Why Annual Reviews Are No Longer Adequate
Over the past few years, there has been a seismic shift in thinking when it comes to performance reviews. Most HR managers, department leaders and — perhaps most of all, employees — will love the fact that many leaders are rethinking performance reviews.
While companies are not planning to completely eliminate any type of performance metric, most are certainly considering their options, according to the current attitudes toward performance reviews.
According to Forbes only 55% of employees feel as though performance appraisals are effective. This clearly brings to light the need for a shift in our thinking when it comes to performance assessment.
There are several reasons to overhaul your organization's appraisal process.
The Art and Science of People Development is Taking Front Stage
It seems counterproductive to hire a talented candidate with all the right qualifications, only to confine that employee to a set of finite professional responsibilities. An increasing number of companies are relying on philosophies like continuous learning and professional development, making the employee's performance nearly impossible to measure under the traditional performance review.
Today's Workplace Requires Agility and Dynamic Thinking
Just as your business needs to stay quick and steady on its feet, so do your employees. The fast pace of the modern office, which often creates all-hands-on-deck scenarios, makes it essential that everyone is truly a team player and ready to pitch in where needed. It is hard to imagine trying to quantify the role of high-quality, modern employees and their willing agility against the traditional scoresheet effect of the old-fashioned employee performance review.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
As teamwork becomes an increasingly important facet of today's workplace, it is easy to see why a traditional performance review would not properly address a given employee's input and results. With this idea in mind, you can measure an employee's performance, according to how well they work within the team framework. You may also measure the performance of the team as one body, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
Millennials are Becoming an Increasing Force in the Modern Workplace
As of 2015, millennials passed generation X as the largest share of the American workforce, making this demographic one-third of the working population, notes Fast Company. Millennials report preferring more frequent conversations about goals and progress instead of the once-a-year appraisal that leaves them in the dark for 11 months and some odd days each year.
How do you Plan to Measure Employee Progress in Your Organization?
Are you ready to toss the old annual performance review paradigm for something that lights a fresh spark in your employees? If so, you have many options that are likely to benefit your company and your employees mutually. We encourage you to explore these options and replace the annual review process.
Read more about several important trends we see impacting HR in the future.