Enhance Employee Performance

• The ultimate goal of a performance evaluation is to enhance an employee's quality of work, as one individual's actions can affect the performance of their department and the company as a whole. By measuring employee performance against set standards, a manager can clearly communicate areas of improvement that can benefit the individual's professional career and help a company reach its goals.
  
  

Identify Strengths and Weaknesses

• No matter the format of a performance evaluation, the survey will tell an employee and her manager about areas she excels at and those that need development. Items listed as an employee weakness are not a personal attack. Instead, they are areas a manager identifies as opportunities for growth that an employee can work on with further training, different or new responsibilities or different team members.
  
  

Set Goals

• The constructive criticism provided in an employee evaluation should clearly define expectations so the employee and manager can set realistic goals. While creating goals, it is important for managers and employees to remember to be flexible as expectations can change. The evaluation should provide a measurement of how close an employee came to achieving the previously set goals.
  
  

Increase Morale

• While an employee evaluation can trigger butterflies in an employee's stomach, managers can ultimately use an evaluation to administer incentives and commend employees for a job well done. Employee evaluations can tell workers about the positive impact they have had on a company and how they bring value to their team. An employee tends to perform best and stays with a company longer when he feels appreciated, like an important part of a team and a company ambassador.
  
  

A New Direction

• A performance evaluation can show managers if an employee is a good fit for her position. If an employee consistently meets and exceeds goals and expectations, her manager may determine she qualifies for a promotion. On the other hand, an employee who consistently needs redirection and performs poorly on evaluations may find herself ultimately terminated from her position.