5 Employment Evaluation Questions Managers Need To Ask

Managers’ duties include more than overseeing teams. They also need to adjust project costs, alter times and, of course, conduct employment evaluations. As a manager yourself, you might not know what questions to ask in an employment evaluation. While you may have conducted them countless times before, you might not be getting the most accurate results. In order to get the most honest, insightful answers, you need to upgrade your questions. Continue reading to learn the employment evaluation questions managers need to ask.

Positive Starting Question

Begin each employment evaluation by asking a positive question. When managers begin with critical, difficult questions, employees get more nervous than they already are. As a result, they do not answer the questions as honestly. If you want to receive honest answers, you need to kick-off the evaluation with a positive question that will make your employees feel comfortable. Ask a question that they can answer easily. A question similar to “What accomplishments are you most proud of?” will help the employee build their own confidence and shake their nerves off. Keep this in mind during your next employment evaluation.

Environment-Related Question

Another employment evaluation question to ask is an environment-related one. As a manager, you constantly try to make your employees feel comfortable in their work environment. Unfortunately, you cannot always succeed with every worker in the office. Every employee prefers different working conditions and learning methods. Some may like coworking while others do not. One employee might work well under pressure while their neighbor gets too nervous. These differences make it difficult for managers to identify how each employee works. When managers ask environment-related questions during evaluations, they gain insight. Ask questions regarding their ideal working conditions. You can even inquire about any issues they have with their current workspace. Their answers to these employment evaluation questions can assist you in analyzing their performance.

Motivation Question

Successful managers also ask motivation questions during employment evaluations. In order to evaluate performance and figure out how to boost it for each employee, you need to learn what pushes them to produce quality work. Ask them what motivates them to go to work and work hard when they get there. Their answers could range from your incentive compensation plan or their desire to learn. Then, find out what de-motivates them during the work day. If their de-motivating factors can be resolved easily, you can work with them before their next performance review. Thus, this is a great employment evaluation question to ask.

Future Goals Question

Since goals play a major role in employee satisfaction, ask an employment evaluation question about future goals. Find out what their short-term and long-term goals are. If their short-term goals can be reached quickly, make a point to assist them in achieving it down the road. During the evaluation, you can explain the path they can take to succeed. After you inquire about their short-term goals, ask about their long-term ones. If an employee is not sure of their goals, help them set a few for themselves. When employees have something to work for, their motivation increases and, in turn, their performance improves. Cover the insightful topic of goals in your future employment evaluations.

Improvement Question

Finally, ask your employees about what improvements they think they could make. Avoid asking negative questions that dwell on the past. If you ask questions like “What was holding you back from doing your best work this quarter?”, employees will feel attacked rather than motivated to work harder. Instead, ask questions like “What can I do to help you reach your goals quickly?”. You can even ask about what they think they should focus on in the future to grow. Improvement employment evaluation questions should set workers up for future success. They should also encourage managers to implement the top employee management strategies to improve your own work.

A major role that each manager has to fulfill is employment evaluator. When you conduct an evaluation, start off by asking a positive question. Include environment-related questions to figure out how they prefer to work. Inquire about how they stay motivated and what de-motivates them throughout the work day. Ask about their short-term and long-term goals. Lastly, question what they think they can improve on without seeming negative. Use these employment evaluation questions in your next review.