Tips for Employee Check-Ins

It’s important for employers to have frequent check-in meetings with their employees. Check-ins help keep the lines of communication open between managers and employees and can encourage team building, skill development, and feedback.

Before the Meeting: Prepare

Managers should review any notes taken during the last meeting to get up to speed on any planned deliverables. They should also review the employee’s list of goals and projects to see if there are any due or running off course.

During the Meeting: Possible Discussion Points

By having frequent meetings, managers can select specific goals, projects, or coaching points to focus on. Employees might also start the conversation and guide the focus (even better). Generally, managers and employees should prioritize discussion points based on due dates and progress. Managers can also use conversation starters to keep the employee engaged and use open-ended questions to keep them talking.

Example Discussion Points:

Goal/Project Updates

Recent Accomplishments

Status of Training/Learning

Company or Team Updates/News

Employee Ideas/Requests for change

Employee Career Development

At the End of the Meeting: Summarize

Before the employee leaves the meeting, the manager should spend a few moments summarizing the key discussion points. This will help remind employees of any action items and reinforce any acknowledgment or coaching tips provided. Managers should ask the employee if anything was missed and remind them of when the next meeting will be.

After the Meeting: Document

Managers should take 2-5 minutes after each meeting to write down key discussion points, action items or feedback. This will help kick-start the next meeting and serve as a useful log when managers need to review performance trends. We recommend that employers keep these notes in a centralized location. We also have performance feedback and journaling tools that can serve this purpose nicely.