How to Create an Employee Performance Log

Some managers tend to evaluate team members based on their most recent positive or negative encounter. This hap­pens most often when a manager has no record of an employee’s performance over the past months or year. It’s not a good way to conduct a review, and it’s not fair to the employee.

An increasingly popular and easily imple­mented solution is to create an employee performance log. The process doesn’t have to be complex or sophisticated, but it does overcome our human predisposition toward selective or biased memories of past events. Maintaining a log over an extended time preserves an account of a work situation that took place, what exactly occurred, your method for handling it, how the employee responded and the outcome. It can be an invaluable resource at performance review time. Here are some considerations:

• Without a log, you’ll be hard-pressed to explain how and why you’d like an employee’s performance to change. But with one, there’s a far better chance the team member will understand the context and reasoning for your suggested changes.
• Managers and team members can have unreliable memories about past events. Using an employee performance log keeps the record straight and avoids any “revisionist history” from either party.
• Keeping a log helps you stay on top of a crucial managerial responsibility— gauging a team member’s performance and actively seeking to improve it continually.

What goes into the log

Think of this log as an objective report on a team member’s performance over time. The language you use should be free of personal prejudices, inappropriate content or value judgments. If it’s rumor or hear­say, leave it out.

The performance log should be some­thing you can share with the team mem­ber or human resources without anyone charging slander.

Here’s what to include:

• The team member’s job description
• Organizational goals and how each relate to the team member’s position
• Project assignments—tasks that were completed or left unfinished
• Deadlines met and missed
• Examples of being late or absent from work
• Any disciplinary conversations and actions taken
• How the team member responded to issues and questions
• Other personal interactions between you and the team member
• Positive outcomes, including individual achievements and contributions to team efforts

What to leave out of the log:

• Theories about the reasons behind the employee’s actions
• Information about family history, ethnic background, medical history or political beliefs
• Your view of the team member’s longterm career prospects
• Complaints against the employee that can’t be verified

Add specific details 

The log isn’t to keep track of negative behaviors only. (That will only bias your evaluation later on.) Be sure to also note when an employee’s performance is satis­factory or outstanding.

Document situations when the context and details are still fresh in your mind. Add­ing specific dates and times can establish any emerging trends in behavior, both positive and negative. If the behavior is undesirable, you can raise it with the team member after noting a repeated pattern in the log.

Entries should always focus on an indi­vidual team member, but if a situation occurs involving numerous employees, include the same information (customized as needed) in each performance log.

A performance log’s primary benefit may be in aiding your memory at evaluation time, but it’s also a valuable tool in ongoing team member development. It’s a living document that identifies a team member’s strengths and weaknesses.