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Technology & Innovation — December 23, 2011

The Problem With Year-End Performance Reviews

Year-end performance reviews are meant to help organizational goals and advance people’s careers but often the have the opposite effect of ramping up anxiety and tanking morale.

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What’s the Latest Development?

If your office is in the midst of its year-end review process, you’re not alone. This rite of passage is meant to meet organizational goals and help advance employees’ careers but it often times has the opposite effect, says Jean McGregor. There are typically so many forms to fill out that managers dread the process, and as a result, the review becomes a vague conversation about individuals’ performances on the year’s projects, which nobody truly recalls that well.

What’s the Big Idea?

Some businesses are beginning to alter their year-end review process or they are dropping it all together. The change is coming slowly but that’s to be expected, says McGregor, especially given the influence it has had over human resources departments for so many years. But not all performance reviews are alike and some could be useful. “Come up with a way to encourage managers to give structured feedback regularly—at least once a month, if not every week,” McGregor advises.

Photo credit: shutterstock.com

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