- Introduction
- Terminology
- Process Outline
- Quarterly Review
- Rationale
- Self-assessment Tips
- Manager Comments
- Manager Review
- Review 1x1
- Appraisal
- Appraisal 1x1
- Appraisal Letter
- Survey
Introduction
This document is a guide so that we are able to run a consistent, fair review and appraisal process for team members at Fyle
There are, broadly, 2 stakeholders in this process:
- Manager - The current team lead / manager of the reviewee (could be a stand-in if the manager is not available)
- Reviewee - Every full-time employee of Fyle who has spent at least one full quarter at Fyle
If we run a good review and appraisal process, then the reviewee will feel that their contributions are being appreciated and rewarded. They will also understand areas that they will need to improve on and have reasonable clarity on how to grow in their career.
The process will also help the reviewer understand the short-term and long-term aspirations of the reviewee and try to accommodate them. It provides an opportunity to provide non-operational feedback that can have a huge impact on the reviewee’s career.
Overall, it will help us as a company retain and grow high-performers.
This document is meant to be read by everyone at Fyle in the interest of transparency.
Terminology
Process Outline
Broadly, there are two phases:
- Quarterly Review process that happens between reviewee + manager
- Yearly Appraisal process which happens after Q4 review process is complete which happens between reviewee + manager
Quarterly Review
The quarterly review process starts with a self-reflection filled out by the reviewee in CultureAmp. Subsequently, the manager will add comments to the doc where they want clarification or more information. Reviewee will make necessary changes. Subsequently, manager will write a "manager review" in CultureAmp and share it for offline reading by reviewee. Finally, the manager will conduct a 1x1 to go over the points and discuss anything that needs more elaboration or clarification. If the reviewee has a variable pay component in their CTC, this will be released after the review process based on performance.
Rationale
At this point, you may wonder: Why should the reviewee fill out a document? Why not just have the conversation and be done with it? There are many good reasons to document the review process. We’ll list out a few:
- Writing things down gives a level of clarity to the reviewee. It forces them to think about their career aspirations and communicate it to their lead or manager.
- There is the recency bias - everybody remembers what happened in the last couple of weeks, but they tend to forget things that happened many months ago.
- Many people have difficulty in talking about nuanced points. Writing gives you the time to do that effectively without the other party interrupting
- Many people have trouble giving / receiving praise / criticism. Writing eases this considerably
- If there are points of disagreements, it is easier to write things down and then discuss in 1x1
Self-assessment Tips
Reviewees are encouraged to spend at least 2 hours on writing this document. This is your chance to look back at the year gone by and evaluate your experience critically - both positives and negatives. Do not attempt to complete this in the last minute and write one line answers - you will be doing yourself a great disservice!
Once the reviewee has completed the self-assessment doc, the manager will have a chance to read it offline. They can add comments to individual sections nudging the reviewee to consider points they may have forgotten or ignored. They may also add for example situations where the reviewee felt a certain way.
Manager Comments
E.g. Do you want to include anything about your experience working on X? or Can you give me some examples when this happened?
The reviewee can respond to the comments and make appropriate changes to the document.
Manager Review
The manager writes a short review document assessing the performance of the reviewee. As inputs to this doc, they should consider a number of difficult signals:
- Self-reflection doc
- Any direct experience interacting with the reviewee
- Any feedback on the reviewee from other people in the company who may have interacted with the reviewee
The more thoughtful you can make the review doc, the higher bandwidth conversation you can have with the reviewee to highlight their strengths as well as opportunities to grow.
Once the manager is done, this review doc will be shared with the reviewee which they can review offline.
Review 1x1
The reviewer will set up a 45 min session with the reviewee to go over both the docs. The reviewer should:
- Start by thanking the reviewee for their contributions
- Go over the self-assessment and review doc - spend more time on nuanced areas to make sure both of you are on the same page
- Reiterate areas of demonstrated strength and areas of focus for continued progress. If there are points of disagreement, communicate and discuss those with the reviewee.
- Any critical feedback should be communicated in a professional and respectful manner. The objective of critical feedback is to help reviewees become successful. Critique should be towards the output, not the individual. Even in cases where there could be behavior related issues, the feedback should be on the behavior.
- Do not go down the path of comparing someone with anyone else - positively or negatively. If the reviewee attempts to do that, please mention that you are not at liberty to discuss any other person’s details in this meeting.
- Outline your expectations from the reviewee for the next year
- In case of any unusual situation, please discuss with Siva or Yash
Appraisal
Appraisal process starts immediately after the review process is done in Q4
Appraisal 1x1
The year-end appraisals will happen after Q4’s review. It should be a 10-15 minute conversation. The appraiser should:
- Call out what their current title, CTC, variable pay is and what the new title, CTC and variable pay is. If the reviewee asks for Take-Home amount - inform them that they will receive breakup via email soon.
- If var pay is applicable, communicate that variable payout will happen every quarter (April salary for Q1, Jul for Q2, Oct for Q3 and Jan for Q4)
- Communicate that compensation information should remain private and confidential
Finally, People-success sends out docusign which has to be signed by the reviewee and Siva / Yash.
Appraisal Letter
At the end of the appraisal process, the review will receive a single page PDF doc that will contain
- Name of appraisee
- Appraisal manager
- Title of the person
- New CTC
- New variable pay, if applicable
- Effective date
- Will contain language that the appraisal was done and this information has been communicated and that they acknowledge this
- Will contain language that all compensation information is confidential and that they will not disclose this information to others
- It will contain language that this is not a new employment contract and all terms of existing employment contract remain.
Appraisees and Yash / Siva will have to docusign this.
Survey
Appraisals are by nature very sensitive and there are bound to be situations where team members might not be fully happy. The process of running should ensure a fairly consistent experience for everyone involved. We will ask questions about the appraisal process as part of the internal satisfaction survey once the process is complete.