Traditional performance reviews and appraisals are one day going to become the thing of the past.
Companies are increasingly viewing the annual reviews as an outdated approach to performance management. According to this Harvard Business Review article, more than one-third of U.S. companies are estimated to be abandoning annual performance reviews in favour of a more immediate feedback process.
Meanwhile, several professional services firms including Deloitte, Accenture, and PwC have joined the movement. Even GE, the long-time proponent of the traditional appraisal has decided to axe its annual appraisal model.
From Silicon Valley to New York, and in offices across the world, firms are replacing annual reviews with frequent, informal check-ins between managers and employees.
Here are four reason’s why this change his happening;
1.They are time-consuming. Appraisals take a lot of time to complete and are a particularly labor-intensive endeavour. This takes time away from the both managers’ and employees’ immediate work responsibilities.
2. They are impersonal. Employees want to be thought of as more than a number and performance reviews are very impersonal in that they attribute employees’ value or contribution to a company based on a number. In fact, Social science research has shown that employees do not like to be rated using numerical scores and would much rather be told they were “average” than being given a 3 on a 5-point scale.
3. They don’t promote teamwork. If performance appraisal is based on one individual, then employees are going to be thinking about their role in the context of how they can improve their own rating instead of trying to do what’s best for the collective. But great companies need to foster a culture of teamwork in order to get the best results. Because it is often through the sharing of thoughts and ideas that people come up with new and innovative ways to operate and conduct their business.
4. They are counterintuitive. If an employee is performing below the required standard, it makes no sense to wait until the end of the year to evaluate their performance and provide feedback that can improve their approach to the work at hand. Similarly, high-performing employees should be acknowledged and rewarded early on in order to keep them motivated and to drive to keep making positive contributions
