A performance review is your chance to take a “long view” of the progress your legal support staff has made recently and to give specific, targeted feedback that employees can act upon immediately to improve performance.
A great deal rides on performance reviews, but managers don’t have unlimited time in which to carry them out. How can you conduct efficient performance reviews that maximize the value of the information shared? Consider these tips on doing performance reviews right:
- Keep notes. Writing a single review that encapsulates an employee’s entire year of work can be tough, but it’s tougher if you have no “guideposts” to help you. Keep track of the specific accomplishments, setbacks, skills, and events legal support staff perform throughout the year. You’ll have a “running start” when it comes to writing a performance report, and you’ll be able to remember which accomplishments to praise specifically and which failures to address during the discussion.
- Match your measurements to your expectations. If legal support staff are expected to handle a certain number of small matters each year, make sure their participation in these matters is tracked and evaluated. If staff are required to drop everything when a certain type of case appears or when trial looms, make sure that reviews and measures of their “on-the-clock” time account for the resulting backlog in other areas.
When measurements match expectations, staff have an immediate picture of how well they did in any given year and where they need to catch up. Managers also know what to talk about during the review and what to address if the same deficits appear over several years. - Know when to share the information. Much of the information in a performance review may be kept confidential, especially when it relates to the work of a particular employee. But when handled in the aggregate, information and analysis of performance reviews can help you and your staffing partner identify “skills gaps” and make predictions about your hiring needs.
Your recruiting firm does its best work when it has ample information about your organization, including the skills and abilities of its staff. Use performance review data to update your staffing partner about your needs and improve the firm’s recommendations.
At Kent Legal, our experienced legal recruiters can help you use your performance reviews to plan for your hiring needs now and in the future. Contact us today to learn more about our legal support recruitment services in Toronto and beyond.