Raymond Anthony Fernando's letter to the press: Adopt two-way appraisal system

My letter on the above subject was published in The Straits Times on Saturday 4^th January 2014.

One way to ensure good human resource practices is to introduce upward appraisals for staff performance (“Ranking employees against one another unhealthy” by Mr Tan Kin Lian; Thursday).

Upward appraisals are performance appraisals of managers and bosses which are usually written by the subordinate staff.

In organisations that use upward appraisals, the subordinates complete a questionnaire on how well their superiors manage them. This usually takes place after the superiors have had the opportunity to finish preparing and discussing the subordinates’ performance appraisals.

These upward appraisals will encourage supervisors to facilitate two-way performance communication with their staff.

With this scheme, the organisation will be able to identify areas of growth for their employees – either in their current positions or in preparation for more challening roles in a fair and non-discriminatory manner.

The civil service could lead the way in implementing such a system.

Raymond Anthony Fernando

http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/forum-letters/story/adopt-two-way-appraisal-system-20140104