In most companies, the annual performance review cycle begins with an employee self-assessment of his or her performance and contributions. In a best-case scenario, managers should be involved in this employee evaluation—to guide it, manage expectations, and open the lines of communication with the employee.
Generally speaking, it is easy to get caught up in the details of writing the self-assessment and meeting deadlines and employees sometimes lose sight of the fact that the most important aspect of the self-assessment is the content—informing their managers of their achievements during the review period. It is also a prime opportunity to open a dialogue between the manager and employee, increasing the understanding of those achievements and expand clarity on the role expectations for each party.
How an employee perceives his or her job performance may be quite a bit different from the evaluations that are being done by his or her supervisor. This is often the product of factors, such as unrealistic expectations, a need for additional training, communication problems, or simply a manager's detachment from the day-to-day interactions with the staff members being supervised. An employee self-assessment evaluation is not only a chance for a worker to take control of his or her career by giving feedback on the current situation, but also to inform management regarding the need for training or necessary resources to make future success possible.
With online talent management solutions, companies are now able to easily conduct employee self-assessments throughout an organization and view the information from a strategic perspective. This information can be aggregated and analyzed from a team, departmental, or a company-wide view, enabling management to better understand the skill sets they possess in-house, and, of those which are performed well and which need developing or strengthening.