Performance Appraisal & Review Policy

Purpose

To review each employee's performance against their responsibilities and expectations, provide clear and specific feedback, recognize results, and agree on objectives and development for the period ahead.

Scope

Applies to all employees. The depth of the review may scale with the role.

The appraisal cycle

Conduct a formal performance appraisal at least once a year. Objectives are set with the employee at the start of the cycle, checked at a mid-cycle point, and appraised at the end. Formal appraisals supplement — they do not replace — ongoing, day-to-day feedback and coaching.

What the appraisal covers

• Objectives and results. The employee and manager agree on measurable objectives. The employee provides a self-assessment of results; the manager records and rates results, drawing on their own observations and, where useful, input from team members and internal or external clients.
• Competency feedback. The manager assesses the employee against the role's key competencies, citing specific examples for each.
• Performance summary. The manager describes significant accomplishments, any shortfalls, an overall summary, and an overall rating.

Before the review meeting, the manager discusses the appraisal and the proposed overall rating with their own manager.

Rating scale

A five-level scale, applied to overall performance:

Rating	Meaning
Distinguished	Performs significantly beyond requirements across virtually all of the role; exceptional, consistent results; needs little direction.
Commendable	Performs beyond requirements in many areas; anticipates problems; high-quality results with limited supervision.
Effective	Fully meets requirements and exceeds in some areas; completes objectives on schedule to standard.
Developmental	Meets requirements in most areas but needs improvement in others; requires closer supervision and follow-up.
Deficient	Does not meet requirements; significant improvement is required in the near term, and action may follow, up to and including termination.

The appraisal meeting

1. Review the employee's responsibilities and expectations, clarifying the role where needed.
2. Discuss performance against each objective — results achieved and areas to improve.
3. Review the competency feedback and the specific examples supporting it.
4. Summarize overall performance, discuss the overall rating, and identify future objectives.
5. Ask the employee to sign the appraisal as acknowledgment of the review (a signature records that the review occurred, not necessarily agreement). Capture any employee comments in writing.
6. The manager retains a copy, provides one to the employee, and forwards the record to Human Resources.

Development planning

Use the appraisal to identify strengths and development needs and to build a development plan — on-the-job experience, training programs, self-study, coaching, or formal education — with targeted completion dates tied to the areas identified.

Documentation and fairness (best practice)

• Base ratings on documented, job-related performance — not on personality or on isolated recent events.
• Apply standards consistently across comparable roles to reduce bias and discrimination risk.
• Never let a protected characteristic, or an employee's protected activity (such as taking protected leave or raising a good-faith complaint), influence a rating.
• Involve Human Resources when an appraisal may lead to corrective action or affect pay, promotion, or continued employment.