Employee evaluation software is bought as a form and used as a record, and the difference decides whether the money was well spent. A form collects this year's ratings and comments and files them. A record holds the same fields per employee per cycle, so the manager writing this year's evaluation can see last year's rating, the objectives that were set then and whether they were met, and the outcome that followed. An online performance evaluation system that cannot show that history is a document template with a login. This page sets out what an employee review system has to hold to be a record, how the evaluation form sits on top of it and the three things to test in any online performance review system before a small company pays for it.
The record: what is held per employee per cycle
Objectives for the period, each with a target and a measure. The employee's self-appraisal against each objective with a self-rating. The manager's rating against each objective and overall, with comments. The calibrated rating, if it changed. The outcome: the merit increase, the development plan, the objectives carried forward. And the dates: when objectives were set, when the self-appraisal was submitted, when the review was held. Employee performance evaluation software that holds those fields per cycle can answer the question every manager eventually asks, what did we say last time, without a search through a shared drive.
The form: what the employee and the manager see
The form is the record's front. The employee sees the objectives and writes against them; the manager sees the employee's words beside a blank rating and comment box per objective. The best forms are short, because the objectives are the structure, and they show the rating scale's definitions next to the scale so a three means the same thing in every team. The self-appraisal worksheet on this site is that form, worked from objectives set and met, a scale and a self-rating, and it produces the achievement figure and the gap the conversation will be about.
Three things to test before buying
Put two cycles in for one employee and ask the system to show them side by side; if it cannot, it is a form. Rate five people across two managers and ask for the distribution by manager; if it cannot, calibration will be done in a spreadsheet anyway. Export one employee's outcome, the rating and the new salary, in a shape payroll can read; if it cannot, the merit increase will be retyped. Reviewvo Pro is built around exactly that record, per employee per cycle, calibrated across the team and exported, and the employee appraisal software guide on this site says what the alternatives charge for the same.
Questions people ask about employee evaluation software
What is employee evaluation software?
Software that holds each employee's objectives, self-appraisal, manager's rating and comments, and the outcome for each review period, so evaluations can be compared across cycles and across managers and exported to payroll.
What is the difference between an evaluation form and an evaluation system?
A form collects one cycle's ratings and files them. A system keeps the same fields per employee per cycle as a record, so history, calibration and export are possible. Many products sold as systems are forms with a login.
Can a small company run evaluations without software?
Yes, with a self-appraisal form, a final-comments form and a spreadsheet for the ratings. The worksheets on this site are those forms. The software earns its place when the history and the calibration outgrow the spreadsheet.