According to a study by Burke International, a research and consulting firm, of the 70% of employees who receive annual reviews, less than half believe they’re effective at evaluating their performance. It’s a disturbing statistic given that the basic idea behind a performance review is not only to help build individual employees, but also helps ensure a company’s future viability by maintaining a strong productive workforce overall.
So, the question is, are annual performance reviews even worth the time and effort?
The answer is yes… and no. It really depends on whether or not a company is willing to make a commitment to the process. When done correctly, performance reviews are a great opportunity to praise employees’ hard work and dedication or offer coaching in areas where they are lagging behind. However, when performed incorrectly, a performance review could easily turn into a blame session or become rife with insincerity and empty promises and ultimately do much more harm than good to a business’s productivity and employee relations.
While no two companies are alike, and what works for one business isn’t guaranteed to work for another, there are some examples of common pitfalls to avoid that are fairly universal when it comes to performance reviews.
Performance reviews aren’t merely a “checklist” task.
It’s easy to think of employee performance reviews as just another item on your to-do list. They typically only happen once a year, and if there isn’t a plan for follow-up or continual coaching, both employees and managers are more likely to just consider the task complete and put it out of mind until the next year.
Performance coaching should be ongoing – not just once a year. A sustained emphasis on excellence throughout the year is more likely to instill productive behaviors in your workforce than a single meeting at the end of the year.
Performance reviews can’t just skim the surface.
Whether it’s out of an employee’s fear for their job or a manager wanting to avoid conflict, often times true feelings are reserved during performance reviews. One of the most important components of a review is open communication. You shouldn’t feel like you’re walking on eggshells.
Strive for honest and open back-and-forth communication. You can’t change what you don’t discuss. In many cases, the other party may not even realize there is an issue that needs to be addressed.
Performance reviews shouldn’t feel confrontational.
A performance review can’t be productive if your employees feel like they are engaging in a fight to prove they deserve to keep their job. A review should, instead, be focused on highlighting successes and coaching through problem areas.
Be sure the purpose of the performance review is clear. You want your employees to view the process as a positive experience, not a defense trial. When your workforce understands the value of performance reviews, they’re more likely to buy in to them.
One size doesn’t fit all
From industry to industry and employee to employee, it’s important to choose a performance review model that makes the most sense for your workforce. Reviewing a manufacturing employee is going to be a much different process than reviewing an office manager. So, it’s perfectly acceptable to modify your process to ensure the most productive outcome of the meeting.
There are probably about as many performance review models as you have employees. Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to use a different process for each individual in your workforce, but it is important to find the method that makes the most sense for different job positions.
For business owners, it’s ultimately your decision whether or not to hold annual performance reviews. And while there is a growing movement to do away with the process altogether, in the end, it really comes down to what is best not only for your company, but for the people who are working every day to ensure its success. If the decision to offer performance reviews isn’t up to you, as a leader you can still strive to keep this opportunity engaging and make it worth the time and effort of you and your employees.
I am a bookkeeper, and have received two different types of performance review: the “You’re doing fine, and we are giving you a cost of living increase. Thank you, can you send the next person in?” and one in which the manager in charge of the reviews didn’t tailor them to the position. He even told me outright, “I have no idea how to evaluate you, because I don’t know what you do.” I was being reviewed with the same criteria as part-time bartenders, when I was the sole financial person on staff. I came in and revamped the accounting/filing systems in a very short time, while having other tasks thrown at me (won’t go into the Boss From Hell). I received a “Meets Expectations” review, where the bartender who “improved greatly” by coming into work on time for a change, received a “Exceeds Expectations” review.
One size does not fit all.
As an owner of a business, it’s obvious that performance reviews, in some cases can be viewed as a double edge sword. Even the individuals who get great reviews (and deserve them) won’t want to hear anything about areas for potential improvement. If a review includes anything other than praise and a raise, it is often viewed as negative or a “witch” hunt. Truth of the matter is, we have been involved with actively trying to change the stereotypical view of reviews for some time now.
Feedback from employees is extremely valuable, good or bad!
For me as an employer it is never easy to give a bad review, but there are always employee habits that need to be addressed, in an effort to maintain a level of mutual respect between all parties.
For example if an employee is very disruptive and or confrontational with other employees or management, their peers would loose respect for the review process if the individual in question received an “acceptable” review as an effort to simply keep the peace.
To find a perfect balance always feels slightly out of reach.
On the other side of the coin, a great review that does not carry with it a sizable raise (by the employee’s standards) is still looked at as negative, regardless of how much positive recognition is offered.
We recently found out that a former employee had held a terrible grudge against management for what was considered a bad review, from many years earlier. This feeling caused a decreased desire to communicate with management, and continually lead to numerous other problems, and ultimately an undesirable outcome for both sides.
Human nature does not seem to allow people to understand that constructive criticism, is never meant to be destructive.
It’s how we interpret the information shared in a review that will determine the outcome, good or bad.
Our company has adapted the existing review process to be much less formal and does not follow a set schedule, in an effort to avoid the pitfall of it being a “task” to check off the list.
So far we still get mixed feedback from employees regarding its effectiveness.
In my opinion reviews will always be controversial, but it is better to struggle to perfect the process than to abandon it all together.
Great article!
We can’t wait until the end of the year to tell someone what a great job they are doing, by then they may have already left the compnay. A performance review should be the output of an ongoing communication between a manager and an employee throughout the year. One size does not fit all, employees doing different tasks should be measured against different objectives, ways in which they contribute to the success of the organization. To learn more about an online tool that will allow you to see how your organization is progressing through it’s objectives at any time of the year and employees feel they are being recognized for their efforts throughout the year visit http://www.empresit.com.
Thanks again Express Employment Professionals for the effort you put into providing knowledge to your clients.
Rennie