As the pandemic continues to reshape the way we work, remote work has become a norm for many organizations. However, evaluating remote employee performance can be challenging, especially when traditional employee performance reviews may not suffice. In this article, we’ll explore some tips on how to evaluate remote employees effectively.
How Do Remote and In-Person Evaluations Differ?
In-person meetings have traditionally been the go-to method for evaluating employee performance. However, with the rise of remote work, many organizations have had to adapt their evaluation processes. Remote workers may face unique challenges such as communication barriers and limited access to resources, making it necessary to adjust evaluation methods.
Remote evaluations may require more frequent check-ins and greater use of technology to maintain communication. You should consider such differences between in-person and remote evaluations to ensure that remote workers are evaluated effectively and fairly.
Before Evaluations, Establish Expectations
Before conducting any evaluations, it’s crucial to establish clear expectations for remote staff. This involves defining key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with business objectives and communicating them to employees during the onboarding process. Setting goals will help employees understand what is expected of them, including the amount of time they are expected to work, their specific tasks, and their deadlines.
Regular check-in meetings should also be scheduled to ensure that employees remain on track and can get help or training resources as needed. These meetings can be conducted via video conferencing or phone calls to discuss progress and address any issues. Providing clear expectations and regular check-ins also helps foster a sense of accountability and transparency for both managers and their employees.
Human resources departments can play a critical role in ensuring that expectations are clearly defined and that evaluations are conducted fairly. They can assist in developing evaluation criteria that align with KPIs and ensure that remote staff receive the training and resources they need to perform effectively.
Conducting a Remote Employee Evaluation in 10 Steps
Conducting effective employee performance reviews is crucial in ensuring remote workers are meeting expectations. Here are 10 steps to conducting a successful remote evaluation.
1. Consider the Employee’s Environment
Remote work environments can vary greatly and may have an impact on an employee’s productivity and performance. You should be mindful of this and assess whether the remote employee had access to the necessary resources and collaboration tools they needed to perform their jobs effectively over the review period.
2. Review the Employee’s Goals
Before conducting a remote employee evaluation, you must review the expectations and initiatives that were set for the employee. This ensures that you are fully aware of what that individual had been tasked with working toward, so that you can properly assess their progress towards their goals.
Reviewing employee expectations helps set the stage for a constructive evaluation that is based on concrete criteria and real performance metrics, ultimately helping to improve overall productivity.
3. Use Metrics to Measure Performance
Performance metrics are essential in evaluating remote employee performance. Metrics can provide objective data to measure progress towards key performance indicators (KPIs) and evaluate whether an employee is meeting expectations. You can use a variety of metrics to measure performance, including productivity rates, task completion times, and customer satisfaction ratings.
Tracking employee progress against KPIs enables you to gain a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, and provide targeted feedback on areas for improvement during a performance evaluation.
4. Use an Employee Review Template
Using an employee review template can help streamline the performance management process and ensure consistency across evaluations. A review template can be developed by the human resources department or obtained from a reliable source. The template should contain clear evaluation criteria and provide space for specific feedback and comments.
By using a template, you can ensure that all important aspects of employee performance are considered and evaluated. Additionally, it can help to standardize the review process and provide a clear roadmap for you to follow.
5. Have the Employee Complete a Self-Assessment
Having remote team members complete a self-assessment can be a useful component of the evaluation process. This allows employees to reflect on their own performance and provide feedback on areas where they feel they have excelled or areas where they could improve. A self-assessment also provides an opportunity for remote employees to express any concerns they may have and share ideas for how they can better contribute to the team.
By including a self-assessment in the evaluation process, you can gain valuable insights into how remote team members view their own performance and identify areas where they may need additional support or resources. Self-assessments allow you to easily see any differences of opinion regarding the employee’s work, and realign or recommunicate goals as needed.
6. Host a Face-to-Face Virtual Meeting
Up until now, you’ve been prepping for the performance evaluation—but this step is where the actual employee review occurs. Hosting a face-to-face virtual meeting is a necessary step in evaluating remote employees. Video conferencing platforms such as Slack and Zoom provide an opportunity for you to connect with remote employees in real-time and have a face-to-face conversation about their performance.
During these meetings, you can discuss performance metrics, provide specific feedback on strengths and areas for improvement, and collaboratively identify ways to support the employee’s development. Having the meeting face-to-face — even if done virtually — helps avoid miscommunications or confusion that occur in typed chat messages and emails. It allows you to take in your employee’s body language, and make sure that you’re both on the same page regarding performance goals and next steps.
7. Provide Explicit Feedback
Providing explicit feedback is critical in the evaluation process for remote employees. You must be clear and direct when providing feedback to remote workers, especially since they may not have the benefit of in-person communication.
Feedback should be specific, highlighting both the employee’s strengths and areas for improvement, and should be accompanied by actionable recommendations for improvement. Such direct and actionable feedback allows remote employees to understand where they stand and what they need to do to improve their performance. This helps create a culture of continuous improvement, fosters employee development, and ultimately contributes to the success of the team and the organization.
8. Celebrate Successes
Celebrating successes is a huge part of remote employee evaluations. Recognizing and celebrating employee achievements can help to foster employee engagement and motivate remote workers to continue to perform at a high level. You should take the time to acknowledge and celebrate remote employees’ successes, whether it be completing a project on time, achieving a specific performance metric, or going above and beyond in their role. If you have the means, providing a small bonus in recognition of employee successes is always a morale-booster.
Such recognition shouldn’t be limited to employee reviews, though. Be sure to call out employee achievements in team meetings or in a company-wide chat. By recognizing and celebrating remote employee successes, you build a positive and supportive work culture, which can ultimately contribute to improved employee engagement and job satisfaction.
9. Request Employee Feedback
No review should be one-sided. As a manager, you can’t afford to operate in a vaccum and think that your opinion is the only one that matters—this is a surefire way to lose the respect of your team and cause employees to look elsewhere.
Avoid all this by requesting employee feedback year-round, and especially during employee evaluations. You should encourage remote team members to share their feedback on the company culture, work from home policies/processes, and any challenges they may be experiencing.
By requesting employee feedback, you can identify areas where they can improve to better support your team and create a positive work environment. Additionally, asking for employee feedback demonstrates that you value their input and are committed to supporting their success.
10. Set Up Future Check-Ins
Setting up future check-ins is the final step in the evaluation process for remote employees. While annual reviews are important, regular check-ins throughout the year can help to ensure that remote employees are on track and provide an opportunity for managers to offer support and feedback.
You should establish timelines for regular check-ins with your employees and use these meetings to review progress toward performance metrics and to provide ongoing feedback. By setting up future check-ins, you can help remote employees to stay on track and identify any issues or challenges before they become major problems. This contributes to the ongoing success of remote employees and the team as a whole.
Boosting the Performance of Remote Employees
You can boost the performance of your remote employees by providing actionable feedback during employee evaluations. To hold a successful remote employee performance evaluation, it’s important to start with the initial steps of reminding yourself of the employee’s goals, tracking progress against KPIs, having the employee complete a self-evaluations, and using an employee review template. During the evaluation, it’s crucial to use video technology to have a face-to-face meeting, offer explicit feedback on employee performance, celebrate successes, and request employee feedback.
Should any employee need additional help to meet their goals, offer them training in soft skills like communication, time management, and problem-solving. By incorporating these steps into the evaluation process, managers can provide remote teams with the support and feedback they need to succeed while also creating a positive work environment that values their contributions.