The Personnel Appraisal scenario describes how personnel appraisals are planned and performed.

A personnel appraisal is a planned, structured, official, and standardized evaluation of employees or future employees that is performed by persons commissioned to do so.

The aim of personnel appraisals is to supply various Human Resource subareas, such as career planning, personnel staff planning, compensation planning and recruitment, with the information they require on the profile of employees. In other words, employee suitability for current or future tasks is appraised. Depending on the purpose of the appraisal, it can include criteria such as personality, qualifications, (past) performance, and potential.

By using a personnel appraisal system that determines uniform methods and criteria for the whole enterprise, you ensure that appraisals supply reliable and meaningful information to the Human Resource subareas that need it.

Once the personnel appraisal system has been designed and implemented for the whole enterprise, personnel appraisals can be performed.

Personnel appraisals can be held at regular intervals (as annual performance reviews, for example). Alternatively, they can be held at the explicit request of Human Resource subareas or of the employee to be appraised.

First, the persons responsible are required to plan, organize, and/or perform the appraisals. The organizer then invites appraisers and appraisees so that the appraisal can be performed. After the appraisal, the appraiser informs the appraisee of the provisional results, asks the appraisee whether he or she accepts the provisional results in their present form, and asks whether he or she would like to make any additional comments. Finally, the appraisee and other involved parties are informed of the official appraisal results.

Provisions are determined for planning, organizing, and performing personnel appraisals:

• The appraisal criteria and permissible scales
• The personnel appraisal methods (interview, test, assessment center, subappraisal - overall appraisal, etc.)
• Provisions for the personnel appraisal process, including the attendant responsibilities and distribution of tasks

To ensure that the personnel appraisal system is accepted at the enterprise and can be implemented effectively, it is publicized at the enterprise. Implementation actions are performed for potential appraisers (training events, for example) and for the employees to be appraised (information events, for example).

The persons to be appraised, the appraisers, and the personnel appraisal methods to be used are determined. Depending on when the persons involved are available, the schedule and, if necessary, the rooms for the personnel appraisal are determined. The involved parties are invited to the personnel appraisal.

The appraisal is performed for a group of persons in accordance with the plan specifications. The individual personnel appraisal methods are used once the relevant information has been obtained, and the results are evaluated by the involved parties. The appraisee’s opinion can, if required, constitute part of the evaluation. Finally, the personnel appraisal is released for approval.

The information required for the various methods depends on the method itself and the purpose of the appraisal.

For example, the qualifications profile and requirements profile are required for an appraisal of performance. An appraisal of potential may require information on the appraisee’s preferences, qualifications, and previous profile of potential, as well as the profile of (planned) requirements.

The personnel appraisal is checked to ensure it is correct and fair. The appraisee’s opinion can or must be taken into consideration. Finally, a decision is made as to whether the personnel appraisal is valid, or whether it must be performed again either in full or in part.

The appraised employee’s profile is updated on the basis of a valid personnel appraisal. This means the results are then available for the processes performed in other Human Resource subareas such as staff planning, career planning, compensation planning, or recruitment.

The parties involved in the personnel appraisal are notified of its results.

The effects of the personnel appraisal system, and the procedure and results of personnel appraisals, are checked at regular intervals or for specific reasons. Such checks focus in particular on whether and to what extent the aims of personnel appraisals are met,

and whether the return on investment is adequate. If necessary, the analysis is used as a basis for determining whether the personnel appraisal system must be redesigned, whether additional implementation actions must be performed, or whether personnel appraisals must be repeated in full or in part.