. Does the employee need to develop any skills or knowledge to successfully perform their job? Consider the employee’s long-range professional goals. Do this year's goals help the employees reach their long-range goals? Make sure to set goals with the employee using the SMART formula: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timebound. 

Internal biases live within all of us. Some common rater errors include the following: 

  • Halo effect - the individual’s performance is completely appraised based on a perceived positive quality, feature, or trait (the employee can do no wrong).
  • Horn effect - the individual’s performance is completely appraised based on a perceived negative quality or feature (the employee can only do wrong).
  • Central tendency - lack of rating differentiation between employees.
  • Leniency - avoidance of honest ratings to avoid conflict.
  • Recency effect - narrow focus on recent events rather than the entire performance period.
  • Similarity/ “like me”- favorable ratings given to employees who have similar values or interests to the rater.

Resources