Appraisal Letter: A Complete Guide

1. What is an Appraisal Letter?
2. Objectives of the Appraisal Letter
3. Tips on how to write your Appraisal Letter 
4. Types of performance appraisal 
5. Methods within you performance appraisals Letter
6. Appraisal letter format 
a. Appraisal letter sample I
b. Appraisal letter sample II
7. Downloadable appraisal letter format in word

Organizations, in general, employ a diverse set of human resource management policies (HRM) and procedures specifically related to recruitment, training, development, appraisal and organizational commitment in order to synchronize the HRM policies with the core business objectives of the organization. So, how does an appraisal letter format for employee help to meet your business objectives?

Firstly, effectively appraising systems and rewarding processes is the central key to an effective HRM practice, which is mentioned in many academic journals. On the other hand, appraising the performance of professionals is a major organizational challenge, given the nature and diversity of professional tasks. This problem is especially felt in technology-based companies, where a significant time lag exists between research initiation and profitable results.

bb Appraisal Letter: A Complete Guide

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To a great extent, the majority of firms 76% have introduced a periodic appraisal or assessment system, generally developed in their HQs, which form part of their global policies for performance appraisals. Whereas 89% of all HR leaders agreed that ongoing check-ins, feedback and appraisal letters are the key aspects of organizational success.

Do you think you might be the next organization that will be within those successful organizational percentages, those who are actively using appraisal letter format for employee or assessment systems? If yes! You are in the right place because we can help you! 

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What is an appraisal letter format for employee?

An Appraisal Letter is the result of the appraisal process followed by the Management and HR personnel. Also, it is used to declare the result of the Performance Appraisal Process conducted by both the HR Department and Management. And It’s usually in the format of the report card that provides information on an individual’s performance during an appraisal cycle.

All of that means an Appraisal Letter helps to evaluate and judge your employees in terms of their strengths and weaknesses based on the tasks they performed. In an appraisal letter for employee, the critical assessment aspect is most important, which theoretically should improve the skill and performance of the employee.

Usually, the appraisal cycle period is set and fixed by both the management team and the HR department. Usually, it is set to happen quarterly, half-yearly, or yearly as it is set by the appraisal cycle period of an organization. Typically this is a time when an employer can show an employee that their work is being recognized.

In addition to performance appraisal letter for employee, training and development of employees, all of those are essential components that could potentially shape your employee participation and commitment towards the organizational development and task compilation.  

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Objectives of the Appraisal Letter For Employee

The main objective of the appraisal letter is to evaluate performance and reward the deserving people in the organization. Additionally, it also aims to increase the overall performance of the organization. As it could be used to set the new goals and tasks for your employees for the next appraisal periud. 

On the other hand, employers can also utilize the appraisal letter for employee to identify where employees performed well and what skills they need to master in order to perform better during the next appraisal periud.

As we can see, the other objective of the appraisal mail to employee is to help both employees and employers to plan their further goals and targets to achieve them by the next appraisal period.

Usually to have the greatest outcome from employee Appraisal letters. It is recommended to evaluate everything verbally through the scheduled meeting with the responsible manager in order to discuss employee improvements and your feedback as an employer. Your employees should  feel valuable and important after the meeting, which should contribute toward overall performance of the organisation. .. 

Tips on how to write your Appraisal Letter 

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  • Start with something Positive

-Start your Appraisal Letter with  some genuine praise for your employees and their work, as well as their accomplishments in the previous year or appraisal period. 

-It is very rare that an employee has no positive sides, so make sure you find them and mention them through your appraisal mail to employee. 

-Even if your employee is poor in performance, they should have something worth mentioning in the positive area. 

-Just saying that someone did well in the previous period doesn’t make your employee feel valued for what they do and it doesn’t help them to grow in the future. You need to be specific in order to give them the impression that, if you are not always around, you still appreciate their work and contribution toward your organization. 

-Additionally something positive should make the whole process less stressful for your employees and they should feel less scared next time. 

  • Highlight achieved goals

-You should evaluate each goal and measurement in short sentences, nothing too long or overbearing. 

-It’s important to write down their notable achievements and share the rest when you get the chance to have a conversation with them in person.

-Make sure that your employees are focused on goals that have been the most impactful for the company. 

  • See which goals were not met 

-Make sure that you are fair and appropriate when creating this part. If something that was missed was acceptable because of circumstances, be mild and don’t focus too much on that point. 

-Make sure that you do still state where the employee missed out on some things because this will keep them vigilant in the future and it should motivate them. 

  • Create a constructive feedback

-At the end of the performance review, you should spend some time writing down your constructive criticism on your employee work performance. You could use examples on how the employee could change and improve toward the new appraisal period. Constructive feedback shouldn’t be general, it should be very specific for a particular employee. 

-When you offer some constructive feedback, it is usually based on your future guideline for the employee. From that they should know what they need to do and they will highly likely do it as you have suggested in your letter.

-Of course, just praise doesn’t help much either so you need to offer constructive criticism. But this time, throughout the use of your appraisal mail to employee, you would just push them to do more of what they did well and improve their weaknesses. 

  • Outline what could be expected to be done in the future 

-This part is supposed to be short and most of it should be said in person. It’s not intended to serve the purpose of formal development for the upcoming year but more as a way to show them what they can do.

-In this section you could suggest the potential boundary expectations you may have for your employees in the future.

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Types of performance appraisal 

  1. Self-Appraisal

-Self-Appraisal is an individual’s judgment of your employee performance.

