Software Engineering

We All Hate Performance Reviews

When it comes to employee performance reviews, put in the requisite time to make it a pleasant and meaningful experience. Make them relevant to your team. These adjustments could fundamentally change your business.
Published on
March 2024

"People hate performance evaluations." This is a striking statement from a Harvard Business Review article discussing the perceived efficacy and fairness of performance reviews.

From the article...

According to a survey of Fortune 1,000 companies done by the Corporate Executive Board (CEB), 66% of the employees were strongly dissatisfied with the performance evaluations they received in their organizations. More strikingly, 65% of the employees believed that performance evaluations were not even relevant to their jobs.

These statistics are startling. From an employee perspective it's easy to empathize. Reviews are terrible. This is a direct result of outdated evaluation practices that have gone unchanged since the 1950s.

From a management perspective, though, this is shocking. Managers have an inherent sense of employee review culture. They know when their team's likes and dislikes (or maybe they don't and that's a larger issue).

If you're going to conduct employee performance reviews, why use the same old systems? Why would you be happy simply checking a box and moving on?

Employee performance reviews are one of the most important things you can do to guide culture and productivity. Other than high-level strategy, guiding employees should be a primary focus of corporate leadership.

Employees are the lifeblood of any organization. Their happiness determines the culture which, in turn, determines the success of the business.

When it comes to employee performance reviews, put in the requisite time to make it a pleasant and meaningful experience. Make them relevant to your team.

These adjustments could fundamentally change your business.

Weekly newsletter
Join hundreds of HR and team leads—receive our very best resources in your inbox every week.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Whenever you’re ready, here are 4 ways WorkStory can help you:

  1. The WorkStory Platform: Our all-in-one performance management solution. WorkStory makes it easy to gather continuous feedback, run 360 reviews, and track team progress—all in one place. Perfect for teams looking to move beyond traditional performance reviews.
  2. The Performance Review Builder Tool: Create customized performance reviews that fit your organization’s unique needs. Tailor the reviews to each role, streamline the review process, and focus on growth-oriented feedback.
  3. Performance Review Templates: Access a library of pre-built, best-in-class performance review templates that are ready to use. Whether you need templates for leadership, team members, or cross-functional roles, we’ve got you covered.
  4. HR Document Templates: From onboarding checklists to change management guides, our HR templates are designed to save time and ensure consistency across your organization. Simply download, customize, and implement.
Latest Posts
Newsletter

How to Hold Managers Accountable for Performance Reviews

The truth is, performance reviews don’t fail because of employees—they fail because managers aren’t being held accountable for their role in the process. Here’s why manager accountability matters and how you can make it a priority in your organization.
Read post
Newsletter

Three Common Performance Review Pitfalls—and How to Avoid Them

As we head into the end-of-year review season, it’s a good time to evaluate how you’re conducting performance reviews. A well-executed review process can inspire and set a clear path for growth. But a few common pitfalls can turn reviews into an ineffective or even dreaded experience for employees.
Read post
Newsletter

5 Signs Your Team Is Quiet Quitting (And How to Fix It)

As a leader, one of the most challenging things to spot is when your team members have mentally checked out but are still physically present. This phenomenon is called quiet quitting—where employees do the bare minimum without showing the engagement they once had.
Read post