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We are only two years later, but what a world of difference. Before 2020, working from home was unnegotiable in most companies. Now, for many people, it takes some getting used to when they have to travel back to the office in their suits early in the morning. Hybrid working has become the new normal.
No longer because you have to, but simply because working from home has many advantages. For employees and employers. However, working fully online or hybrid still requires some adaptability from the average manager. Just walking around the department to check how everyone is feeling, spontaneously asking a question or picking up a mutual discussion is a lot more complicated when a large part of the team is working at home behind the laptop. And how do you have a good evaluation or assessment interview in the absence of sufficient live contact moments?
But first: what is an appraisal interview actually?
One assessment interview is a conversation that takes place between an employee and his supervisor and is about the employee's performance, with regard to previously set objectives and competencies.
I can already hear you thinking: is it possible to conduct a remote assessment interview? Isn't that too distant? No, don't rush to judge ;-)
Below we discuss 5 assessment interview tips where you can take an example.
Agree long in advance what you will assess the employee on, and what the employee needs from you as a manager. Which job components do you find most essential, what exactly do you expect as the end result and how does the employee know if he is on the right track? But also: what can your employee expect from you and what gives an extra dose of job satisfaction? Emphasise that the employee can ask for attention when things get tough, and also clearly indicate when you can be reached for questions or bottlenecks. After all, from home, the employee cannot see if your office door is open.
Send an agenda at least one week before the call so that the structure of the conversation is no surprise. By explicitly inviting the employee to also provide discussion points, there is a two-way street and you can be sure that the other side of the table is also adequately covered.
Did you know that having a job interview is also very good online? Or onboarding new staff? Discover the possibilities of online onboarding of new employees!
As a remote manager, don't have the illusion that you can follow exactly how and when everyone is working from home. But: is that really necessary? For many functions, it is not so important how someone works remotely. If the production that is delivered is only of the right quality and quantity, the flexibility of working remotely can increase job satisfaction and motivation.
Especially for a remote manager, it is important to stay well connected. Check regularly what results your employee shows. Can it be better and do you have constructive criticism? Then don't let it run its course, but let us hear from you and make adjustments on time. Be even more proactive about that than before. By working (partially) remotely, your employee misses a lot of non-verbal communication and unplanned interaction with you as manager and colleagues.
During the coronavirus pandemic, employees have shown that they are really good at taking responsibility. Nevertheless, it appears that 1 out of 8 employees in the Netherlands was remotely monitored by business software. Read more about employee monitoring in another blog we wrote about this!
Is it difficult to judge from your own experience how your employee has fared due to working from home or, for example, different locations? Then use the so-called “360-degree feedback method”. By asking different colleagues about their experiences with the employee, valuable input is created for the assessment interview.
Design a format with some positively provocative questions, which can easily be sent out by email or online to various colleagues that the employee works with regularly. Don't take control out of your hands, but let the employee decide who to send the form to. In doing so, challenge the employee to also question critical colleagues. That can sometimes be exciting, but often the best tips or best compliments come from unexpected sources.
During a physical conversation, it is not unusual to almost immediately to the point to come. After putting down the cup of coffee, it usually starts quickly. An online conversation, especially a sensitive conversation such as an assessment or evaluation interview, requires a little more personal attention. So spend extra time making contact before the actual conversation starts. Then a remote conversation does not become a distant conversation.
At the beginning of your meeting, inquire about the environment where the employee is having the conversation. Can he hear you well and are there no disturbing factors that could influence the conversation, such as children playing or a renovation with the neighbours? Is the connection sufficient, or is the Wi-Fi faltering? These kinds of things are important for properly valuing the employee's attitude and communication during the conversation.
We've all experienced it by now: online meetings can be energy guzzlers.
So here are some examples to improve this:
With this working from home tips prevent yourself from being a victim of the Zoom burnout!
We at Pluvo have a lot of experience with online interviewing, stimulating and monitoring personal development and making analyses. So feel free to contact us if you're looking for more tips for your online assessment or evaluation interviews!
