It’s that time of year - should you still be doing performance reviews?
Performance reviews are a complete waste of time (in my opinion).
They are demotivating, disconnected from the actual work that a company does, and everyone hates them. Both employees and managers absolutely dread this time of year. It’s a mere tick-the-box process.
Smart companies started abolishing performance reviews 15 years ago.
So there's no reason to wait. Think of all the person-hours and brain cells you'll save.
In most cases, the famous “bell curve” must be followed, which means that out of ten people, no matter how good everyone is, two people are going to get a great review, seven are going to get mediocre reviews, and one is going to get a bad review. This leads to employees focusing on competing with each other rather than competing with other companies and helping the business grow.
If your people are doing an amazing job, tell them right away! And tell them in front of people. Acknowledge their efforts and great work. If you have to set aside time to do this, it’s just wrong.
If you want a culture of excellence, you should be constantly providing feedback so people feel they are valued and growing.
In a Gallup survey, only 14% of employees strongly agreed that their annual review inspires them to improve. That’s a pretty low number in my book.
You can still plan for the future.
You can still brainstorm about priorities and obstacles.
Focus on regular one-on-one discussions instead. I believe in having regular and continuous feedback discussions where employees get praised for their hard work and commitment and where they can share their thoughts openly with management.
You can calculate pay increases based on the market rate for the jobs in your company and the industry.
You just don't need to give employees a grade or remind them of the mistakes they made last year. Who cares? Address the mistake when it happens and just move on!
Treat people with respect, be fair and tell them when they’ve done a good job. #nononsensehr
DM me if you need HR help.