What Is an Appraisal Letter?
From time to time, it would be necessary for any company to have to evaluate their employees’ performance in order to find out how well they are doing in terms of their work. While there are some tools that can do that, such as HR forms, it would be necessary for managers to use other tools like appraisal letters to be sure that employees can get the necessary feedback.
In order to have an easier time writing such letters, managers can use different HR letter templates. Of course, it should be noted that there are other kinds of purposes one can use appraisal letters for. Appraisal letters can actually be used to evaluate the qualities of other things than employees, such as real estate and products for sale. Whatever you may need to be evaluated, there is no denying that you can find a great many uses for such tools.
Functions of appraisal letters
If you were to use appraisal letters yourself, then you would need to be aware of exactly what functions these letters possess so that you can assure yourself that you are using them properly.
States objective evaluation of qualities
The most obvious function of these kinds of letters is the fact that they can list a given thing’s qualities, both positive and negative. This allows you to use appraisal letters in conjunction with HR HR employee recommendation letters so that you can push forward certain employees whose performance have been particularly noteworthy.
Gives employees an accurate idea of their own performance
These letters are also able to let employees see their own performance from an outsider’s perspective, which can give them a big-picture point of view to help them gauge themselves. Like sample HR evaluation forms, these tools can make it possible for employees to get as complete a view of themselves and their achievements as possible.
Identifies areas in need of improvement
If there are any issues with an employee’s performance, then an appraisal letter would be an excellent tool for catching and addressing such problems. After all, if an employee’s performance has been less than stellar, then it would be to everyone’s benefit if the issues could be dealt with before they have a chance to escalate. Tools like appraisal letters and employee review form samples can be helpful in that they can make it easier for employees to find out how to adjust their behavior and approach to work.
Operates as a springboard for promotions and salary increases
These appraisal letters may also do double-duty as letters offering promotions or salary increases as compensation for an employee’s great performance. In that case, sample appraisal letters may also serve as a way of securing such benefits.
Allows consumers an accurate look at potential investments
Other than their use in employee appraisals, it would also be possible for you to use appraisal letters to gauge the qualities of other things. This includes such things as real estate and products like cars. After all, these products would be a serious investment and it would be unwise to simply buy them without thoroughly understanding what those particular items can offer.
Components of an employee appraisal letter
Another useful thing to keep in mind when it comes to making your own employee appraisal letters is what elements you need to include in the letters themselves. While the letters might be similar to sample appraisal forms, as letters they would have some distinct parts that they would need in order to do their job properly.
Letterhead
Like other official documents, appraisal letters need to include a proper letterhead. A company letter is a vital part of performance appraisal anatomy, as the letterhead can serve to reinforce the idea that the document represents the management. Since you would have to include names and other details in the letterhead, this can also serve to list the parties involved before coming to the meat of the letter.
Statement of purpose
Any employee appraisal letter would also need to state the purpose of the letter at the very beginning. After all, this serves to make the point of the letter clear to the recipient right away. This would allow you to make the idea of an employee performance appraisal more evident since everything that follows would be in support of the idea you put forward.
Evaluation
The thesis of these kinds of letters is the judgment of each employee the letter is concerned with. This means that you need to state clearly and unambiguously how the employee has performed through the period you have evaluated. You may even include a clear numerical score for the sake of making the judgment value more clear, though you may simply tell the employee of how satisfactory their performance has been.
Criteria
In order to contextualize the evaluation, it would be wise to include the criteria by which you judged their performance. This can be based on such qualities as output, behavior, and others. Having this knowledge can make it easier for your employees to understand exactly how they are being evaluated. Sometimes you may see such criteria in other documents like sample HR appraisal forms.
Details
Another way of contextualizing a given employee’s performance is to list any relevant details that can specify the value judgments further. For example, you may elect to specify dates or achievements that contributed to your giving that employee the score you gave them. This can make it easier to point out any noteworthy behavior that they should either improve or continue so as to maintain a high-performance assessment.
Hopefully, this can give you a better idea of how to use these kinds of letter templates yourself, particularly if you have a great need to evaluate your employees’ performance.
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