The Timesheets.com software allows employers to keep track of all things monetary with regard to employees. Employers can track time to pay employees, track sick and vacation to keep from overpaying, track expenses for business trips, errands, or bonuses and, finally, track performance and raises with HR docs.

Human resources documents are a commonly neglected employee tracking item in the world of employee tracking software but Timesheets.com believes HR docs are an important tool for employers in determining what employees should be paid. Our templates help employers track performance in four ways, namely, with the performance review, commendation letter, disciplinary action, and termination letter. These documents are saved as PDFs in our system so that the date and outcome of the event are never forgotten. The performance review includes the pay increase field and even figures the percentage of the raise. Employees do not have access to these documents, which can only be viewed by administrators and direct supervisors with access.

The Performance Review
Many small companies, in particular, avoid performance reviews, thinking that they are impersonal or downright threatening. While a manager can make them come across that way, performance reviews can instead be a chance for both the employee and employer to discuss goals, needs, salary, and initiatives.

Why do a performance review 

• To reinforce, recognize, and reward outstanding workers
• To encourage higher standards from the under performers
• For a chance to help motivate employees to increase sales or productivity
• To discuss long-range issues and plans
• To set goals
• To discus a raise and/or bonus
• For documentation purposes

Who does the review 

• Manager or Supervisor – The most common review process involves the manager writing the review and discussing it with the employee.
• Peer Review – Allowing fellow employees to rate and critique performance is often less intimidating and can even be more down to earth than a review written by a higher up.
• Self Assessment – The employee writes his own review and then meets with the manager to discuss it. This takes the load off the manager when there are many employees to review at once.
• 360-Degree Review – This includes a manager review, peer review, self assessment, and subordinate reviews. This helps to remove the bias of the review process.

The reviewer must be sure to 

• Do employee reviews for all employees. If all levels and all employees are not reviewed, the ones that are will feel singled out.
• Be realistic, specific, and fair. All employees are different. When devising a plan for the year, remember that employees all have their own  strengths and weaknesses.
• Avoid surprises at the year end by maintaining a verbal review throughout the year by offering and listening to feedback.

When to hold the review
It is common to conduct a review around 60-90 days after hire and then at regular intervals at six months or a year. 

Further reading:
Carnegie Mellon Performance Reviews Tips
Inc.com Performance Review Tips
Inc.com Performance Review Form