Excel is a very useful tool for certain purposes, but not for employee Performance Appraisal. It is inefficient and time-consuming to use excel for your employee Performance Appraisal.

In this article, let us look at why using excel is a bad idea for employee Performance Appraisal.


1. Flexibility
a) not scalable
When data grows with the organization, managing huge data on excel is not a good idea. It is difficult to handle huge amounts of data in excel if your work involves multiple departments or divisions, and working with teams. This task is a big challenge with the use of excel.

b) It’s difficult to share
Excel is not suitable for collaborative initiatives as there is no central database with real-time accurate information. It’s difficult to share a spreadsheet among many team members because the data could be accidentally deleted or changed. You can only send email to notify your employee of the change but you cannot be sure that your employee has received and seen your feedback. It is an inefficient way to share your feedback for performance appraisal.


2. Non-standardised
Regardless of how templates are set up, one single standardized template that ensures that the entire spreadsheet is exactly the same is impossible. Spreadsheets can take a highly diverse form based on employees experience, skills and ability to solve problems.

3. Managing Data Quality
a) Prone to human errors
It’s easy to make errors when "cutting and pasting" from each source sheet into your spreadsheet. As data gets collected, there may be several versions of the spreadsheet (from different sources) and this increases mistakes made.

b) Loss of historical data
Spreadsheets are not designed to store historical data. When one of the team members updates the data, the historical data will be lost. This makes it hard or impossible to spot trends over time and compare data across longer time horizons.

c) Data Security
There is no secure data aside from creating a password for the spreadsheet while you’re dealing with sensitive information. If spreadsheets that have many formulas are deleted or edited, there is no check to verify the accuracy of the data source being pulled into the spreadsheet.


4. No Mobility
Files are not stored in a centralised location. Staff have to access to the files only when they back at the office. It is difficult to track status using the tiny columns and accessing huge files on mobile devices when an employee is outside the office.

5. Difficult to analyze
Spreadsheets can be difficult to analyze. The volume of data presented can lead to misinterpretation

Automate your performance appraisal with minimal effort and time required easily!