by Attorney Amy DelPo

Learn how to give meaningful feedback on employee performance -- without creating legal problems for your company.

Employers who routinely review employee performance and who conduct regular employee evaluations reap tremendous benefits. The evaluation process nips a lot of employment problems in the bud. Your employees will know what you expect of them; will receive feedback, praise, and criticism of their work; and will have notice of any shortfalls in their performance or conduct. You can recognize and reward good employees and identify and coach workers who are having trouble. And the communication involved in any good evaluation process ensures that you will stay in tune with the needs and concerns of your workforce.

Performance evaluations can also keep you out of legal trouble. They help you track and document your employees' problems. If you ever need to fire or discipline a worker, you will have written proof that you gave the employee notice and a chance to correct the problem -- which will go a long way towards convincing a jury or judge that you acted fairly.

Create Standards and Goals

Before you can accurately evaluate an employee's performance, you need to establish a system to measure that performance. For each employee, you need to come up with performance standards and goals.

Performance standards. Performance standards describe what you want workers in a particular job to accomplish and how you want the job done. These standards apply across the board, to every employee who holds the same position. For example, a standard for a salesperson might be to make $15,000 in sales per quarter. Make sure your standards are achievable and directly related to the employee's job.

Goals. Unlike performance standards, goals should be tailored to each employee; they will depend on the individual worker's strengths and weaknesses. For example, a goal for a graphic artist might be learning a new software program that will make his or her work more efficient; for an accounting professional, a goal might be to take the exam to become a certified public accountant. Your workers can help you figure out what reasonable goals should be.