Do you dread annual performance reviews? You're not alone.
Many employees find these reviews to be stressful, time-consuming, and not very helpful. But what if we told you that there's a better way to evaluate employee performance?
It turns out that traditional annual performance reviews are not as effective as they may seem. Research has shown that they can be too infrequent, too subjective, and too time-consuming.
In fact, in 2020, 87% of HR managers were considering making changes to their performance review process.
Instead, organizations are turning to more continuous feedback and performance evaluation to support employee development and improve performance.
Traditional annual assessments are too infrequent. According to Gartner Inc., 90% of organizations still do formal annual assessments.
This means that employees are only getting feedback on their performance once a year, which can be frustrating and unhelpful.
By the time the next review comes around, it may be too late to make significant improvements.
To address this issue, managers can conduct more frequent check-ins throughout the year. These check-ins provide employees with ongoing feedback on their performance, allowing them to make adjustments and improve over time.
By staying in touch with employees throughout the year, managers can help them stay on track and make progress towards their goals.
Annual assessments can be too subjective. According to Gartner, only 4% of HR believe performance reviews accurately assess employee performance.
Traditional performance reviews often rely on infrequent, subjective ratings, which can be influenced by factors outside of an employee's control. As a result, performance reviews may not accurately reflect an employee's actual performance over the previous period.
A more continuous feedback and coaching strategy can provide a more accurate and objective assessment of employee performance.
By providing ongoing feedback, managers can identify and address issues in real-time, leading to improved performance over time.
HR managers can also collect feedback on performance from multiple team members to get the most holistic view of an individual.
This can also help to create a more positive and supportive work environment, where employees feel valued and appreciated for their contributions.
Traditional annual assessments can be too time-consuming. Deloitte, surveyed their team to find that performance evaluation was taking up almost 2 million hours of its employees' time each year.
Performance reviews can be time-consuming for both employees and managers, taking away from other important work. Additionally, the time gap between annual reviews means that issues may not be addressed until it's too late.
In giving lightweight feedback managers can document how employees are doing quickly and easily, rather than taking up hours of time in through formal performance reviews.
Solutions, such as WorkStory, enable this easier feedback collection process to occur through tools organizations already use like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Webex, or email.
This approach can save time and improve productivity, while also helping to create a more flexible and agile work environment.
If you're looking for ways to improve your performance management process, consider implementing processes that allow for more frequent check-ins and feedback.
By providing ongoing support and coaching, you can help your employees reach their full potential, while also saving time and resources.
So why wait until the next annual review?
Start providing more feedback today, and see the difference it can make for your team.
