Four Ways to Mitigate Bias in Performance Evaluations

Last updated: July 28, 2021
Estimated reading time: 3.5 min

如果做得好，绩效评估有几个有价值的功能。对于员工来说，他们提供了一个明确的发展和进步的途径。For managers, they help build alignment with their staff withrelationship-buildingin mind, and provide a forum for sharing and receiving feedback. Taken as a whole, performance evaluations can also provide valuable insight into how well their team and culture is meeting their organization’s mission, values, and goals. Yet, without rigor and care, performance evaluations can create confusion, lead to inequitable outcomes, and lower staff morale.

Here are four tips for mitigating bias in performance evaluations:

1. Use a rubric.

Rubrics lay out the criteria that you’re evaluating so you and your staff can stay focused and aligned on what really matters. Ourperformance evaluation form templateincludes three areas to reflect the expectations that make up your rubric: one for tracking goals and results achieved, one for core values, and one for core competencies. Using a rubric helps managers and staff separatepreferences and traditionsfrom the requirements. If you’re creating a rubric or doing performance evaluations for the first time, use the staff person’s job description orrole expectationsas a starting point.

2. Collect evidence and input to inform your assessment (not the other way around!).

你很容易对员工的表现做出一个结论，然后(无意中)寻找支持它的证据——这就是确认偏误。或者，你可能会因为某人做的一件事而对他形成一种印象(积极的或消极的)，并将这种印象应用到他们的其他工作中，这就是光环/号角效应。To avoid these biases, get input from other people about the staff person’s work (more on that here) to balance your own perspective and gather concrete information (such as work products, interactions you’ve had or observed, and outcomes met) throughout the year, especially when there is a pattern of performance issues. You can also discuss your evaluation with your manager or a peer to test whether you’ve made a fair assessment based on the data collected.

Be specific, use data, and share examples of the staff member’s strengths or areas of improvement. For example: “One of your strengths is your attention to detail. A lot of people I’ve talked to commented on how seamless the logistics were at our last all-staff retreat. Several people attributed this to your consistent attention to detail and clear, proactive communication.”

3. Share specific feedback that will help improve results.

基于身份的刻板印象会影响我们的预期。For example,researchshows that men tend to receive more detailed, insightful feedback related to technical skills, while women receive less specific feedback that’s focused on how they relate to others (such as communication styles and teamwork). The result? Men get a better idea of how to improve their outcomes (as opposed to their likeability), resulting in higher chances for advancement. When our expectations for the “how” shift based on someone’s identities (e.g., gender, race, etc.), that’s bias creeping in. Make sure your feedback helps the staff member improve their results. (Note: This isn’t to say that feedback about communication skills isn’t helpful or necessary—just make sure that it’s tied to outcomes and there are no disparities in who receives this kind of feedback!)

Tip:If you manage more than one person, look at your check-ins throughout the year—were you consistently available and equitable in your feedback and coaching? Now, look at their evaluations side-by-side—how does the length, specificity, and quality of feedback compare?

4. Look at the full picture.

绩效评估不像竞争激烈的烘焙节目。不要仅仅根据员工最后三种组合来评估他们——这是近因偏差。受到最近事件的强烈影响是正常的，但要确保查看整个评估期间。We recommend using yourcheck-in documentto look back on the feedback you’ve shared throughout the year (and if you’re not already doing it, start taking notes!) and gathering examples that illustrate areas of strength or improvement. Of course, it’s reasonable to point out recent patterns in some cases, too. For example, if you had a staff member who struggled most of the year but recently made significant improvements, that’d be important to share.

Ready to dive in?Check out our eight-step guide to performance evaluations!

Find additional resources onPerformance Evaluations:

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