Employee Perception of the Performance Appraisal Process in Telkom Kenya Limited

Abstract

Performance appraisal has increasingly become part of a more strategic approach to integrating Human Resource activities and business policies. In order to ensure continued efficiency and effectiveness of members of staff each organization has to carry out employee performance appraisal from time to time so as to keep them in check and replace, motivate, retrain or take any other appropriate action. The objective of the study was to determine employee perception of the performance appraisal process in Telkom Kenya limited. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The population of the study consisted of all Telkom Kenya employees. The study used primary data which were collected through selfadministered structured questionnaires. The data was analyzed and presented using mean and percentages. The findings of the study was that the employees of the study were not satisfied with performance appraisal process in the organization as individual objectives were not clearly communicated to the employees, they were not involved in setting targets, do not receive feedback after every performance review, the rater do not hold reviews periodically on performance, no communication on the purpose of performance appraisal process, employees were not given reasonable deadlines to achieve targets, opportunity was not given to suggest improvements on the performance appraisal process and that training needs are identified through formal performance appraisal mechanism. The study further revealed that a number of aspects touching on employee perception on performance appraisal were not accorded adequate attention at Telkom Kenya. These include; whether it motivates employees, opportunity to discuss performance appraisal results, appraiser being fair and objective during the performance appraisal exercise, investment in training, appraisers being professional, alignment of performance appraisal and career growth, knowledge of employees’ career aspirations, investment in research to continuously improve the performance appraisal process, allocation of funds for planning performance appraisal, offering performance related coaching and counseling sessions and alignment of compensation and reward system with performance appraisals.