5 ways to get the most out of your employees’ mid year review

May 23, 2022

2 women in a performance review It’s mid-year performance review time – and your employees are in the hot seat.

Typically, this can be a stressful time for both managers and staff, but there’s lots you can do to ensure you and your employees get the best out of the experience. You’re not just looking for what your employees need to improve on, but also identifying training gaps and getting ideas for boosting the competencies of your talent. Here are our top five suggestions.

1. Schedule mid-year reviews well in advance

A mid-year review isn’t something to rush – you want to be prepared, and to give your employees time to prepare themselves, too. So make sure you schedule it well in advance and send a meeting invitation so your employees can save the review in their calendar.

You might also like to attach an employee self-appraisal form which enables your employee to do some self-evaluation before the review. This will hopefully help them approach the review with confidence and as more of a conversation, rather than an event to stress over.

2. Do your preparation for the meeting

Doing a mid-year performance review on the fly has the potential for disaster. Instead, you may want to spend time reading notes from past reviews, observing your employee’s performance and considering how they’ve performed when it comes to agreed objectives.

Putting a system in place where you can store and retrieve review notes and appraisal forms will make your review prep a lot easier, and help you refresh your memory about the goals were put in place and the progress that’s been made. You can also gather information by talking to other colleagues about the employee.

3. Ask about the employee’s career plans

Although the mid-year review is about evaluating your employee and discussing company goals for the upcoming quarter, you’ll also want to show interest in your employee’s own career goals. If they don’t have any, that may indicate you’re dealing with someone with low ambition who needs to be managed and motivated in different ways to other staff.

If your employee seems engaged with their career path, you might want to ask where they want to be in five years – or whether they envisage staying at the company and working up to another position or department. Asking what can you do to help them meet their goals is key.

4. Offer feedback, ask questions and listen

It’s the part everyone dreads: feedback. But a big part of the mid-year review comes down to your employee’s performance, including what they’ve done well and what they can work on. Specifics are important and will make the feedback far more useful and well-received.

You want to use clear, positive language when giving constructive criticism about behaviour or shortcomings, with a view to what the person can learn or train up in. Give them a chance to offers suggestions on how to improve performance, and share your ideas as well. Stick to the facts, and shy away from your opinions or judgements (even if you privately have them!).

5. Set goals for the coming year

Discussing the company’s upcoming priorities and how the employee’s work will contribute is an important part of the mid-year review – and it sets expectations for the coming year. You can also be clear about what you need from the employee and how key their role will be in meeting certain milestones or goals, so they get a sense that they’re important to the team rather than a cog in the wheel.

At the end of the review, you should also schedule the next review and give your staffer the date so they know when it’s happening and are given time to be prepared.