As an employer, you have to stay on your toes if you want to avoid being accused of discrimination. This means that your policies and practices have to be well-thought out, and the way you treat your employees has to be fair. This is easier said than done, and one area where that is often evident is in written performance evaluations.
Tips for avoiding claims of discrimination in the appraisal process
Writing appraisals is tough. But there are some strategies that you can implement to try to avoid allegations of mistreatment. Let’s look at some of them here:
- Be honest in your appraisals and your continual feedback to your employee so that they know what issues you’ve identified and how they can grow.
- Try to keep your appraisal criteria as objective as possible.
- Ensure that the statements that you make in the appraisal speak to the employee’s performance rather than the employee themselves.
- Be consistent in how you evaluate your employees.
- Avoid falling into the trap of basing your appraisal on the last few months of the employee’s performance rather than their performance for the entire review period.
- Ensure that nothing in the appraisal will be a surprise to your employee.
We know that this can be difficult to do, but by keeping these tips in mind, you might be able to head off some unwanted conflict.
Do you want to learn more about what you can do to protect your business?
In the blink of an eye, your business can come under threat from various allegations of wrongdoing. If you want to take a preventative approach, or if you’re already facing accusations, you might want to reach out to an employment law firm that can help you work to protect your interests.