It's called the crawl on broken glass syndrome. Both managers and employees would prefer to crawl on broken glass rather than do performance appraisals or employee reviews. There are a lot of reasons why this is the case, but one of the major ones is that performance appraisals are rarely done well. It's nobody's fault, but if you start with the wrong assumptions, and don't apply the required skills to make it work, it's going to be unpleasant. We've put together some material to help take the pain out of the process. The Performance Appraisal For Managers Helpcard We've taken the most important material from Robert Bacal's books on performance management and appraisal, and put them on a job aid/tool to help managers create and use an appraisal process that is painless, and is more likely to help the company, employee, and, of course, the manager. Here's what's in it: Performance Appraisal - What Is It? Benefits To Manager and Company Benefits To Employee Guiding Principles The Steps Outlined (and Tips) If you are looking for a concise explanation and practical quick-learn guide, this is a good place to start.