-Many companies believe that it is the best way to inform your employees about their professional standing & work performance.

-This method also helps to remove some reliance from managers but it also allows you to share your insights on accomplishments & challenges throughout the appraisal period.

  1. The 360- Degree Appraisal

-By the name you might understand this method where the employee is appraised based on the 360 Degree assessment of all the people who surround your appraised employee.

-It is a holistic method which provides a comprehensive picture of your employee performance from different people’s views.

-The 360 Degree Appraisal could be useful to evaluate the competencies and leadership skills of the senior-level or mid-level managers to evaluate their leadership, rapport skills and team working abilities.

  1. Manager Performance Appraisal

-This is when the manager conducts the appraisal based on his/her observations.

-Manager appraisals are usually the most detailed method of the appraisal which could combine both self-appraisal and 360 Degree appraisal methods.

-It is an effective method of the appraisal as it leaves little room for ambiguity and enables a transparent discussion between your employee and the reporting manager.

Methods within you performance appraisals Letter

  1. Rating scale method

-This method is based on a systematic assessment technique to evaluate the employees based on their performance and future potential.

-It is usual practice when you are rating your employees on a scale from 1 to 10 on criteria like target achievement, regularity and accountability. 

-This method is commonly used as it is very straightforward, easy to understand, economical and very time efficient. 

  1. Essay appraisal method 

It is a traditional approach of evaluation where you are mentioning employee strengths and weaknesses.

-It gives a descriptive analysis of an employee’s performance supported by performance reports and data.

-On the other hand the elaborate assessment makes it difficult to quantify the results and draw a decent conclusion, which makes this method less practical and common across organizations.

  1. Ranking method

-The ranking method is another commonly used method of evaluation. In this method employee performances are compared to the performances of similar workers.

-This method is useful when the organization wants to identify the best performing employees. 

-The typical framework which is used is to categorize your employees as excellent, very good, average, poor and very poor based on their annual performances or appraisal period.

  1. Checklist method

-The checklist method is an objective way of assessing. Where the employee’s performance could be scaled by traits and statements.

-The evaluation process in this method is done by answering quick questions in terms of Yes or No answers. Then the manager analyzes your performance on baise of the answered questions to identify your strengths and weaknesses and provide you with your feedback.

  1.  Critical incident method

-This method is based on major incidents and issues which could occur during the appraisal period.

-Companies that follow this method maintain logs of data which summarise all of the incidents  in terms of both positive and negative outcomes. These incidents then used to judge your employees on the baise of their response and performance to the major incidents

Appraisal letter format 

Date 

[Employee Name] [Company logo] 

Designation 

Department 

[Company Name] 

Subject: Performance Appraisal Request Letter

Dear {Employee First Name <space> Last Name}, 

Following the review of your performance during the current appraisal period, we’re excited to promote you as [details of the position]. 

This change will come into effect from [date]. Your performance this year has exceeded our expectations, and the growth you’ve shown can be an example to others.

The details of your revised designation, benefits, and remuneration are given below:  

(A separate email containing the details of your revised salary and benefits will be sent shortly)

We hope that you will continue your progress with the same dedication and commitment. However, some of the areas still require some of your attention to make your work even more efficient. To evaluate that we are grateful to invite you for a one to one meeting with our manager, you will be contacted shortly to schedule that meeting. 

Once again, congratulations on your success and cheers to more good work in the future. 

We wish you the best, and please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. 

Yours Sincerely, 

Authorized Person Name,  

Designation, 

Appraisal Request Letter sample

20-08-2021

James Murphy

Qandle

London, Great Britain.

Hey James,

On behalf of our company, we are pleased to inform you that there is an increment in your remuneration. 

We’ve noticed your hard work and contribution to the organization. And we would like to inform you that your performance rating has grown for the year 2020-2021 and it’s now reached a 5 out of 5 rating. From now on, your annual remuneration has been revised to be $xx,xxxx.

Keep up the good work, you are a very valuable employee!

Regards,

Jade Wheaton,

Head of HR department.  

Quandle

Appraisal letter sample II

Date: 20-08-2021

Asif Haque 

Manchester, Great Britain.

Dear Employee,

On behalf of our company, we would like to introduce you with  this appraisal letter to highlight  your substantial contribution to the organization. We are pleased to inform you that your performance rating for the year 2020-2021 has grown by 15%. The annual remuneration has been revised . __________ with effect from ______.

Revised Compensation & Benefits

Components Monthly Annual

Basic Allowance

House Rent Allowance

Other Allowances

Reimbursement

Monthly Gross

Annual Gross

We thank you for your outstanding contribution and we are looking  forward to seeing your continued participation in the success of our company.

Regards,

Jade Wheaton,

Head of HR department.  

Downloadable Appraisal Letter Format in Word

Download this perfect appraisal letter format in word. You may change the content according to your requirements.

On a Final Note…

Overall, the importance of listening to your employees will never go out of fashion. When you pay attention to your employees’ performance, activities, and problems, they feel connected with the work. 

An Appraisal Request Letter is the perfect form of action to show your employees that you genuinely care about them. Since we have discovered different techniques and methods to write your appraisal letter, you might ask; what is the best one ? The answer is; it is the letter at the end of the day and no matter how you will write it. Initially, an appraisal letter should show your employee that they are very valuable for your company and their hard work is always appreciated. In return if the employee feels recognized they should give to the company their hard work in the form of overall positive results. 

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