You will hear another five recordings. Five people are giving their opinion

Eighteen
My company’s been doing annual appraisals for all employees ever since I started here. I thought it was a waste of time at first, just another boring thing to do. But I appreciate it now. In my appraisal, I looked back over the year and saw what I’d achieved, and that helped my belief in myself. Without the annual appraisal, I think time would slip by without my ever getting a real idea of my worth to the company.
[pause]
Nineteen
Most of my colleagues hate the annual appraisal. They’re afraid of criticism and worried about what sort of information will go on their file - so they can’t see the value of the whole thing. Not me. I’ve just had my latest interview, and I spent weeks planning it. Promotion is awarded according to a points system in my firm, but there’s room for manoeuvre, and the appraisal is an opportunity to work your way onto the next step up the ladder.
[pause]
Twenty
I’m a line manager, and I’ve just carried out the latest lot of appraisals for my staff. It’s very time-consuming and difficult for me. I get on well with my team, and I don’t want to spoil my relationship with them by saying the wrong thing. But nobody’s perfect, and the appraisals have improved productivity by getting people to do something about their weaknesses. Constructive criticism is the key, but finding the right words is a problem.
[pause]
Twenty-one
When annual appraisals first became general practice, we were pretty bad at it. As personnel manager, I called the staff into my office for a ten-minute chat - there was some form to fill in, and that was it. But nowadays a lot of thought goes into the process, and the last round of appraisals was treated very seriously. I used questionnaires constructed to build up a profile of each employee - so I could make informed decisions regarding training, promotion etc.
[pause]
Twenty-two
Appraisals have to be a positive encounter. And they must be confidential, if the employees are to trust the process enough to be open. I’m a manager - when it comes to appraisals, my policy is to keep the initial review part short, and spend longer discussing future projects. I treated my last lot of appraisals as a sort of question and answer session with my staff. Not everything that came out of the interviews was practical, but it was interesting to hear what they thought.